Project aims to help save monarch butterfly

Researchers want to know where monarch butterflies are mating and are asking Albertansforhelp in the hunt.

Paul Galpern with the University of Calgary saiditwill be key in helping to identify where the butterflies breed in western Canada.

"I think what's interesting here, out in Alberta, is that we need to answer that question," he said.

"And the only way we can really answer that question effectively is by getting people out into the field."

He said the project needs "citizen scientists" to go out into the field searching areas where milkweed is found.

"Where there are milkweeds, there could be monarchs," he said.

Lack of data

The monarch butterfly is a species at risk that migrates across the continent.They're most common in Alberta near the U.S. borderwhere milkweed is abundant, butthey have been seen as far north as Edmonton.

"There hasn't been a lot of data on where monarchs breed, particularly in western Canada," said Galpern.

The research is important in order to help protect the butterfly, which Galpern describes as an "iconic" species that's also an important pollinator.

Galpern is encouraging people go out into natural habitats where there could be milkweed plantsand check for caterpillars and eggs over the course of the summer.

Findings can then be reported at the Mission Monarchwebsite.