Monarchs, Milkweed and Migration

MONARCHS, MILKWEED AND MIGRATION

We are pleased to present Monarchs, Milkweed and Migration as Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park’s 2019 Wege Environmental Lecture. Dr. Anurag Agrawal is a scientist, naturalist, author and monarch butterfly expert. His passion for nature was cultivated by a childhood exploring and playing outdoors and observing his mother’s gardens near his family home in Allentown, Pennsylvania. He is now a professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and the Department of Entomology at Cornell University. Dr. Agrawal’s eloquent and important book, Monarchs and Milkweed, was the winner of the 2017 National Outdoor Book Award for Nature and the Environment.

Dr. Agrawal’s research as a scientist has been broad—embracing chemical ecology, quantitative genetics, phylogenetic analyses, community dynamics, and more. However, Monarchs and Milkweed is no dry scientific text. With a talent for communicating complex scientific information in a way that is clear and compelling, Dr. Agrawal weaves a rich narrative that invites even the nonscientists among us to understand and engage in the history of monarch butterflies, the hidden lives of these familiar, fascinating insects, and their prospects for the future. Illustrations, photographs, excerpts from poems, and lush, literary descriptions

co-mingle gracefully with science. In describing the experience of researching monarchs at their overwintering grounds in the mountains of Mexico, Dr. Agrawal writes: “When they fly from their roosting trees, the whoosh of enumerable butterflies flapping feels like the gentlest touch of a feather. Their bodies are like glitter in a snow globe.”

Whether you are a scientist, a dedicated monarch butterfly ally, a nature lover, or just a person who enjoys a good story as told by a gifted storyteller, please join us on September 24 for what promises to be an unforgettable evening with Dr. Anurag Agrawal. Through striking visual imagery and fascinating stories, Dr. Agrawal will explore the natural history of monarchs and milkweed, revealing the coevolutionary battle between monarch caterpillars and milkweed’s famous toxins. He will discuss the current predicament of monarch declines and conservation efforts. The talk requires no scientific background, but will convey the latest research results, and provide a survey of current issues, in monarch conservation. Q&A and discussion of issues, including the fall migration, the history of science, and citizen science will follow the lecture. Dr. Agrawal’s book, Monarchs and Milkweed, will be available for sale and signing.

FEE: Free for members, general admission for non-members. Registration required at MeijerGardens.org/calendar. Please direct registration questions to Shelly Kilroy at skilroy@meijergardens.org or call 616-975-3144. Captioning service will be provided.

This lecture is made possible by The Wege Foundation.

Dr. Anurag Agrawl

Photo by Dave Burbank