1. A citizen army for conservation: Quantifying participatory research on monarch butterflies and its impacts on science, conservation, and behavior Leslie Ries and Karen Oberhauser University of Maryland Dept of Biology National Socio-environmental Synthesis Center University of Minnesota Dept of Fisheries, Wildlife and Conservation Biology and Extension Service

2. Overview of monarch biology Stage 1: Overwintering Stage 2: Spring migration Stage 3: Summer breeding Stage 4: Fall migration

3. Every stage of the monarch’s migratory and life cycle is monitored Spring migration Breeding & expansion Overwinter Colony counts (WWF-Mx, TMC) Spring migration JN Juveniles & parasites MLMP, MH Adult Counts (NABA, IL, OH, FL, Shapiro, Weber) arrival Tagging MW, SWM migration Fall Fall Roosts CM, LP, PP, JN Fall migration JN, MW, CR Photo: A. Davis MONITORING PROGRAMS NABA: North American Butterfly Association count program IL: Illinois monitoring network OH: Ohio monitoring network Shapiro: No. CA monitoring program Weber: MN monitoring site MLMP: Monarch Larvae Monitoring Project MH: Monarch Health JN: Journey North WWF-Mx: World Wildlife Fund in Mexico TMC: Thanksgiving Monarch Counts MW: MonarchWatch SWM: Southwest Monarchs CR: Correo Real CM: Cape May roost monitoring LP: Long Point roost monitoring PP: Peninsula Point roost monitoring

4. Volunteers spent ~86,000 hours monitoring monarchs in 2011 This map shows the number of hours for monarch-centric projects only There are multiple citizen-science projects that collect data on all adult butterflies, including monarchs, adding additional hundreds of hours of time by dedicated volunteers.

5. Citizen-science data have had a substantial impact on scholarship Dark bars: studies using CS data Light bars: studies not using CS data

6. Participation promotes and supports conservation activities Over 5600 people have registered “way-stations” and many put up signs that can engage the public Cit-sci data have been used to support many conservation activities such as site management, supporting conservation in legal battles, documenting losses due to habitat changes or natural disasters

7. Impacts of participating on volunteer behavior from one program Participation: Raises awareness of habitat loss and impacts on monarchs Encourages support of conservation in many ways Number of respondents

8. Conclusions Volunteers spend tens of thousands of hours each year collecting data specifically on monarchs (in addition to the tens of thousands of hours largely different volunteers spend performing general butterfly surveys) Data collected by citizen-scientists have made substantial contributions to our knowledge of monarch biology, especially migration and population dynamics Monarch volunteers are highly engaged to begin with, and participation increases their involvement in conservation and outreach There is still tremendous potential to increase monitoring and both its scientific and social impacts Thanks to the thousands of volunteers, program directors, and to many funding agencies, especially NSF.