Thursday, May 9 at 5:30 pm at the Civic Center
Monarch butterfly populations have been declining over the last 25 years—essentially the entire time that we’ve been monitoring them. It is important to move beyond documenting this decline and toward responding to the challenge posed by monarch conservation and insect conservation in general. UW-Madison Arboretum Director, Karen Oberhauser will describe the amazing biology of migratory monarchs, how we can use data collected by scientists and the public to understand what is driving monarch numbers, and what we can do with that information.
About the Speaker: Karen Oberhauser is the Director of the UW-Madison Arboretum. Along with dozens of students and colleagues, she has conducted research on several aspects of monarch butterfly ecology. In 1996, she started a nationwide Citizen Science project called the Monarch Larva Monitoring Project (MLMP), which continues to engage hundreds of volunteers throughout North America. The MLMP and another flagship citizen science program with a strong monarch focus, Journey North, are part of the growing citizen science programming at the UW-Madison Arboretum. Karen has authored over 90 papers on her research on monarchs, insect conservation, and citizen science. She has an undergraduate degree from Harvard University, a degree in science education from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and a PhD from the University of Minnesota.
