Last week the New York Times published an article about declining populations of insects in the United States, specifically monarch butterflies and wild bees. Monarch butterflies migrate south to Mexico each fall, typically arriving by the millions on the first of November. This year was tragically different, because the monarchs did not arrive on the first, and when they finally began trickling in a week late, there were significantly less of them. In his article, The Year the Monarch Didn’t Appear, Jim Robbins discusses why this and similar scenarios are becoming commonplace.

Increased pesticide use and global climate change are certainly contributing factors in the decline of insect populations; however, Robbins suggests that the loss of native habit is the major culprit. For example: monarch butterflies rely on milkweed (Asclepias spp.); in fact, their larvae feed exclusively on it. No milkweed = no new monarch butterflies. Urban sprawl, farmland expansion, Roundup Ready crops, and herbicide use along roadways all result in declining milkweed populations, as well as declines in the populations of other beneficial native plants.

And that’s not all. “Around the world people have replaced diverse natural habitat with the biological deserts that are roads, parking lots and bluegrass lawns, ” says Robbins, meanwhile landscape plants are selected for their ornamental appeal, “for their showy colors or shapes, not their ecological role.” In support of his argument, Robbins cites studies which found that native oak and willow species in the mid-Atlantic states are hosts to 537 and 456 species of caterpillars, respectively. On the other hand, non-native, ornamental ginkgoes host three.

Insects provide numerous ecosystem services. They help break down waste products, they are pollinators of countless species of plants (including many of our crops), and they are food sources for larger animals (including birds, reptiles, and amphibians)…and this is just the short list. As John Muir said, “When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe.” Thus, the decline of native insect populations is a concern that should not be taken lightly.

Asclepias tuberosa – butterfly milkweed

If you haven’t already, please consider including some native plants in your yard. If you don’t have a yard, suggest the idea of landscaping with native plants to your friends. To learn more about monarch butterflies and their plight (including information on how to grow milkweed), visit www.monarchwatch.org.