Ali Rogin:

The iconic monarch butterfly can be found out across almost all of North America but today it faces threats from habitat destruction to climate change, part of why these butterflies are vulnerable is that they migrate 1000s of miles annually to California and central Mexico for the winter. When the weather warms up in the spring, they reproduce, make the journey north. Along the way they cluster in colonies to stay warm, and lay their eggs exclusively on milkweed plants.

Over the last several decades, scientists estimate that the population has dropped between 20% and 90%. For more on what it means for our ecosystem, I am joined by Scott Hoffman Black, he's the Executive Director of the Xerces Society, a nonprofit that focuses on Invertebrate Conservation.

Scott, thank you so much for joining us. Why is the monarch butterfly population declining so much?

Scott Hoffman Black, Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation: Well, it's declining because of us. Unfortunately, the way we grow our food, the way we build our homes and have our yards, just doesn't leave much room for animals like the monarch butterfly. So habitat loss because of industrial agriculture, and because of lots of lawns, lots of pesticide use, we use a lot of pesticides, both in our food and to keep our roses perfect in our lawns, perfect. And then you overlay that also with climate change, which is one of the factors.

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7sa7SZ6arn1%2Bjsri%2Fx6isq2ejnby4e8yopZqqk516o8HTrZyrnpyueqWxwqWYq52UYrKvsMCnnp6qlZl6ornInWSdnZOhtq%2B1zaBkp62dl7Kzvw%3D%3D