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Mowing for Monarchs

Gabe Knowles and Liz Schultheis

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Gabe Knowles

Elementary Teacher

Whitehall District Schools

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Liz Schultheis

Co-founder of Data Nuggets

Kellogg Biological Station

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Research Experience for Teachers (RET)

  • Professional development for K-12 teachers�with cutting edge research experiences in STEM.

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Britney Christensen

4th Grade Teacher

Whitehall District Schools

Doug Landis, PhD

Researcher

Michigan State University

Nate Haan, PhD

Researcher

University of Kentucky

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Cutting milkweed attracts egg laying monarchs and may make milkweed stems safer.

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Monarch caterpillars survive at higher rates on regrowing stems than on undisturbed ones.

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We think monarchs may have historically benefitted from mechanical weed control in corn and soy fields in the midwest.

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ReGrow Milkweed for Monarchs is a citizen science study testing ways to improve habitat for monarch butterflies.

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Summer 2020

  • All aspects of RET were done remotely
  • Three study plots on school campus

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Summer 2021

  • All aspects of RET were done remotely
  • Ten study plots in community
    • Four on school campus
    • Six community locations

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Mowing for Monarchs

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Data Activity!

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Experiment 1�Comparing number of caterpillars and eggs observed between control and treatment milkweed patches

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Experiment 1�Comparing number of caterpillars and eggs observed between control and treatment milkweed patches.

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Each envelope represents one milkweed patch for a given week. There are ten cards inside each envelope to represent ten observations in that milkweed patch.

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Control Milkweed Patch is unmowed

Treatment Milkweed Patch is mowed

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Experiment 1�To compare, we will count the number of caterpillars and eggs over the course of four weeks.

Monarch Caterpillar

Monarch Egg

No Data

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Experiment 2�Comparing number of monarch predators observed between control and treatment milkweed patches

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Experiment 2�Comparing number of monarch predators observed between control and treatment milkweed patches.

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Each envelope represents one milkweed patch for a given week. There are ten cards inside each envelope to represent ten observations in that milkweed patch.

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Control Milkweed Patch is unmowed

Treatment Milkweed Patch is mowed

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Experiment 2�To compare, we will count the number of predators over the course of four weeks.

There are six different predator cards

No Data

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Experiment 1

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Experiment 2

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Pilot year

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Citizen Science

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Thank you!

@Data_Nuggets

@rangergabe

@KBSLTER

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schulth5@msu.edu

gabrielknowles@whitehallschools.net

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