Summer 2020 - Fall 2025

Declines in monarch butterfly populations in North America may be due to declines in milkweed plants, a necessary part of the butterfly's reproductive cycle. The butterflies lay their eggs exclusively on milkweeds, which their caterpillars (larvae) rely on for food as they develop. Researchers are studying the relationship between milkweeds and monarchs more closely, and Budburst is enlisting our citizen scientists to help answer the question, do monarch butterflies prefer to lay eggs on flowering or non-flowering milkweed stems?