<div dir="ltr"><h2 style="margin:10px 0px;padding:0px;font-weight:200;line-height:40px;color:rgb(230,120,3);font-size:30px;font-family:Raleway,HelveticaNeue-Light,"Helvetica Neue",Helvetica,Arial,"Lucida Grande",sans-serif">Community Science Powers New Western Monarch Studies</h2><p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Raleway,HelveticaNeue-Light,"Helvetica Neue",Helvetica,Arial,"Lucida Grande",sans-serif;font-size:13px">Western monarch researchers and community scientists have been busy, contributing information vital to understanding the situation facing this imperiled population of America’s most well-known butterfly.</p><p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Raleway,HelveticaNeue-Light,"Helvetica Neue",Helvetica,Arial,"Lucida Grande",sans-serif;font-size:13px">Four new studies on western monarchs were recently published as part of the special issue of <i style="margin:0px;padding:0px">Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution</i> titled <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/7657/north-american-monarch-butterfly-ecology-and-conservation#articles" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;color:rgb(237,134,21);text-decoration-line:none"><b style="margin:0px;padding:0px">North American Monarch Butterfly Ecology and Conservation</b></a> (the online issue has been gradually published since May 2019, and these papers are each available for free). A fifth study on western monarchs is also about to be published—more details below. All of these studies draw, at least in part, on the findings of community science projects like the <a href="https://www.monarchmilkweedmapper.org/" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;color:rgb(237,134,21);text-decoration-line:none"><b style="margin:0px;padding:0px">Western Monarch Milkweed Mapper</b></a>—which has collected 53,097 records of monarchs and milkweeds in total, including nearly 500 sightings in 2019 alone.</p><p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Raleway,HelveticaNeue-Light,"Helvetica Neue",Helvetica,Arial,"Lucida Grande",sans-serif;font-size:13px">Together, these studies contribute to our understanding of the western monarch population, including where monarchs and milkweeds occur, the habitats they rely on, and what actions are most likely to help the population recover. These papers also underscore the importance of community science efforts, which have provided key information. At the end of this blog post, we provide a list of ways in which community members can contribute to monarch research efforts—in the western United States and beyond.</p><p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Raleway,HelveticaNeue-Light,"Helvetica Neue",Helvetica,Arial,"Lucida Grande",sans-serif;font-size:13px">Read the full blog post here: <a href="https://xerces.org/2019/07/30/new-western-monarch-studies/" style="font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:small">https://xerces.org/2019/07/30/new-western-monarch-studies/</a></p><div><br></div>-- <br><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><p class="MsoNormal"><b><font face="arial, sans-serif">Jenni Denekas</font></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><font face="arial, sans-serif">Web and Communications Coordinator</font></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="mailto:communications@xerces.org" target="_blank"><font color="#0000ff" face="arial, sans-serif">communications@xerces.org</font></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><font face="arial, sans-serif">(503) 232-6639 x105</font></p><p class="MsoNormal"><font face="arial, sans-serif"><i><font color="#000000">pronouns: she/her/hers</font></i></font></p><p class="MsoNormal"><font face="arial, sans-serif"><a href="https://www.bottomline.org/content/support-gender-inclusive-pronouns" target="_blank"><font color="#0000ff">Why I Use The Pronouns</font></a><br></font></p><p class="MsoNormal"><font face="arial, sans-serif"><br></font></p><p class="MsoNormal"><font face="arial, sans-serif"><img src="https://docs.google.com/uc?export=download&id=1HXR7ve9npqzZK8TY55nGc9IGS7rK6I1L&revid=0B6029xRcgbukU2FMa0tIdkIzemtaTU1xSDBocXhLVHk0cEZjPQ" width="200" height="83"></font></p><p class="MsoNormal"><font face="arial, sans-serif">Protecting the Life That Sustains Us</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0px"><span style="color:rgb(31,73,125)"><font face="arial, sans-serif"> </font></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0px;font-style:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;text-align:start;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;word-spacing:0px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><font color="#000000" face="arial, sans-serif">Connect with us @xercessociety on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/xercessociety/" target="_blank">Facebook</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/x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