Media

Recent Journal article

COnservation Letters

Abstract

Biodiversity conservation efforts have been criticized for generating inequitable socio-economic outcomes. These equity challenges are largely analyzed as place-based problems affecting local communities directly impacted by conservation programs. The conservation of migratory species extends this problem geographically since people in one place may benefit while those in another bear the costs of conservation. The spatial subsidies approach offers an effective tool for analyzing such relationships between places connected by migratory species.

OP-ED

News Article

Butterflies land on branches at Monarch Grove Sanctuary in Pacific Grove, Calif., in November. (Nic Coury / Associated Press)

The Los Angeles Times

The parallel struggles of human and monarch migration

BY COLUMBA GONZALEZ-DUARTE
AUG. 19, 2022

In July, the monarch butterfly was added by the International Union for Conservation of Nature to its red list of threatened species, a recognition that the insect’s continuing decline could lead to extinction.

University of Arizona News

Summer is bat-watching season in Tucson: Here's what you should know.

Two University of Arizona experts talk about why Southern Arizona is a mecca for bats, share tips on how to best observe them, and clear up myths surrounding these fascinating creatures of the night.

Science writer Daniel Stolte tries to capture video of bats getting ready to fly out from the bridge on North Campbell Ave over the Rillito River in Tucson, Arizona.

Slide Presentation

Today I’d like to present a paper that colleagues and I published last year, and I encourage you to read the paper for detailed explanations about our approach. I’d like to acknowledge my coauthors who helped develop the paper along with our funding and institutions.

As you probably know, many migratory species have shown declines over the past several decades, especially those associated with agricultural landscapes such as the monarch butterfly and northern pintail.

Monarch graph shows the Index of annual abundance of overwintering monarch butterflies in Mexico, measured as total area occupied by colonies in December. The dashed line is the trend and the gray shading is the 95% confidence interval.
Pintail graph Continental BPOP trend, dashed line is avg 1955-2015 Lower equilibrium since mid-1980’s Theory is effects of intensive agriculture on nesting success Monarch photo: LyWashu, CC BY-SA 3.0 Monarch map: https://www.fws.gov/midwest/news/MonarchCitizenScience.html — As you probably know, many migratory species have shown declines over the past several decades, especially those associated with agricultural landscapes such as the monarch butterfly and northern pintail. Monarch graph shows the Index of annual abundance of overwintering monarch butterflies in Mexico, measured as total area occupied by colonies in December. The dashed line is the trend and the gray shading is the 95% confidence interval. Pintail graph Continental BPOP trend, dashed line is avg 1955-2015 Lower equilibrium since mid-1980’s Theory is effects of intensive agriculture on nesting success Monarch photo: LyWashu, CC BY-SA 3.0 Monarch map: https://www.fws.gov/midwest/news/MonarchCitizenScience.html

These declines have raised two important challenges for understanding and conserving these species. First, the intensification of agriculture has degraded breeding habitats. Second, it is difficult to predict effectiveness of habitat conservation within breeding grounds, because individuals move between countries during their annual cycle and populations are affected by anthropogenic influences such as hunting in non-breeding areas. ________ Decline in biodiversity & related services Difficult to predict effectiveness of regional conservation actions at continental scale

Linking landscape-scale conservation to regional and continental outcomes for a migratory species.
Scientific Reports 10:4968.

Video

See our short film (4:20) about the conservation of ecosystem services from migratory species. This film focuses on pest-control services provided by Mexican free-tailed bats. These bats overwinter in Mexico and females migrate for the summer months to the southwestern US where they gather in large maternity roosts and consume vast quantities of flying insects every night. This natural pest-control service has supported agriculture in the US/Mexico border region for generations.