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St. Marks Monarch Butterfly FestivalEvery October, we take part in the St Marks Monarch Butterfly Festival. Here we provide information on monarch butterflies and their parasites, and also give a demonstration on how to test whether monarchs are infected with parasites. The St Marks Wildlife Refuge, where the festival is held, is a beautiful wildlife refuge, which monarchs use as a stopover on their migration from North America to Mexico every fall. Besides monarchs, the refuge is host to many birds, alligators, otters and bobcats.
Monarch Micro ProjectWe have recently started an outreach project with Joseph Wheeler High School in Marietta, Georgia. Biology teacher Maggie Kelavkar spent the summer of 2010 in our lab, and has started incorporating monarch research in her lesson plans. As part of our collaboration, Maggie's students will extract DNA from some of our monarch butterflies and perform genetic analyses using microsatellite markers. The aim of this project is to provide students learning opportunities through real scientific research and data collection.
Other outreach activitiesMembers from our lab regularly visit butterfly festivals and nature events to talk about monarch butterflies and their parasites. For example, we regularly visit the Pismo Beach Monarch Grove, and also contribute to local nature rallies.
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