Natural History Wanderings

Nature.com reports on efforts to same Monarchs by tree planting

High-altitude planting could buffer the trees, and the migratory butterflies that roost in them, against the effects of climate change.

Researchers in central Mexico have planted a forest of firs. Now they’re hoping the imperiled Eastern monarch butterflies will come.

Almost 1,000 oyamel firs (Abies religiosa) have been transplanted to a mountain in Michoacán, where they are growing at elevations beyond what was considered the species’ upper limit . If the trees survive over the next few decades, they could help to shield the migratory eastern population of monarch butterflies ( Danaus plexippus ), which spend the winter roosting in oyamel fir forests, from the impacts of climate change.

Read more at  Mexican forest ‘relocated’ in attempt to save iconic monarch butterflies