Natures balance; disruption example problem (Introduction)

by David Turell , Thursday, January 22, 2015, 22:47 (3387 days ago) @ David Turell

Planting the wrong milkweed to help the monarchs is destroying them:-http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-brief/2015/01/15/gardeners-good-intentions-killing-monarch-butterflies/#5465-"To counteract the loss of milkweed on farm fields, sympathetic gardeners in southern states are giving monarchs a meal by planting milkweed in their backyards. Unfortunately, the milkweed they're planting is an exotic tropical species called Asclepias curassavica that grows year-round, unlike the native species, Asclepias incarnata, that dies off seasonally. So, rather than fly south for the winter when the milkweed dies off, monarchs are forgoing the Mexico migration, living and breeding year-round in the south. And that's trouble.-
"That's because of a protozoan parasite called Ophryocytis elektroscirrha (OE). This parasite, if eaten by monarch caterpillars, causes wing deformities in the adult butterfly and shortens their lifespan. Infected butterflies shed spores that can then go on to infect other youngsters.-"OE isn't usually a problem, though, because of two things: the butterflies' annual migration, and the type of milkweed they eat."