This is the fifth video of the Monarch Larva Monitoring Project video training series, introducing the project's origins, research, and volunteer activities.
Next Video in Training Series > Section 3b: Site Description and Measuring Milkweed Density
Glossary of Terms
- conservation
protection and preservation through careful management. - data
singular, datum: factual information that can be used as a basis for understanding something. - ecosystem
a system of interactions between a community of living organisms and their environment. - frass
the waste product of larvae, called caterpillar poop by most. Monarch larvae produce a lot of this, especially in their later instars. - Oe (Ophryocystis elektroscirrha)
a protozoan that infects monarchs and is known to decrease health, fecundity, and life span. It is passed by infected females to offspring when protozoan spores are rubbed onto milkweed (eaten by developing caterpillars) as they are laying their eggs. - parasitoids
nsects that lay their eggs on or inside another insect species (called their host). The eggs hatch and feed on the host from the inside, eventually killing the host. - sample size
the number of replicates in an experiment. Larger sample sizes reduce the effects of random chance. - tachinid flies
(tah-KIN-id): a fly family with about 1300 species in North America. Parasitic tachinids usually attach eggs to the outside of the host’s body. The eggs hatch, then the tachinid larvae burrow into the host and begin feeding inside. The host is almost always killed. The species that live in monarchs are gray and smaller than houseflies. - transect
a sample strip of land used to monitor plant or animal populations and distribution within a given area.
Photo Credits (in order of appearance)
1. Monitoring group: Michelle Solensky
2. Monitoring with children: Sarah Kempke
3. 5th instar on milkweed leaf: Robert B. Hughes
4. Monarch being eaten by a spine shouldered stink bug: Anurag Agrawal
5. Monarch nectaring on swamp milkweed, Asclepias incarnata: Janet Allen
6. Milkweed in soybean field: Monarch Lab Photo
7. Monarchs nectaring during migration: Dallas Hudson
8. Field of milkweed: Denny Brooks
9. Prairie with flowers in bloom: Debbi Nitka