Monarch Webinar Tonight!

Monarch Butterflies and Citizen Science

Have you ever wondered how the monarchs’ overwintering sites in Mexico were discovered? Learn about this and more in this web seminar about monarchs and citizen science.Register today!

We will begin with a clip of the new IMAX film, “Flight of the Butterflies” and use that as a platform to talk about monarch conservation efforts in the form of four different citizen science projects. Citizen science is the participation of volunteers in research projects led by trained scientists. These projects typically have large ranges, both in terms of geography and time. For example, the National Audubon Society’s Christmas Bird Count began in 1900. Such projects provide vast amounts of data that would not ordinarily be captured by trained scientists alone.

During this web seminar we will discuss four citizen science projects about monarchs at different points in their life cycle. The Monarch Larva Monitoring Project tracks the density of larvae throughout the monarchs’ summer breeding range; Monarch Watch  tags adult butterflies to track their journey to Mexico; Monarch Health  monitors the infection rate of O.e., which is a parasite that infects monarchs; and finally, Journey North  follows the migration of the monarchs and milkweed north in the spring. As you can see, the monarch lends itself to citizen science studies because of its large habitat range and fascinating movement over the course of the year. We will also discuss how you can participate in one or more of these projects with your students, or talk about how you could use the data in your classroom.

Details

Title:
Target grades: K - 12
Dates: Monday, April 29, 2013, 6:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time
Note: New users should log in at 6:15 p.m. Eastern time for an introduction to NSTA web seminars.
Presenters: Jim O'Leary and Grant Bowers

• PowerPoint Presentation (3.33 MB)
• Presentation - PDF version (1.75 MB)

• April 22, 2013: Web Seminar Overview

Registration

Register today to participate in this web seminar. Upon registering you will receive an e-mail confirmation including information about the program and suggested links to visit in preparation of the event. Additional information about the web seminar will be e-mailed to you days before the program.

Each web seminar is a unique, stand-alone, program. Archives of the Web Seminars and the presenters’ PowerPoint presentations will be available through the links on this web page. Learn more about the features of the Web Seminar and read answers to frequently asked questions from participants.