Deforestation of the Monarch Butterfly's Forest in Mexico
Maps Show 44% Degraded (1971-1999)

 

These maps show the changes in the monarch forest from 1971 to 1999.

"What in 1971 was nearly continuous high quality forest is now a series of islands with large spaces of degraded forest between them. This study of aerial photographs taken in 1971, 1984 and 1999, shows that 44% of conserved, dense forests were degraded between 1984 and 1999," say Dr. Lincoln Brower and Monica Missrie, World Wildlife Fund-Mexico.

"Causes for this forest degradation are multiple, including excessive and illegal commercial logging, wood harvesting for domestic use, forest conversion to agriculture, and damage from periodic fires. These multiple negative effects on the oyamel forest ecosystem are incompatible with the needs of the monarch butterfly and, over the long term, those of the local inhabitants as well."

  • Play slideshow >>
  • See World Wildlife Fund Report >>

National Science Education Standards

Life Science
Humans depend on their natural and constructed environments. Humans change environments in ways that can be either beneficial or detrimental for themselves and other organisms. (K-4)

Science in Personal and Social Perspectives
Changes in environments can be natural or influenced by humans. Some changes are good, some are bad, and some are neither. (K-4)

National Geography Standards

Environment and Society
How human actions modify the physical environment.