2019/06/24 by Ayşe Tenger‐Trolander, Wei Lu, Michelle Noyes +1 · 1 citation
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · #Animal Behavior and Reproduction #Plant and animal studies #Insect and Arachnid Ecology and Behavior #Monarch butterfly #Danaus #Population #Nymphalidae #Biology #Butterfly #Geography #Diapause #Ecology #Zoology #Lepidoptera genitalia #Demography
paper · pdf · doi:10.1073/pnas.1904690116
openalex publication_date 2019/06/24 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
is in peril. In an effort to aid population recovery, monarch enthusiasts across North America participate in a variety of conservation efforts, including captive rearing and release of monarch butterflies throughout the summer and autumn. However, the impact of captive breeding on monarchs remains an open question. Here, we show that captive breeding, both commercially and by summertime hobbyists, causes migratory behavior to be lost. Monarchs acquired commercially failed to orient south when reared outdoors in the autumn, unlike wild-caught North American monarchs, yet they did enter reproductive diapause. The commercial population was genetically highly divergent from wild-caught North American monarchs and had rounder forewings, similar to monarchs from nonmigratory populations. Furthermore, rearing wild-caught monarchs in an indoor environment mimicking natural migration-inducing conditions failed to elicit southward flight orientation. In fact, merely eclosing indoors after an otherwise complete lifecycle outdoors was enough to disrupt southern orientation. Our results provide a window into the complexity-and remarkable fragility-of migration.