Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Science 25 May 1979:
Vol. 204. no. 4395, pp. 847 - 851
DOI: 10.1126/science.204.4395.847
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Articles

Mortality of the Monarch Butterfly (Danaus plexippus L.): Avian Predation at Five Overwintering Sites in Mexico

WILLIAM H. CALVERT 1, LEE E. HEDRICK 1, and LINCOLN P. BROWER 1

1 Webster Center for Biological Sciences, Amherst College, Amherst, Massachusetts 01002

Analyses of predated butterflies on the forest floor at five monarch overwintering sites in Mexico and observations of birds foraging in mixed flocks indicate that individual birds of several species have learned to penetrate the monarch's cardenolide-based chemical defense. Predation is inversely proportional to colony size and appears to be one evolutionary explanation of the dense aggregations.

Submitted on September 25, 1978
Revised on January 8, 1979


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Testing domains of danger in the selfish herd: sparrowhawks target widely spaced redshanks in flocks.
J. L Quinn and W. Cresswell (2006)
Proc R Soc B 273, 2521-2526
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
UV matters in shoaling decisions.
R. Modarressie, I. P Rick, and T. C.M Bakker (2006)
Proc R Soc B 273, 849-854
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Response in Nematocyst Uptake by the Nudibranch Flabellina verrucosa to the Presence of Various Predators in the Southern Gulf of Maine.
K. Frick (2003)
Biol. Bull. 205, 367-376
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)