Does Temperature Affect Pupae?
Monarchs live in the northern regions of America, excluding Alaska, and parts of southern Canada in the warm summer months. When the weather turns colder in the fall as winter approaches, the adult monarch butterfly migrates south to Florida and Mexico. From this information, I found the average temperatures of both climates. They were right around 26 °C. This means that monarchs need warm temperatures to survive. My cold caterpillar will not survive because of the cold conditions. When two pupae are put into two different temperatures, the pupa put into the warm temperature will emerge first. Most pupae emerge during the warm summer months, while the cold pupae will act as if in hibernation. Monarchs are most active in temperatures above 5 °C, so the cold pupa will not be active. The heat will act as incubation, just like a mother hen and her eggs. The warm pupa will emerge first because of the incubation and prime environmental conditions.
