Reference no: EM133414246
The Western Monarch Thanksgiving Count and New Year's Count are the product of annual monitoring efforts by volunteer citizen scientists to collect data on the status of monarch populations overwintering along the California coast (and a few sites from inland areas). Thanks to the extraordinary efforts of these volunteers, we have over 20 years of data demonstrating that monarchs have undergone a dramatic decline in the western U.S.
The data collected by volunteers are compiled and entered into the Xerces Society's Western Monarch Overwintering Sites Database which also includes many historic counts and survey efforts:
Check out the website and the PDF "Western Monarch Thanksgiving Count Data 1997-2021" you can find in that same webpage to answer the following questions:
1. In which region(s) is the Western Monarch populatin counted?
California coast, Northern Baja, Mexico, and a few inland sites in California and Arizona.
2. Is there any correlation between the number of sites monitored and the total Western Monarchs reported each year? What can be concluded regarding the veracity of the reported counts?
3. What is the year when the highest Western Monarch abundance was observed? The lowest?
4. Open the link to the PDF "Western Monarch Thanksgiving Count Data 1997-2021" in this same webpage and look at page 5 for the row "Total reported". What is the amount of butterflies for the two years you answered in the previous question?
5. Calculate the percentage decrease in Monarch population between the two years you defined in the previous question?
6. Explain whether you think declines of this magnitude are cause for alarm. In other words, explain whether you think the species may be endangered by this decrease in population.