Aridjis, Lincoln P. Brower And Homero.
"The Dying of the Monarch Butterflies." The New York Times.
The New York Times, 16 Mar. 2013. Web. 17 Mar. 2013.
<http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/16/opinion/the-dying-of-the-monarch-butterflies.html?_r=0>.
The article, “The Dying of Monarch Butterflies”
was quite interesting. This article was written by Lincoln P. Browner, a
professor of zoology at the University of Florida. He speaks of the mortality
of butterflies, the deforestation of their natural habitat and the affect of
herbicides on the butterflies.
In a place called Contepec, in
Michoacán, a few hours northwest of Mexico City, every winter, swarms of orange
and black butterflies arise from the Oyamel fir forest on Altamirano Hill to
look for water. The first time Mr. Browner witnessed this event was in 1977.
Today what is left of the beautiful butterfly reserve is almost nothing. The
reason for the decline of butterflies as speculated by Browner is the
destruction of breeding habitat in the United States due to powerful herbicides
and genetically engineered crops, and illegal logging in Mexico’s
high-elevation Oyamel fir forests. Because of such serious issues, in 1986, the
Monarch Butterfly Special Biosphere Reserve was founded, but there is still
logging present. Tourism is also ruining the habitats of these butterflies.
Plant life has been demolished and the pick up of dust is filling the lungs of
the butterflies. As stated in the article, When we visited the Piedra Herrada
site this February, along with former President Jimmy Carter, a welcome sign on
the trail leading to the butterflies read, ‘No more than 20 people in the
Sanctuary.’ And yet we counted 24 tourist buses in the parking lot.” Clearly,
the park is not being monitored enough.
This
demolishment of the Monarch butterflies is terrible. Humans may make these
beautiful creatures extinct. Every animal is important to society. As we
learned about the food chain, taking one animal and removing it from the
equation causes a domino affect of all the other animals in the food chain
either at the extreme dying off too, or having to migrate and find another food
source.
Overall this article was written quite
well with the exception of a few unclear statements. Hopefully, action can be
taken in the future to better preserve the butterfly habitats so that we can
enjoy their beauty and also keep them safe. Right now even though there is
supposedly monitoring, the butterflies are dying from ecotourism and the
destruction of habitat. I also thought the author could have gone more in depth
about what he was doing to help the butterflies from decreasing in Mexico.
I read Nicolette’s review of the article “The Dying of Monarch Butterflies.” Nicolette did a great job explaining why the beautiful monarch butterflies were dying out. She mentioned the out-of-control ecotourism, extreme weather and diversion of water, among other issues. Nicolette’s connection to our biology class was well done. She stated that, “As we learned about the food chain, taking one animal and removing it from the equation causes a domino affect of all the other animals in the food chain.”A third aspect of Nicolette’s review that was well done was her critique of the article. I agree that the article was well written and I also would have liked to learn what the author, himself was doing to help the butterflies.
ReplyDeleteWhile Nicolette did a great job reviewing the article there were some areas for improvement. For example, she could have included ways to help. The article states, “The United States, for its part, should re-examine the extent to which industrialized herbicide-based agriculture is destroying the flora in the Midwestern United States that monarchs depend on in the spring and summer.” In, addition, Nicolette could have included information about the World Wildlife Fund Mexico. The reports publish ed by the W.W.F are not detailed enough to allow scientists to review the status of individual colonies or to evaluate the butterflies’ survival in relation to forest condition.
I learned many interesting things from reading this article. For example, I did not realize that the monarch butterflies were in such danger. I also did not realize the small things that could be harming them. Such as too many people walking in the sanctuary and stirring up dust that fills the butterflies’ lungs.
Middy Foley
ReplyDelete3/17/13
I read Nicolette Petnuch’s review of the New York Times article, “The Dying of the Monarch Butterflies.” Her review did well in detailing the decline of butterflies. The reviewer provided a vivid account from Mr. Browner on his experience with the orange and black butterflies of the Oyamel of Contepec in Michoacan, Mexico. He first observed swarms of these butterflies coming out of the Oyamel fir forests in search of water. Today, however, there is hardly anything left of this butterfly reserve. This description helped provide the reader with a clearer picture of the recent occurrences. The reviewer also provided analysis for why the population of butterflies declined. She notes issues like the destruction of breeding habitats by powerful herbicides and genetically engineered crops, illegal logging in the Enamel fir forests, and tourism demolishing plant life and creating the pickup of dust. Lastly, the reviewer did a good job at describing the consequences of extinction of a species. She notes that removing a species causes a domino effect in the food chain, causing other species to be forced to find new sources of food or to migrate.
