{"id":42977,"date":"2024-10-21T16:13:21","date_gmt":"2024-10-21T14:13:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/b3fcaee2-0136-44c3-b068-cedba40af283"},"modified":"2024-10-21T17:27:28","modified_gmt":"2024-10-21T15:27:28","slug":"scientists-just-hauled-a-load-of-sacred-fir-trees-up-a-huge-volcano-in-mexico-heres-why","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/rss_feed\/scientists-just-hauled-a-load-of-sacred-fir-trees-up-a-huge-volcano-in-mexico-heres-why\/","title":{"rendered":"Scientists just hauled a load of sacred fir trees up a huge volcano in Mexico. Here’s why"},"content":{"rendered":"

Their work could help prevent one of the world’s greatest migrations from collapsing. <\/p>

By Daniel Graham\n <\/p>

Published: Monday, 21 October 2024 at 14:13 PM<\/p>

\n\n

The monarch butterfly migration is one of nature\u2019s greatest marvels. Each autumn, a new generation of butterflies hatches in the northern US and southern Canada, before embarking on an incredible 3,000-mile journey to the mountains of central Mexico. <\/strong><\/p>

Here, they spend the winter in high-altitude forests, rich with Abies religiosa<\/em> \u2013 or sacred fir trees. These trees are vital to the monarch butterfly<\/a>‘s survival, providing a unique habitat that shields them from harsh winter conditions. <\/p>

However, the future of these forests is threatened by climate change. Experts predict that rising temperatures will push the fir trees higher up the slopes \u2013 and by 2090, they may run out of mountain. <\/p>

On a mission to help, a team of scientists in Mexico are attempting to establish overwintering sites for the butterflies on one of the country’s biggest mountains, a dormant volcano known as Nevado de Toluca. Their findings (so far) were published last month in Frontiers in Forests and Global Change<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>

Abies religiosa (sacred fir) covered with monarch butterflies at Ejido La Mesa, a high-altitude zone in the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve, Mexico. Seeds were collected at this site, to produce seedlings in a nursery that later were planted at Nevado de Toluca\/Cuauht\u00e9moc S\u00e1enz-Romero, UMSNH<\/figcaption><\/figure>

Assisted migration<\/h2>

To safeguard the monarchs, conservationists from Mexico are exploring ways to establish new forests outside their current range, such as on higher peaks to the east \u2013 specifically, planting sacred firs on the Nevado de Toluca volcano, a stratovolcano in central Mexico, 50 miles west of Mexico City.<\/p>

\u201cWe call this ‘assisted migration\u2019: planting seedlings grown from seeds from existing sacred fir populations to new sites whose climate by 2060 is predicted to become similar to that at today\u2019s overwintering sites due to global warming,\u201d says Dr Cuauht\u00e9moc S\u00e1enz-Romero, a professor at the Universidad Michoacana de San Nicol\u00e1s de Hidalgo in Mexico, and the lead author of the study. <\/p>

\"Communal
Abies religiosa seedlings produced in a communal nursery of Ejido La Mesa, at the border of the MBBR. Francisco \u201cDon Pancho\u201d Ramirez-Cruz, former chief of Ejido La Mesa, was in charge of the seedling production\/Cuauht\u00e9moc S\u00e1enz-Romero, UMSNH<\/figcaption><\/figure>

Planting on a volcano<\/h2>

The work began in 2017, when S\u00e1enz-Romero and rest of the team collected seeds from sacred fir trees in the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve (MBBR). The seedlings were carefully nurtured for three years before being transplanted in July 2021 to four different altitudes on the Nevado de Toluca, ranging from 3,400 to 4,000 metres. This mountain, a protected natural area with a summit 1,130 meters higher than the firs\u2019 current highest elevation, was chosen due to its proximity to the MBBR.<\/p>

A total of 960 seedlings were planted under nurse plants, such as Senecio cinerarioides<\/em> shrubs and Pinus hartwegii<\/em> trees, to protect them from extreme weather. <\/p>

Monitoring their growth, survival and health over the next two years, the researchers aimed to determine how well the seedlings could adapt to their new environment.<\/p>

\"Nevado
Planting Abies religiosa seedlings at the timberline (4,000 m of elevation) of Nevado de Toluca volcano, under the shade of pre-existing Lupinus elegans as protective ‘nurse plants’\/Cuauht\u00e9moc S\u00e1enz-Romero, UMSNH<\/figcaption><\/figure>

What was found<\/h2>

The study found that seedlings struggled more as the ‘ecological distance’ \u2013 the cumulative difference across a range of climate variables such as temperature, precipitation and dryness \u2013 between their original habitat and the new site increased. <\/p>

Seedlings planted at the highest altitude of 4,000 metres showed almost no growth and suffered frost damage, while those between 3,600 and 3,800 metres experienced lower survival and growth rates compared to those at 3,400 metres. Still, the team considered the survival rates at these elevations to be promising.<\/p>

\u201cThese planted stands could ultimately serve as overwintering sites for the monarch butterfly under warmer climates,\u201d concludes S\u00e1enz-Romero.<\/p>

Creating new habitats for monarch butterflies does not replace efforts to conserve their current wintering grounds, S\u00e1enz-Romero emphasised. Instead, both strategies must work hand in hand to ensure the survival of these iconic insects.<\/p>

Find out more about the study Establishing monarch butterfly overwintering sites for future climates:\u00a0Abies religiosa\u00a0upper altitudinal limit expansion by assisted migration<\/a><\/em><\/p>

Main image: Planting Abies religiosa on Nevado de Toluca volcano, central Mexico\/Cuauht\u00e9moc S\u00e1enz-Romero, UMSNH<\/em><\/p>

More wild stories from around the world<\/strong><\/p>