WARREN CO SWCD

Education connection

  • Home
    • About
    • Contact Us
    • Board Supervisors
    • Staff
    • NRCS
    • Volunteer Opportunities
  • Events
    • EQUIPMENT NEEDS SURVEY
    • Urban Chat: Runoff Reduction Methods
    • Earth Day Tree Planting
    • Pond Clinic
    • Rain Barrel Workshop
    • Mental Health First Aid
  • Services
    • Agriculture >
      • Land Preservation
      • Cover Crops
    • GIS/Mapping
    • Property Owner Assistance >
      • Drainage, Erosion & Pond Assistance
      • Soil Testing
      • Water Testing
      • Stormwater Basin Inspections
      • Backyard Conservation >
        • Ohio Native Plants
        • Rain Gardens
        • Rain Barrels
        • Composting
      • Illicit Discharge Detection Program
  • PERMITS
    • Earth Disturbing in Warren County >
      • Earth Disturbing Permit Application
    • Floodplain Management >
      • Floodplain Determination Request Form
      • Flood Applications, Forms & Documents
  • Education
    • Education Ambassador
    • Programs >
      • Classroom Programs
      • Youth Programs
      • Community Outreach
    • Virtual Classroom
    • Program Loan Portal
    • HS Envirothon >
      • Envirothon Grant Program
    • Educator Workshops
  • Caesar Creek Collaborative
    • Meet the Collaborative
    • Our Work
  • Blogs
    • Conservation Connection
    • Education Connection
    • Development Digest
  • Camp Canopy Scholarship

9/23/2022

Monarchs in Motion

10 Comments

Read Now
 
Picture
photo credit: M Dean, Unsplashed
Picture
When we see a bright orange and black butterfly, many of us will recognize that iconic coloration of the beautiful monarch butterfly. Monarchs have captured the hearts of many an admirer with their amazing powers of metamorphosis, pollination, and migration. Yet the secret to their success all lies with having a good meal to start off! And when you are a monarch caterpillar freshly hatched from your egg, that meal can only come from the milkweed plant.

Milkweed species occur across almost all regions of the continental United States, except parts of Washington, Oregon, and Alaska. Milkweed is also native to southern Canada and Mexico.  Of the 17 milkweed species native to Ohio, there are 10 species which serve as host plants for monarchs.  Common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) and swamp milkweed (Asclepias incarnate) are two of those species.  Another common species which occurs and is a good nectar source for adult butterflies but does not serve as a caterpillar host is hemp dogbane (Apocynum cannabinum). These different milkweed perennials differ from one another in a couple of structural ways. Common milkweed has a single stem that is hairy and can reach 6.5 feet tall. Hemp dogbane and swamp milkweed both have multiple stems, but the leaf pattern is different. Hemp dogbane has leaves that grow opposite each other on the stem while swamp milkweed has long, narrow leaves that grow in pairs up the stem. 
Picture
Source: Ohio Pollinator Habitat Initiative
While there are multiple subfamilies of milkweed, the milkweeds in the subfamily Asclepias, like the common and swamp milkweeds, are considered host plants for the monarch butterfly. As host plants, they are the only plants that monarchs can lay eggs on because these milkweeds are the only food source of the monarch’s distinctive yellow and black striped caterpillar. Natural chemicals monarchs ingest from milkweed in this larval stage of their lifecycle also protect them from predation.

The milkweed plant starts the monarch off on its amazing transformational journey. An adult female will lay eggs on the milkweed, that egg will hatch into a leaf munching caterpillar (larva stage), that caterpillar will form a J shape and then spin a chrysalis (pupa stage), and finally an adult butterfly will eclose out of the chrysalis to start the cycle over again. The adult monarchs we see in Ohio at the end of summer are known as the super generation because these are the monarchs that will migrate all the way to Mexico to overwinter. That’s a lot of motion!
​
Do you want to help be a champion for monarchs? Consider planting milkweed on your property! Already have milkweed plants? Consider collecting your brown seed pods between September and November and dropping them off at the Warren County SWCD office as part of the Milkweed Seed Pod Collection drive we do in conjunction with the Ohio Pollinator Habitat Initiative (OPHI). Learn more at https://www.warrenswcd.com/milkweed-seed-pod-collection.html.

Share

10 Comments
Details

    Author:
    ​Education Staff

    Stay up to date with all of our Education news by signing up for Data from Dagmar...an environmental education newsletter from WCSWCD

    Categories

    All
    Bats
    Citizen Science
    Climate Change
    Conservancy
    Earth
    Earth Day
    Earth Formations
    Ecosystems
    Educators
    Envirothon
    Green Living
    NASA
    Natural Resources
    Ohio Symbols
    Rocks And Fossils
    Soil
    STEM
    Virtual Learning
    Volunteer
    Water Resources
    Wildlife

    Archives

    February 2023
    November 2022
    September 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    February 2022
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    April 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    May 2019
    March 2019
    January 2019
    November 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    August 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016

Picture

Contact:

PHONE: (513) 695 - 1337
EMAIL:   wcswcd@gmail.com
HOURS: Monday - Friday 7:30am - 4:00pm (except holidays)

Connect:

Warren County Soil & Water Conservation District Copyright © 2016
Warren SWCD Privacy Notice. Emails are serviced by Constant Contact.  Constant Contact's Privacy Notice.
  • Home
    • About
    • Contact Us
    • Board Supervisors
    • Staff
    • NRCS
    • Volunteer Opportunities
  • Events
    • EQUIPMENT NEEDS SURVEY
    • Urban Chat: Runoff Reduction Methods
    • Earth Day Tree Planting
    • Pond Clinic
    • Rain Barrel Workshop
    • Mental Health First Aid
  • Services
    • Agriculture >
      • Land Preservation
      • Cover Crops
    • GIS/Mapping
    • Property Owner Assistance >
      • Drainage, Erosion & Pond Assistance
      • Soil Testing
      • Water Testing
      • Stormwater Basin Inspections
      • Backyard Conservation >
        • Ohio Native Plants
        • Rain Gardens
        • Rain Barrels
        • Composting
      • Illicit Discharge Detection Program
  • PERMITS
    • Earth Disturbing in Warren County >
      • Earth Disturbing Permit Application
    • Floodplain Management >
      • Floodplain Determination Request Form
      • Flood Applications, Forms & Documents
  • Education
    • Education Ambassador
    • Programs >
      • Classroom Programs
      • Youth Programs
      • Community Outreach
    • Virtual Classroom
    • Program Loan Portal
    • HS Envirothon >
      • Envirothon Grant Program
    • Educator Workshops
  • Caesar Creek Collaborative
    • Meet the Collaborative
    • Our Work
  • Blogs
    • Conservation Connection
    • Education Connection
    • Development Digest
  • Camp Canopy Scholarship