Comments on: It’s a very vulnerable point, and plants have targeted it

By: Graham

Graham — Tue, 15 Oct 2019 15:01:28 +0000

My first reaction was to always enjoy the beauties of nature presented as a bloody struggle to the death. All the best nature shows do this. Chemical and biowarfare practiced without limits.

More seriously, I’m impressed with the monarchs’ achievement here but that seems like dead-end evolution to rely on one species for food. Not the first time or the last that will happen, but still noteworthy.

In the 1990s, there was a huge scare about monarchs in particular disappearing. It was the bee scare of the time, for a while. Haven’t heard much since. I had assumed they were still on the decline, just slower. They were abundant in Toronto when I was a kid. I live further north now, so that alone may be why I see few of them.

By: CVLR

CVLR — Thu, 10 Oct 2019 01:02:58 +0000

It’s worth taking a moment to reflect that we now live in a world in which the successful, reliable, reproducible transfer of high-import genes from one specie to another, while still newsworthy, is described in so casual a manner.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=xSLlZh9yelk

By: David Whitewolf

David Whitewolf — Wed, 09 Oct 2019 14:38:53 +0000

I hope someone will start a project to make Monarch butterflies that thrive on plants other than milkweed, given that plant’s recent decline.

Reading the prior post and comments right after reading this one on genetically modifying common flies to have the qualities of Monarchs was… interesting. Nicely juxtaposed!