Here we go - the first blog from us! If you are reading this, then you must be someone that 1) likes monarch butterflies, and 2) wants to know more about how we study them.
Let's start with the basics - just who is writing this anyway?
Dr. Andy Davis, a scientist from the University of Georgia, will be leading the charge, so to speak. That just means he'll be the one twisting people's arms to write something. And since he's married to Dr. Sonia Altizer, another monarch scientist from the University of Georgia, you can bet her arm will be twisted for sure. Then there are students and other colleagues who work on monarchs. We could even interview some citizen scientists out there. Who knows?
Why are we doing this? Essentially it is to help everyday people understand the science behind the reports, the newspaper articles, and the interviews. These days more than ever, it seems there is a growing disconnect between scientists and the public. It is our hope that this blog site bridges the gap!
What will the blogs be about? Basically, anything that deserves to be discussed about monarchs these days. That could be their population declines (or lack of declines, depending on who you talk to), rearing monarchs and the issues around that activity, that crazy parasite they get, or maybe some recent headlines - like the news about the recent publication of 7 monarch papers in the Annals of the Entomological Society of America. So there is no shortage of things to discuss.
So what will be first? We haven't figured that out yet!