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Online Training

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Introduction

Welcome to the Monarch Larva Monitoring Project online training course and thanks for your interest in monarchs! In this online course, you’ll learn about their amazing annual cycle of breeding, migrating, and overwintering and how to identify all life stages of monarchs. You’ll also learn how you can contribute to our understanding of this incredible insect by joining the Monarch Larva Monitoring Project, or the MLMP. The instructors for this course are Karen Oberhauser, Wendy Caldwell, Kelly Duhn, and Kelly Nail.

Why are monarchs great citizen science subjects? First, a lot of people working together can do a lot to understand this insect that covers such a large area. Second, monarchs are easy to observe and identify and have an iconic status as a symbol of the natural world and our connections to it. Finally, the MLMP is fun for everyone!

Looking to monitor with kids? Check out our tips here!

After Completion

Virtual Live MLMP Training Workshops

Be a citizen scientist with the Monarch Larva Monitoring Project (MLMP)! The MLMP team from MJV and the UW-Madison Arboretum co-lead virtual one-day training on how to collect data that contributes to our knowledge about the monarch population. Participants learn about monarch biology, monitoring procedures, and data entry protocols and are able to ask monarch biologists their questions about monarchs and monitoring.

Live virtual MLMP training sessions are typically held in the spring and early summer each year. We have our 2024 dates for live virtual training scheduled!

  • Western | January 31, 2024 | 9am-2pm, with 1-hour break at noon, Pacific Time
  • Southern | February 24, 2024 | 10am-3pm, with 1-hour break at noon, Central Time

    • East of the continental divide and south: Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri, Kansas, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, and all states in Mexico

    • Register here for the Southern MLMP Training

  • Northern | TBD April, 2024 | 10am-3pm, with 1-hour break at noon, Central Time

    • East of the continental divide and north: North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Delaware, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, and all Canadian provinces.

The above geographic areas are approximate based on timing of the monarch migration and milkweed emergence. These training sessions will focus on specific points related to these regions, but if a different date works better for your time or schedule, feel free to choose that date!

This year, registrants will also gain access to our new MLMP Online Course offered at the Monarch NECTAR Hub at learn.monarchjointventure.org after the live training is completed. This will include videos on identifying milkweed and more. A recording of the live training will also be available.

Reach out to info@mlmp.org if you have any questions about community science training.

MLMP Training Series

These training videos are a production of AllDay Video.

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