Joann Merritt's Essays

Monarch No. AFL910 Recovered
June, 2002

What are the odds that among the 60,000 to 80,000 Monarch butterflies tagged each fall as they fly south across North America that one of the 20 Don and I tagged at Harris’ Pecan Orchard would be recovered?! We felt as if we had won the lottery when we received a Certificate of Appreciation from Monarch Watch stating that Monarch No. AFL910 tagged 10/2/2001 in Midland County was recovered in El Rosario, Mexico by Romero Garcia-Martinez and had traveled 862 miles.

Dr. O. R. (Chip) Taylor, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology, has been in charge of the Monarch Watch program for 10 years and during that time about 1600 butterflies have been recovered. As valuable as the data is, promoting science education among elementary and middle school students is his primary mission. Last year 100,000 students were involved in the program and Dr. Taylor refers to them, as well as to the adults who participate, as “citizen scientists.”

Of course, there are those who do not share his view and declare his data unacceptable but Dr. Taylor believes there is absolutely no reason students as well as adult citizen amateurs cannot collect the needed information. His optimistic outlook is “Hey, let’s keep this thing going.”