From Chaos to Order: The Science and Magic of Monarch Tagging

On the evening before volunteering to tag monarchs, I was reminded of the butterfly effect in chaos theory – essentially describing that a seemingly small change in one part of a system can cause a much larger, non-linear effect elsewhere. Edward Norton Lorenz, a mathematician and meteorologist, first explained this theory with metaphor – positing that something as seemingly minimally-disturbing as a flap of a butterfly’s wing in one corner of the world could cause a tornado elsewhere in the world weeks later. In landscape architecture and planning, we’re obviously not strangers to a systems-approach either, understanding that every line we plan and draw has an impact on real life later.

On my drive to Waterloo Greenway this morning, I found myself becoming a little emotional at how lucky I would be to catch and tag a monarch. On my bucket list is a visit to one of the monarchs’ overwintering sites in Mexico, so this was my entrée to interacting with monarchs more intimately and meant to satisfy the call until I plan a trip.

From a young age, I’ve adored butterflies. So much so that much to their frustration, I used to beg my parents to avoid butterflies when they were hatching and crossing south Texas highways en masse. Here I was, as a much older adult, on my way to interact with these beautiful creatures first-hand to help contribute invaluable information about them, their population numbers, and their migration patterns for Monarch Watch. A real dream come true.

What Tagging Does & How It Works
Monarch Watch’s tagging program continues to reveal more and more data points about monarchs. Tagging helps answer questions about the origins of monarchs that reach overwintering sites in Mexico, the timing and pace of the migration(s), mortality during the migration(s), and changes in geographic distribution. It also shows that the probability of reaching Mexico is related to geographic location, size of the butterfly, and the date (particularly as this relates to the migration window for a given location).

To be able to associate the geographic “mark” location with that of any monarchs who are subsequently recaptured, each butterfly tagged is uniquely coded. Waterloo Greenway, and other organizations or individual volunteers who register in the program, receive uniquely coded tags for their unique geographic area. A new series of unique codes is generated for each tagging season and printed on circular all-weather tags designed by Monarch Watch using permanent inks on tags with a pressure-sensitive adhesive backing. These lightweight, circular tags were designed by Monarch Watch specifically for tagging monarchs.

When they’re applied as directed, the tags do not interfere with flight or otherwise harm the butterflies. This part of the process was the most nerve-wracking.

They’re capable of migrating thousands of miles, but suddenly in your hand, they’re so fragile. There’s likely another metaphor here – one on how nature is strongest when left untouched – and it’s through touch that natural systems begin to weaken.

Waterloo Greenway’s Adriane Horne, horticulture supervisor, started the event with some basic monarch and tagging program education – helping the group understand how to distinguish between monarchs and a few of the other close look-alikes – and then further, how to distinguish sex of a monarch.Once we were properly prepped, Adriane released us to wander the park, with hopes we’d return with monarchs in our nets.

How to Tag a Monarch
The easiest part of the process, for me, was spotting and catching a monarch. I frequent Waterloo Greenway to photograph monarchs and other butterflies regularly, so knowing the park and the multiple areas I’ve seen monarchs, I arrived a little early so I could see where they were active and feeding this morning.

This morning, I spotted them feeding on some woolly butterfly bush.

Once I caught a monarch and it was in my net, I was incredibly nervous about damaging its wings. They’re big, with wingspans around 6 to 7 inches, and they can be feisty and chaotic. Getting them out of the nets took a few minutes with each monarch and we were careful to only handle them and hold them by their bodies, avoiding handling their wings as much as possible.

Once out of the net, another person was tasked with taking the tag and placing it on the correct cell of the monarch’s wing. Adhering the tag to the wing was also tedious and once on the correct position of the wing, pressure has to be applied for 2 to 3 seconds to activate the adhesion fully. Once the tag was applied, the monarch was free to fly off!

Special Note on Monarch Health
When handling monarchs during the tagging event, gloves were used due to something called OE becoming more prevalent amongst certain butterfly populations, monarchs among them. It’s very prevalent in Florida and is starting to show up in Houston. It hasn’t been observed yet in Austin.

Ophryocystis elektroscirrha (OE) is a parasite that infects monarch, queen, and lesser wanderer butterflies; it’s a single-celled protozoan, and little is understood about it so far.

OE must live within a host to grow and multiply. However, when it is not inside a host, OE survives in the environment as spores, which are resistant to extreme conditions. OE was first discovered infecting monarch and queen butterflies in Florida in the late 1960s. No other hosts have been identified, but it has since been found in all other monarch populations world-wide. This large range leads scientists to believe that this parasite has evolved alongside monarchs. Visit Project Monarch Health for more information.

Is Chaos Actually Order?
Today’s volunteer event was the third of the season and Waterloo Greenway held one more tagging event at the end of October to close out the migratory season. Our group tagged 5 monarchs today, with two being left alone due to existing significant wing damage from their treks this far to us today. A couple with tags were recaught, which was no-less thrilling.

During one of the first events held, Waterloo tagged 25, with subsequent events tagging approximately 5 each. Perhaps we can assume that most of the monarchs have already made their ways south to Mexico at this point.

The most rewarding aspect of today was watching several generations of humans bond over multiple generations of monarchs.

The shared love for these creatures and their existence was a great unifier. A mother and her adult son caught and tagged a monarch together. She shared with me that her son, too, has been enamored with butterflies since he was young. Another woman, mom to young children, and her father-in-law also caught and tagged two monarchs together today. We all cheered and celebrated when each monarch was released with its new tag. For a moment, all chaos was forgotten.

As a single thread in a vast tapestry can alter an entire design, each monarch tagged represents a small but significant contribution to the intricate web of nature.

Our actions, though seemingly minor, weave into the larger fabric of ecological balance, demonstrating that even the gentlest touch can ripple through the world in profound ways.

About Monarch Watch
The Monarch Watch Tagging Program is a large-scale community science project that was initiated in 1992 in an effort to understand the dynamics of the monarch’s fall migration through marking the butterfly directly and then recapturing and logging. Tagging was originally used by Dr. Fred Urquhart of the University of Toronto help locate overwintering monarchs and later to determine where monarchs came from that wintered in Mexico.

How You Can Help
Plant native plants in your area that support migrating pollinators, especially monarchs! Find a volunteer monarch tagging event in your area! Or, purchase your own tagging kit from Monarch Watch.

Each fall Monarch Watch distributes more than a quarter of a million tags to thousands of volunteers across North America who tag monarchs as they migrate through their area. These “community scientists” capture monarchs throughout the migration season, record the tag code, tag date, gender of the butterfly, and geographic location then tag and release them. At the end of the tagging season, these data are submitted to Monarch Watch and added to our database to be used in research.