Tiny tracker following monarch butterflies during California migration

When this monarch butterfly hits the sky, it won't be traveling alone. In fact, an energetic team of researchers will be following along with a revolutionary technology that's already unlocking secrets that could help the entire species survive. I've described this technology as a spaceship compared to the wheel. There's so much more detail and nuance about monarch migration that we are learning through these transmitters. Ray Morant is a pollinator conservation specialist with the Xerces Society. He's part of the team that's been placing tiny tracking devices on migrating monarchs. The solar-powered radio tags are so light they don't affect the butterfly's ability to fly. But for the first time, they're allowing researchers to track the monarch's movement in precise detail. With some 400 tags in place, they've already been able to get a nearly real-time picture of monarch migrations east of the Rockies, with some populations experiencing dramatic twists and turns. They're trying to go southward to Mexico. They can't fight the winds. Instead, some of them were letting themselves be carried 50 miles north, 100 miles north, 200 miles the wrong way, which we are all extremely alarmed by. And for good reason. Some of these monarchs, their migration was delayed by two or three weeks. According to estimates, migrating monarch populations have dropped by roughly 80% or more across the country. And the situation with coastal species here in California is especially dire. Blake Barbary is a senior scientist with Point Blue Conservation Science. He and his colleagues are tracking northern California populations now clustered around Santa Cruz. They travel to coastal California and are very reliant on coastal tree groves. This year is one of the lowest populations recorded in the winter. So we've undertaken an effort to understand how the monarchs are really using these different groves around Santa Cruz. He says being able to track individual monarchs could help identify microhabitats in the area that helped them survive, ranging from backyard pollinator gardens to protected open space to forest groves. And we're looking for some of the triggers for those movements, right? Why are they doing this and what's driving them to do that? So those questions are still a little bit further out as we get to analyze some more of the data. And that data is getting even more precise. The tags, developed by Cellular Tracking Technologies, can be monitored from dedicated listening stations. But the company is also able to crowdsource signals detected by cell phone networks. So we look at the nationwide map. And they've helped develop an app that allows volunteers, citizen scientists, and the general public to track and report monarch locations themselves using the Bluetooth technology on their smartphones. CEO Michael Lanzone says the initial response has been overwhelming. We were super surprised to see 3,000 people download the monarch app. It's like, you know, but people really love monarchs. A number of groups are pushing to have the monarchs designated nationally as a threatened species. If that ultimately happens, researchers believe the tracking data could help put better protections in place. But so having an understanding of how we can do those things more sensibly to and protect the places that they need the most. All with the help of researchers, citizen scientists, and a technology weighing no more than a few grains of rice.