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News tagged with monarch

Fruit flies watch the sky to stay on course

Insects, equipped with complex compound eyes, can maintain a constant heading in their travels, some of them for thousands of miles. New research demonstrates that fruit flies keep their bearings by using ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Jan 17, 2012 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (5) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Draft sequence of monarch butterfly genome presented

Each fall millions of monarch butterflies from across the eastern United States use a time-compensated sun compass to direct their navigation south, traveling up to 2,000 miles to an overwintering site in ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created Nov 23, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Habitat loss imperils monarch butterflies

If you see a monarch butterfly lighting in your backyard this year, take an extra moment to enjoy it.

Biology / Ecology

created Jul 26, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

From butterflies, some lessons about life -- and death

If you were to catch Loretta Downs loping through the shoulder-high milkweed along her alley fence come the end of June, you might not realize she was searching for something so sacred it leaves her speechless.

Biology / Plants & Animals

created May 26, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 1

Circadian rhythms spark plants' ability to survive freezing weather

Just as monarch butterflies depend on circadian cues to begin their annual migration, so do plants to survive freezing temperatures.

Biology / Biotechnology

created Apr 12, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Global warming may reroute evolution

(PhysOrg.com) -- Rising carbon dioxide levels associated with global warming may affect interactions between plants and the insects that eat them, altering the course of plant evolution, research at the University ...

Biology / Evolution

created Feb 16, 2011 | popularity 3.2 / 5 (9) | comments 14 | with audio podcast

Butterflies make partial comeback in Mexico

(AP) -- Experts are reporting a partial recovery in the annual winter migration of Monarch butterflies to Mexico following a devastating 75 percent drop last year.

Biology / Ecology

created Feb 14, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 2

Brain 'GPS' illuminated in migratory monarch butterflies

A new study takes a close look at the brain of the migratory monarch butterfly to better understand how these remarkable insects use an internal compass and skylight cues to navigate from eastern North America to Mexico each ...

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

created Jan 26, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Reserve saves trees but not monarch butterflies

(AP) -- This small patch of mountain fir forest is a model of sorts for the global effort to save trees and fight climate change. The problem is that saving trees has not saved the forest's most famous visitors: ...

Space & Earth / Environment

created Nov 27, 2010 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0

Monarch butterflies use medicinal plants to treat offspring for disease: study

(PhysOrg.com) -- Monarch butterflies appear to use medicinal plants to treat their offspring for disease, research by biologists at Emory University shows. Their findings were published online Oct. 6 in the ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Oct 11, 2010 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (12) | comments 8 | with audio podcast

Research reveals how monarchs fly away home

Monarch butterflies -- renowned for their lengthy annual migration to and from Mexico -- complete an even more spectacular journey home than previously thought.

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Jul 26, 2010 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

As monarch butterflies journey north, gardeners can help protect species, researcher says

It has been a hard winter for Monarch butterflies, according to Chip Taylor, director of Monarch Watch at the University of Kansas. Taylor said that low temperatures, storms and habitat destruction have all threatened the ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created May 10, 2010 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Study finds that long-distance migration shapes butterfly wings

A University of Georgia study has found that monarch butterflies that migrate long distances have evolved significantly larger and more elongated wings than their stationary cousins, differences that are consistent with traits ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Feb 11, 2010 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Butterflies seek higher ground to escape warmer temperatures

A study of beleaguered butterflies in California provides some of the best clues yet as to how other animals may react to climate change, scientists say.

Biology / Ecology

created Feb 08, 2010 | popularity 3 / 5 (2) | comments 0

Monarch butterflies reveal a novel way in which animals sense the Earth's magnetic field

Building on prior investigation into the biological mechanisms through which monarch butterflies are able to migrate up to 2,000 miles from eastern North America to a particular forest in Mexico each year, ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Jan 25, 2010 | popularity 3.8 / 5 (5) | comments 0 | with audio podcast