I
don’t often do book reviews even though I’m a voracious reader. However, this
book I thought should be reviewed. I’ve enjoyed all of Kingsolver’s books, but
hadn’t gotten to this one until recently. Although it’s a fictional account of
monarch butterflies wintering over in North Carolina, her facts about the
monarchs are accurate and the fact that climate change is causing problems for
the monarchs is backed by scientists.
The
fictional part of the book is the characters and the sudden migration to the
mountains of N.C by the monarchs. It’s a story of both the plight of the
monarchs in surviving climate change, the worries and frustration of scientists
who study them, and the people in the small town near where the butterflies
landed.
Dellarobia
Turnbow is a restless young farm wife unsatisfied with married life, her in-laws,
and although she loves her two children, the fact that her life is boring and
not what she’d envisioned when she was younger. That is until she comes across
a huge migration of monarch butterflies on the mountain behind her house when
she went for a walk up there. The migration has the town thinking a miracle has
happened and Dellarobia was blessed by God although not all feel that way. The
migration brings scientists, sightseers, the town’s people, reporters and media
to visit the site, disrupting the lives of Dellarobia, and her family. When she
starts working with the lead scientist who came, she becomes even more
dissatisfied with her life as it was. Kingsolver does an excellent job with the
conflict Dellarobia is facing as is her husband, a simple man, and her in-laws
who have conflicting views.
 |
| This picture portrays the description in the book. |
At
the end of the book, Kingsolver wrote about an unprecedented rainfall in
February 2010 that caused mudslides and catastrophic flooding on the town of
Angangueo where thirty people lost their lives and thousands lost their homes
and livelihood. The town was a gateway to the same mountains where most of North
American monarchs return every autumn.
Although,
the migration moving to North Carolina is pure fiction, Kingsolver did
extensive research and met with many scientists about monarchs and climate
change and the effect it’s having on them. I didn’t write down the facts as I
was reading the book. I was too engrossed to do that, however I did do some
research on monarchs. Some of it I already knew, other stuff was new to me.
Some
facts: The orange, black and white wings of monarchs are a warning to predators
that the monarch is foul tasting and poisonous. The larval stages of monarch
caterpillars feed on milkweed which contains a poisonous toxin they store in
their bodies. The adults get their nutrients from the nectar of flowers.
Monarch butterflies cannot fly if their body temperature is less than 86
degrees. They will sit in the sun or “shiver” their wings to warm up.
Although
they are found throughout the United States, Mexico and Canada, they make the
three thousand mile trip in the fall to their wintering grounds in the Sierra
Nevada Mountains of Mexico or Southern California depending on which part of
the U.S. or Canada they’re from. There are three geographical pathways they
migrate from. One population is east of the Rocky Mountains, one west of the
Rockies and one in Central America. Millions make the trip and during the
migrations, the migrating monarchs will land on a certain tree in their
migrating path.
Monarchs
can produce four generations during one summer on their migrations north. The
first three generations will have life spans from two to six weeks and will
continue moving north. During this time, they will mate and have the next
generation that will continue the northbound migration. The fourth generation is different and can
live for up to nine months. This is the generation that will migrate south for
the winter to Mexico or Southern California.
A
monarch butterfly navigates using a sun compass in its mid-brain and circadian
clocks in its antennae. Until now, what makes a monarch reverse its direction
had remained a mystery, but new research showed that the chill at the start of
spring triggers this switch to their navigation into heading north instead of
south. I would think it was the warming of spring, but the article said chill.
Steven
Reppert and Patrick Guerra, neuroscientists at the University of Massachusetts,
captured fall migrant monarchs and kept them under various light and
temperature conditions. After 24 days, they released the butterflies into a
flight simulator. Monarchs which were maintained under fall temperature
conditions continued due south. Monarchs that were subjected to temperatures
similar to those in their overwintering ground in Mexico of between 4 and 11
degrees Celsius reoriented themselves to fly north. The flight orientation of
the monarchs is much like that of birds which is unusual.
 |
| Yes, these are monarchs at rest. |
Unfortunately
there are threats to the survival of the monarchs. One is climate change. It is
predicted that one of the many effects of climate change will be wetter and
colder winters. If they are dry, monarchs can survive below freezing
temperatures, but if they get wet and the temperature drops, they will freeze
to death. If a cold snap following a rain hits the small area in which they
winter in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of Mexico, it could be devastating.
As
the world warms, suitable habitat will begin to move northward resulting in a
longer migration. This means monarchs may be forced to adapt and produce
another generation to reach further north. It is uncertain if the last generation
will be able to make a longer trip.
Other
threats include the habitat loss and the loss of milkweed which the larva
depends upon to survive. Illegal logging remains a problem in Mexico in
protected areas and is devastating to the monarch’s winter habitat. I know that I didn’t see as many butterflies
last summer even though I have many flowers in my gardens. I wonder what the
problem was. Perhaps it was a very bitter cold winter followed by lots of rain
in the spring continuing into summer. I hope next summer will be better.
There
is a reason for hope, however. IUCN (International Union for Conservation of
Nature) has designated the monarch migration a threatened phenomenon. In 1986,
the Mexican government created the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve which
protects sixty-two square miles of forests in the Sierra Madres where hundreds
of million monarchs spend the winter. The Biosphere Reserve was expanded to
include 217 square miles in 2000. Local organizations are also working to stop
the illegal harvesting of trees on the reserve.
My
information came from: an article in Scientific American “Climate Change May
Disrupt Monarch Butterfly Migration” by Nayantara Narayanan, Climate Wire on
Feb. 22, 2013
http://www.scientificamerica.com/article/climate-shange
-may-disrupt-monarch-butterfly-migration/ and from http://www.defenders.org/monarch-butterfly/basic -facts/
Do
you have monarch butterflies around your house?
Do
you believe in climate change?
