A University of Guelph graduate student hopes her study of monarch butterfly declines will ramp up views in a video contest by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC).

Integrative biology master’s student Grace Pitman is one of 33 students selected in the current round of NSERC’s Science Action! video contest. The more views that Pitman’s YouTube video gets by the contest deadline of March 18, the greater her chances of being named one of 15 contest finalists.

Each video in the contest showcases a research story in 60 seconds or less.

Pitman studies why monarch butterfly populations have declined with the disappearance of their larval host plant milkweed. She plans to investigate how the insects select habitats across different landscapes and gender-specific habitat preferences.

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  2. U of G Team Restores Endangered Butterfly, Story Captured in New Documentary 
  3. Neonic-Treated Milkweed an ‘Ecological Trap’ for Monarchs, U of G Studies Suggest
  4. Strategic Mowing of Milkweed Can Help Monarch Butterflies, Say U of G Researchers