How Many Monarchs/Hectare?
In last weeks update, Dr. Brower shared preliminary mortality data from the samples he collected from the forest floor at Chincua. At that site, they found 2,241 dead monarchs per meter squared. This works out to be 22.41 million dead monarchs per hectare. He was astonished. This was more than twice the 10 million/hectare density they had originally estimated! And remember, this doesnt even include the living butterflies that still remained in the trees. The mortality estimates from the El Rosario colony indicate an even higher number of monarchs/hectare. This new information leaves scientists pondering the possibility of 3 to 4.5 times more monarchs per hectare than their original estimate. The sanctuaries may harbor many millions more butterflies than they imagined.
