Hi everybody this is Joe Lample the Joe behind Joe Gardner and welcome to the Joe Gardner show

Today's episode is curated from the archives and I am so glad to be republishing it today

It is a conversation I had with Dr. Anarag Agrual,

author of the best-selling book, Monarchs and Milkweed.

I suspect a good number of you have read that book,

and if you haven't, put it on your list. It was and is a

fascinating dive into the symbiotic relationship of the two and some

many geeky information about both the monarchs and the milkweed that will probably have you soaking this

episode up not only for the information but nearly everything about our conversation

is still relevant today except for the population of overwintering monarchs in Central Mexico's

forest. The newest data reported as of February 2024 provides a scientific

indicator of the monarch's current population status and the results are alarming.

The most recent estimates of the total population of eastern monarch butterfly colonies

wintering in central Mexico's forest during the 2023-24 winter season

occupied only 2.2 acres 59% less than the previous year when scientists observed that population spanning 5.5 acres.

This is the second lowest number ever recorded.

The World Wildlife Federation and its partners conduct the annual survey in which experts

measure the area of forest where monarch butterflies hybrid 80 twinter, and the survey provides

a scientific indicator of their population status each year. The reasons cited for the

near all-time low include the usual ones such as habitat loss including increased

forest degradation where most monarchs cluster in colonies during the winter.

Pesticide use, in this past year, severe drought conditions

...