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=EF=BB=BF Hi All
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I don't know if Swamp Milkweed is included in Monarchs diet
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preference but there are many acres of it on the top end of many Nova Sc=
otia rivers.
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Places not often seen by humans but if its useful to Monarchs they
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will be well feed.
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Enjoy the fall
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Paul
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tive;" type=3D"cite">
On October 30, 2015 at 6:49 PM David & Alison Webster <dwebster@=
glinx.com> wrote:
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Hi All,             =
               Oct 3=
0, 2015
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    The abundance of some insect such as the Monarch Bu=
tterfly will be a function, not of every factor in its environment, but of =
those relatively few factors which are limiting. Monarch adults can feed on=
many flowers but their larvae require Milkweed leaves so, in principal, a =
shortage of Milkweed leaves could limit populations here.
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    But if abundance of Milkweed in NS were limiting Mo=
narch populations here then one would expect to frequently see Milkweed pla=
nts with severe reduction in leaf area due to feeding by Monarch =
larvae. Over the years I have seen a lot of Milkweed plants and have rarely=
seen more than slight reduction in leaf area. Most Milkweed plants, in my =
experience, never experience feeding by Monarch larvae.
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    Therefore I concluded years ago that Milkweed =
in NS though necessary is non-limiting.
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        I don't know about the =
rest of the valley but it eastern Kings Milkweed is characteristic of distu=
rbed, impoverished light soil which has good exposure to sunlight. Attempts=
were made to control it for many years, mostly by pulling the plants out b=
efore they went to seed, and this provided a good seedbed, free of competit=
ion, for seeds which blew in to take root. And provided assured seasonal em=
ployment for those who pulled Milkweed.
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    So far as I know it is still classed as a noxious w=
eed and farmers can face significant fines if they fail to control it after=
being ordered to do so. 
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    There is much to be said for diversity and if condi=
tions or management excessively favor one plant, such as Milkweed, the=
n other plants are almost sure to become less abundant or even absent.
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    Milkweed has another, and perhaps negative, wrinkle=
which I described in some detail in an earlier post (Pasted below). It is =
quite tough on Honey Bees but the effect may be insignificant relative to o=
ther factors. Based on the plants along the rail trail just west of Kentvil=
le in 2001 I would guess that  100 or more Honey Bees were killed=
for every Monarch larvae raised.
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Yt, DW, Kentville
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START OF PASTE\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
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Dear All,          &#=
160;         July 9, 2001
<br/>    The stand of Asclepias syriaca, on the rail tra=
il in
<br/>Kentville, is especially  vigorous this year with lots of ins=
ect
<br/>activity. While trying to see what some immobile honey bees were
<br/>doing, I stumbled onto a mechanism that is too strange for
<br/>science fiction. My 100 & some year old Botany book helped
<br/>connect the dots.
<br/>    To make a long story shortest, if you want to s=
ee interesting
<br/>plant structures, take a good look at a milkweed flower.
<br/>    To make this story a bit longer, the milkweed f=
lower has five
<br/>slits, which are spaced midway between the nectar cups, and at
<br/>the upper end of each slit there is a stubby old-fashioned
<br/>clothes-pin with a flat waxy saddlebag of pollen conected to each
<br/>side by a long strap. When a honey bee slips a foot into one of
<br/>these slits and then pulls upward, the hairs between the tarsal
<br/>claws get caught in the clothes-pin and after some tugging, both
<br/>pollen bags are pulled out. When the bee next gets this foot in a
<br/>slit, the pollen bags are torn off near a stigma (not sure how)
<br/>and then either hairs on the old clothes-pin or one of the straps
<br/>are caught in the new clothes-pin and two more pollen sacs are
<br/>pulled out. And so on.
<br/>    Sometimes a bee gets entangled and dies, perhap=
s from
<br/>exaustion or perhaps getting caught the wrong way (one dead bee
<br/>had only one foot caught). In total I saw ~8 dead bees and one
<br/>hind leg. I pulled several bees from the flowers and in each
<br/>instance a pair of pollen bags came with the leg. One dead bee
<br/>that I brought home had six clothes-pins attached in series to
<br/>