Citizen Science | Project Monarch Health

A CITIZEN
SCIENCE
PROJECT

TRACKING THE SPREAD OF DISEASE IN

MONARCHS

About Project Monarch Health

Monarch Health is a citizen science project in which volunteers sample wild monarch butterflies to help track the spread of a protozoan parasite across North America.

Our mission is to understand host -parasite interactions in monarchs and to enhance awareness of monarch biology and conservation through the coupling of citizens and scientists.

Monarch Health Newsletter

2018 was a record year for Project Monarch Health! We received over 10,000 samples from volunteers all over the US and Canada. We've highlighted the trends we saw in our annual newsletter:

Kits are available for the 2019 season. Send an email to with your mailing address to request one.

Check out our new datasheet and the instructional video we made to help you to fill it out.

Sampling Locations and OE Prevelence.png

12 years of Project Monarch Health

Monarch Health is a program that has been around for 12 years. The program has grown in number of samples and coverage and it is currently seeking to expand its scope by adding queen and soldier butterflies.

Soldier/queen Identification guide

Meet our new team members

We've added 5 new undergraduate assistants to the Monarch Health team! Farran Smith, Jaycee Quinn, Christopher Brandon, Caroline Aikins and Kade Donaldson will be joining our current members in scoring your samples, analyzing data, and sending kits. Welcome to the team!

Congrats to our Graduates!

We'd like to say congratulations to Cody Prouty, Ashley Ballew, and Cecilia Nachtmann, who all graduated from the University of Georgia this May. Cody and Ashley were both accepted into the UGA Ecology Master's program and will continue working and conducting research in the Altizer lab. Cecilia will be leaving in July to start her job with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources in Atlanta.