I think the reviewer could have improved this review by including some of the possible solutions to this problem. The article provided various actions that could be taken by the Mexican government, the United States, and scientists to ensure that monarch butterfly populations survive. Additionally, I think that the reviewer could have improved this review by providing a few more effects of monarch extinction. This would have emphasized the importance of their preservation a bit more.
One thing I learnt from this review was that human progress can have serious effects on nature. As we proceed to find more efficient ways in growing crops or cutting down trees we are, in turn, harming monarch butterflies, one of nature’s most beautiful animals.
Marika Chrisanthopoulos
ReplyDeleteAP Biology Comment #15
March 18, 2013
Comment on Nicolette’s Review of “The Dying of the Monarch Butterflies" by Lincoln P. Browner in The New York Times
In the article “The Dying of the Monarch Butterflies” by Browner, the mortality of butterflies, the current deforestation of their natural habitats, and the effects of herbicides on these beautiful creatures is discussed and acknowledged. There used to be a butterfly reserve in Contepec, Michoacan, which is a few hours north of Mexico City, but today, there is almost nothing left. Evert winter, butterflies would migrate from the Oyamel fir forest to look for water to this reserve, but now almost nothing happens. Browner speculated that this is occurring “due to powerful herbicides and genetically engineered crops, and illegal logging in Mexico’s high-elevation Oyamel fir forests.” Because of these problems, The Monarch Butterfly Special Biosphere Reserve was founded in 1896, but today there is still logging present; there is a lot of tourism ruining the habitats of these butterflies, destroying plant life and having dust fill the lungs of the butterflies.
In her review, Nicolette clearly states her belief that the “demolishment of the Monarch butterflies is terrible” and that “humans may make these beautiful creatures extinct.” Another thing Nicolette did well in her review of the article was that she critiqued the article well, stating that it would have been better if the author talked about what he was doing to help the butterflies from decreasing in Mexico; what were his plans? She also describes the migration of the butterflies well in her article, clearly stating that they migrate in order to look for better water sources during the winter. To improve her review, it would have been beneficial if Nicolette researched more about what exactly was happening that was destroying the habitats of the butterflies; are people cutting down trees to create hotels and malls that should be used for the butterflies? Or are all the gases and pollution the major cause of the lack of migration in more recent years? It would have also been helpful if Nicolette obtained more information about the Monarch Butterfly Special Biosphere Reserve and what exactly this organization is doing to prevent logging and tourism; what is their strategy? Who is involved? From her review of this article, I learned that butterflies do have steady habitats; when one thinks about a butterfly, usually they are thought to just be fluttering about in the breeze, but it is interesting to think that they have actual homes and places to live, like other animals. In the future, I would like to learn more about butterflies in general, especially their lifestyles and how climate and habitats affect them in the long run.
Nicole’s article review of the article, “The Dying of Monarch Butterflies,” was very informative and interesting. One aspect of the article that was well presented was in depth analysis of the main overarching goal of the article. A professor of zoology at the University of Florida, Lincoln P. Brower talks in the article about the mortality of butterflies, the deforestation of their natural habitat and the affect of herbicides on the butterflies. One other aspect that was particularly well presented was the problem that these butterflies are facing, and such problems have arose. The problem is that the breeding habitat has been destructed due to powerful herbicides and genetically engineered crops, and also illegal logging in Mexico’s high-elevation Oyamel fir forests contributes to the decline of butterflies. A third aspect that was well presented was the result of this decline, which was the creation of the Monarch Butterfly Special Biosphere Reserve in 1986.
ReplyDeleteI believe this review could have been improved in many different ways. To me, it was a little unclear to where exactly these butterflies live in respect to a forest and how exactly their habitat and daily schedules have been negatively influenced by the powerful herbicides. One other way I think this review could have been improved would be through a deeper analysis of what is being done to help the butterflies. This is a serious issue and despite the Butterfly reserve being founded, it was a little unclear to where exactly this is and also what else is being done.
One important thing I learned from this article was how truly essential to the environment butterflies are. If they go extinct, this can cause the domino effect of all the other animals in the food chain, who might possibly have to find a different source of food.