This year’s monarch butterfly migration is the smallest ever recorded. We’ll ask why. It’s a big story. Plus: how climate change is creating new hybridized species.

We love butterflies, and monarch butterflies are called “monarch” for a reason. They are grand. All that fluttering orange and black display on a winged scale built to impress. To charm. But monarch butterflies are in trouble. This year saw the smallest migration ever recorded to their winter retreat in the mountains of Mexico. And if you are looking this summer for monarchs, they’ve been hard to find. There’s a reason, and it goes back to genetically-modified crops, say my guests today. This hour On Point: monarch butterflies, beautiful and in trouble.
– Tom Ashbrook
Guests
Lincoln Brower, research professor of biology at Sweet Briar College.
Karen Oberhauser, associate professor in the department of fisheries, wildlife and conservation biology at the University of Minnesota. Director of the Monarchs in the Classroom and Monarch Larva Monitoring Programs.
Rick Mikula, President of Butterfly Rescue International. Author of “Garden Butterflies of North America.”
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Ref: http://onpoint.wbur.org/2014/08/20/monarch-butterflies-migration-climate-change