Global warming can turn monarch butterflies' favorite food into poison

Date:

April 3, 2018

Source:

Louisiana State University

Summary:

Researchers have discovered a new relationship between climate change, monarch butterflies and milkweed plants. It turns out that warming temperatures don't just affect the monarch, Danaus plexippus, directly, but also affect this butterfly by potentially turning its favorite plant food into a poison.

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Two monarch butterflies, reared by Matthew Faldyn, feeding on a benchtop in the Elderd Lab at the LSU Department of Biological Sciences.

Credit: LSU