Attraction of mutualists and defense against antagonists are critical challenges for most organisms and can be especially acute for plants with pollinating and non-pollinating flower visitors. Secondary compounds in flowers have been hypothesized to adaptively mediate attraction of mutualists and defense against antagonists, but this hypothesis has rarely been tested. The tissues of milkweeds (...

Monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus) depend on the presence of host plants (Asclepias spp.) within their breeding range for reproduction. In the southern Great Plains, Asclepias viridis is a perennial that flowers in May and June, and starts to senesce by August. It is locally abundant and readily used by monarchs as a host plant. We evaluated the effects of summer prescribed fire on A. virid...

We present the draft 273 Mb genome of the migratory monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) and a set of 16,866 protein-coding genes. Orthology properties suggest that the Lepidoptera are the fastest evolving insect order yet examined. Compared to the silkmoth Bombyx mori, the monarch genome shares prominent similarity in orthology content, microsynteny, and protein family sizes. The monarch genom...

1. The chemical defences of monarch butterflies involve two kinds secondary plant metabolites: cardiac glycosides (CGs) that are obtained from larval hostplants, and pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PAs) gathered by adults usually independent feeding behaviour. While monarchs CGs have received great attention, PAs appear largely ignored in science as well the public. 2. We review discuss PA-pharmacopha...

Humans have a predictable liking for theories of what makes humans special, far above mere beasts and machines. Robert Brandom backs one of the most popular candidates, reason, in a specific form indicated by the word 'reasoning': making inferences, reaching conclusions from premises. Are we really the only reasoners? A dog traces its quarry to a place where it could have gone any of three ways...

Predation risk is a key factor that impacts the growth and behavior of organisms. The ability to detect react potential predators provides major competitive advantage, but energetic costs associated with anti-predator behaviors can be severe. Monarch (Danaus plexippus) (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae) caterpillars airborne through auditory predator cues, identifying sound threat exhibiting accordingl...