The number of Monarch butterflies hibernating in Mexican forests decreased by 22% last year, and the number of trees lost from their favored wintering grounds tripled, according to an annual report.
The annual butterfly count doesn't calculate the individual number of butterflies, but rather the number of acres they cover when they clump together on tree boughs.
Monarchs east of the Rocky Mountains in the United States and Canada overwinter in the fir forests of the western state of Michoacan, west of Mexico City. The total area they occupied this past winter dropped to 5.4 acres , from 7 acres last year. Gloria Tavera, conservation director of Mexico's Commission for National Protected Areas, said the area of forest cover appropriate for the butterflies that was lost rose to 145 acres , from 46.2 acres last year.
Illegal logging has been a major threat to the pine and fir forests where the butterflies gather in clumps to keep warm. But experts said that this year, more than half the tree loss was due to removal of dead or sick trees affected by fires, storms or pests. Tavera said a lack of rain had plunged trees into hydric stress, making them more vulnerable to diseases, pests and fires."The monarch butterfly is an indicator of these changes," Rickards said.
Critics say that in the past, removal of diseased trees has been used as a pretext for felling healthy trees for timber.
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