New ultra-lightweight radio-pulse tags, weighing less than half a gram, now allow Monarch butterflies to transmit location data via Bluetooth to researchers in the U.S. and Canada. The technology, developed by Jennifer Weber and Shawn Kurtzman at the Conservation Management Institute, provides far more detailed migration data than ever before. Since tagging began, individual butterflies have been tracked across continents.
Sneezy, tagged in the New River Valley in September, was detected in Mexico on Oct. 17. Addison and Sleepy checked in from Texas before moving outside cell range. Hahn and Sandman were last located in Alabama and South Carolina.
Orion and Walker faced tropical storm Isaias in Georgia. Thomas, tagged at Fort A. P.
Hill near Fredericksburg, surprised researchers by being carried across the Gulf of Mexico to a point east of Coatzacoalcos, well south of the wintering grounds. Weber noted that storm systems can deposit Monarchs on the coast. The tags emit pulses detectable by smartphones and cellular towers, creating a continuous, real-time map through citizen science.
With an estimated survival rate of 25 to 28 percent, the data reveals micro-level behaviors, such as highway corridor use and weather reactions. Thirty-five Monarchs were outfitted with tags to follow their path to winter quarters. The cost of the pulse tags remains high, so most are still tagged with wing stickers bearing contact information.
New technology now allows scientists to see Monarch flight paths with dozens of data points.
Source: Hacker News · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing