Milkweed for Monarchs Citizen Science program - Watch your butterflies grow!

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1 Milkweed for Monarchs Citizen Science program - Watch your butterflies grow! Thank you for planting milkweed! Your students can be scientists that observe and collect data about the lifecycle of Monarch butterflies in your garden. Please participate in our Citizen Science program and help us monitor the effectiveness of this program in creating butterfly habitat. Using the attached form, your students can observe and record data about the occurrence of monarch butterflies and their larva on your milkweed plants. Please return the data sheet, along with any pictures, to the Resource Conservation District of Greater San Diego County by December 4, The Monarch lifecycle and migration Starting in spring, Monarch butterflies lay their eggs on milkweed plants. Milkweed is very important because it is the ONLY food source for the Monarch larva, or caterpillar and they eat it nonstop as they grow. The caterpillar passes through 5 instar phases and then it pupates (makes a chrysalis) and emerges as a butterfly. Typically three to four generations of butterflies go through this process throughout the spring, summer, and early fall. The last generation of butterfly stocks up on nectar and travels to an overwintering site in groves of trees along the California coast anywhere between Mendocino and San Diego, often to the same trees as their great, great grandparents spent the previous winter. These butterflies settle in trees for the winter and then fly away in spring to lay eggs and start the cycle again. Learn more: The Monarch Watch website tells you more about the Monarch s lifecycle and includes pictures: Being a Citizen Scientist Your job as a citizen scientist is to observe the presence of Monarch butterflies in your garden. Watch for the butterflies and examine the milkweed plants to see if you can find eggs on the backs of leaves look closely, they are very small. Once you see eggs, write down how many they are and keep watching for the tiny caterpillars to emerge. They will be very small in its first instar but will grow quickly over the next two weeks. Write down your observations about the caterpillars and how many you identify. Once they get nice and big, see if you can find the places where they pupate, or make their chrysalis. If you are very lucky, you will get to experience the butterfly emerging from the chrysalis.

2 Monarch monitoring programs There are many organizations dedicated to tracking the movement and population of monarch butterflies. These databases can provide important information about the population numbers in different years and whether revival efforts have made a difference. The information you collect will be contributed to a larger, national Monarch monitoring program. Monarch Joint Venture gives some examples of Monarch butterfly related citizen science programs: Curricular links Citizen science activities link to the Next Generation Science Standards in many ways. The standards below apply to K-5, but this can also be adapted for middle and high school. Observing the life cycle of Monarch butterflies and the activities of Monarchs and other pollinators in your garden with your students can address Disciplinary Core Ideas (DCIs) under the NGSS. Practices related to this work include Planning and Carrying out Investigations, Developing and Using Models, and Scientific Knowledge is Based on Empirical Evidence. DCI s that can be addressed through this citizen science program include, but are not limited to, the following: - K-LSI.C: Organization for Matter and Energy Flow in Organisms - K-ESS3.A: Natural Resources - 1.LS1.A: Structure and Function - 1.LS1.B: Growth and Development of Organisms - 2.LS2.A: Interdependent Relationships in Ecosystems - 3.LS1.B: Growth and Development of Organisms - 3.LS2.D: Social Interactions and Group Behavior - 4.LS1.A: Structure and Function - 4.ESS2.E: Biogeology - 5.LS1.C: Organization For Matter and Energy Flow In Organisms - 5.LS2.A: Interdependent Relationships In Ecosystems - 5.ESS3.C: Human Impacts On Earth Systems Submitting your data Attached is a monitoring form your students can use to collect their data from their observations, o ruse the questions on the sheet to create a journal to track their observations. Please submit the data by December 4, 2015 to Ann Baldridge, RCD of Greater San Diego, by to ann.baldridge@rcdsandiego, by fax to , or by mail to Waterhill Road, Lakeside CA Please contact Ann Baldridge at the RCD with any questions at Thanks for all your feedback and good luck with your citizen science journey!

3 Monarch Butterfly Monitoring Sheet Name of student: Name of School: Number of milkweed plants received. Record date planted. Do you have any other kinds of milkweed in your garden? What kind? Grade level: Number of plants: Date planted: Name of other kinds of milkweed: How many: Total number of narrowleaf milkweed plants in garden. Do you have any other flowering plants that attract butterflies and other pollinators? What kind? Name of Nectar Plants: How many: Do pollinators seem to favor any particular plants? Name of plants butterflies really like: Number of monarch eggs observed. Record dates and numbers. Number of monarch caterpillars observed. Record dates and numbers. Number of caterpillars: Did any caterpillars die? If so, what did they look like? Number of caterpillars that died: Description of dead caterpillars: Did you see any chrysalises? How many? Record dates and numbers. How early and late in the year have you observed Monarch butterflies in your garden? # of chrysalises you found: # of chrysalises you found: # of chrysalises you found: # of chrysalises you found: # of chrysalises you found: List the first and last dates in 2015 you saw Monarchs in the garden (also include dates for 2014 if possible) Have you noticed an increase in the butterfly population of your garden? Please describe any details.

4 Some more ways to monitor Monarchs in your garden Join our inaturalist page inaturalist is an online forum where you can record what you see in nature. On this great site, you can browse pictures taken by other nature lovers and learn about flora and fauna around the world. You can also contribute by adding your observations! We have created a project page for Milkweed for Monarchs on inaturalist. Join this page to upload pictures of the Monarch caterpillars and butterflies you see in your garden. Your photos will help us understand the impact of this project. The date information submitted with your photos will help us get a picture of when Monarchs are visiting gardens across the county, for example, are they here during the winter months when they would normally be migrating? To join the Milkweed for Monarchs page on inaturalist and record your observations, visit: Map your Butterflies! Below is an instructional guide to using a program called MapMaker Interactive from National Geographic. It is a fun and easy way to chart the egg, caterpillar, and butterfly sightings in your school garden. You can save it and return to it as many times as you would like. It also makes getting the information back to us quick and easy. This is an extra, optional activity you can do to record your findings. Please let us know where you have seen monarch eggs, caterpillars, and butterflies. The link below will take you to an interactive map. Steps for Usage: 1: Click on this link to take you to MapMaker Interactive from National Geographic: 2: Click OK, Let me get started! in the bottom, right corner. 3: Type in the full address of your school into the search bar in the top, left corner.

5 Your school s location will now be centered in the map. You can use the mouse to zoom in and out. 4: Once you have your school centered, click on Base Maps. You can choose whichever Base Map you prefer. The Streets and Satellite Base Maps might make viewing your school the easiest. 5: Take a look at the features on the left of the screen This tool allows you draw shapes by connecting locations you clicked on with a line. Highlight an oddly shaped area Highlight a square area Highlight a circular area Mark a point Make a note

6 6: Markers are the best way to let us know how many butterflies you have seen in your garden. The markers range from 1 to 9, so if you have seen multiple in the same spot, you can let us know how many. 7: If you make a mistake, click the trash symbol, click the item you would like to remove, and then press save. 8: To save your interactive map, click the save button at the top, left corner. This page will come up: You will receive an with a link to your personal interactive map. If possible, make separate maps for eggs sightings, caterpillar sightings, and butterfly sightings.