Over at the Field Museum, researchers are working with conservationists to help one of Chicago's most beloved butterflies. Over the past couple of decades, the Monarch Butterflies population has decreased drastically, almost half of what it was way back in 1995.
While there are many factors that have caused this decline, one of the major ones is the national lack of milkweed, the exclusive source of food for Monarch caterpillars, in the Midwest. Now while there are many milkweed oases blotted across the city, they aren’t as effective as they were once thought to be, but this is where you can help out. For the past two years, every summer, the Keller Science Center at the field museum has been reaching out to citizen scientists to help research and understand Monarchs in an urban habitat.
All you need to help out is a working internet connection and some time to put aside to be trained and to gather data.
So, if you want to help the great Monarch Butterfly, or you are a lover of science, head on over to the main article here to see how you can join the Monarch Community Service and help monarchs across the city.