News of a population increase of monarch butterflies wintering in central Mexico is making headlines.

Reports of a significant increase in the number of monarchs in the iconic insect’s Mexican wintering grounds are considered welcome news.  Recent extreme weather and other factors have sharply reduced the species’ numbers in those wintering grounds.

However, Prof. Ryan Norris warns that monarch butterflies may not be out of danger. Norris, an integrative biology professor and an expert in the insects and their migration, said it would be dangerous to think that the increase means monarchs are out of harm’s way. He said the weather over the past year was perfect for a population rebound, but the threats persist.

Norris was featured in an Associated Press story that appeared in The Toronto Star.