Milkweed, only food source for monarch caterpillars, ubiquitously contaminated:
New evidence identifies 64 pesticide residues in milkweed, the main food for monarch butterflies in the west. Milkweed samples from all of the locations studied in California's Central Valley were contaminated with pesticides, sometimes at levels harmful to monarchs and other insects.
The study raises alarms for remaining western monarchs, a population already at a precariously small size. Over the last few decades their overwintering numbers have plummeted to less than 1% of the population size than in the 1980s—which is a critically low level.
[...] "We expected to find some pesticides in these plants, but we were rather surprised by the depth and extent of the contamination," said Matt Forister, a butterfly expert, biology professor at the University of Nevada, Reno and co-author of the paper. "From roadsides, from yards, from wildlife refuges, even from plants bought at stores—doesn't matter from where—it's all loaded with chemicals. We have previously suggested that pesticides are involved in the decline of low elevation butterflies in California, but the ubiquity and diversity of pesticides we found in these milkweeds was a surprise."
[...] While this is only a first look at the possible risks these pesticides pose to western monarchs, the findings indicate the troubling reality that key breeding grounds for western monarchs are contaminated with pesticides at harmful levels.
"One might expect to see sad looking, droopy plants that are full of pesticides, but they are all big beautiful looking plants, with the pesticides hiding in plain sight," Forister, who has been a professor int he University's College of Science since 2008, said.
Journal Reference
Halsch, Christopher A., Code, Aimee, Hoyle, Sarah M., et al. Pesticide Contamination of Milkweeds Across the Agricultural, Urban, and Open Spaces of Low-Elevation Northern California, Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution (DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2020.00162)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 10 2020, @06:54PM (1 child)
Hey I want to follow up on this. Can you please cite a source for
so I can use it? Also, you seem very well educated on this topic. Is there a "consumer reports" style independent body that you know of that reviews pesticides and their impacts on various life forms?
I hope you come back and reply. I'll check this post a few times in the coming days.
Regardless, thank you for the informative post. Assuming it's truth, it's very interesting.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 11 2020, @07:19AM
Not the AC but see this:
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-15446-x.epdf [nature.com]
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2019/09/widely-used-pesticide-makes-birds-lose-weight/ [nationalgeographic.com]