title: Fire creates host plant patches for monarch butterflies.
abstract: Monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus) depend on the presence of host plants (Asclepias spp.) within their breeding range for reproduction. In the southern Great Plains, Asclepias viridis is a perennial that flowers in May and June, and starts to senesce by August. It is locally abundant and readily used by monarchs as a host plant. We evaluated the effects of summer prescribed fire on A. viridis and the use of A. viridis by monarch butterflies. Summer prescribed fire generated a newly emergent population of A. viridis that was absent in other areas. Pre-migrant monarch butterflies laid eggs on A. viridis in summer burned plots in late August and September, allowing adequate time for a new generation of adult monarchs to emerge and migrate south to their overwintering grounds. Thus, summer prescribed fire may provide host plant patches and/or corridors for pre-migrant monarchs during a time when host plant availability may be limited in other areas.
authors.affiliation: Department of Zoology, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK 74078, USA. kristen.baum@okstate.edu
authors.forename: Kristen A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Baum
authors.forename: Wyatt V
authors.initials: WV
authors.lastname: Sharber
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D029062:Apocynaceae / Q000254:growth & development*; D002080:Butterflies / Q000502:physiology*; D017753:Ecosystem; D005390:Fires; D007814:Larva / Q000502:physiology; D016014:Linear Models; D009825:Oklahoma; D010063:Ovum / Q000166:cytology; D011156:Population Density; D011157:Population Dynamics; D012621:Seasons