Fireflies are blinking out report people noticing fewer flashes from these insects in the night skies. Populations have diminished and resurged in the past and the Museum of Science (Boston) is tracking them using citizen science. Firefly Watch operates like other CitSci projects (e.g., eBird, iNaturalist) and takes observation data from citizen volunteers. After signing up, people pick a study site like their back yard, submit a description. (Grassy? Mowed and fertilized? Proximity to water?). Then once a week in summer they spend 10 minutes observing fireflies, and enter the observations into the Firefly Watch database. The project provides a form with prompts to help people know what habitat features to note when describing their study site and other aids. No formal scientific background is needed. No travel, no special tools. Just walk out your back door and look.
The Daily Bucket is a regular feature of the Backyard Science group. It is a place to note any observations you have made of the world around you. Animals, weather, meteorites, climate, soil, plants, waters are all worthy additions to the Bucket. Please let us know what is going on around you in a comment. Include, as close as is comfortable for you, your location. Each note is a record that we can refer to in the future as we try to understand the patterns that are quietly unwinding around us.
Fireflies AKA lightning bugs aren’t flies nor bugs, they comprise 2,000 species of winged beetles (Coleoptera) in their own family (Lampyridae) who use bioluminescent flashes to attract mates and prey. Their lights, made chemically from organs in their abdomens, may be yellow, green, or pale red. Fireflies have mastered efficiency as there is nearly no energy wasted when they produce light. (In contrast, an incandescent light bulb is only 10 percent efficient and loses 90 percent as heat.) What they haven’t mastered is overcoming the human impacts to their habitats and the brightness of night skies.
Found on every continent except Antarctica, but not in all locales on all continents, there are no fireflies west of the Rocky Mountains and few in the southwestern US. Fireflies mostly stay where they are born and the larvae thrive in rotting wood and moist forest ground litter, especially near the edges of streams and ponds. The species vary in how much moisture they prefer (some are more aquatic) but all prefer warm, humid locales near standing water, even puddles.
Habitat destruction from human development, logging, pollution, and reduction in standing water to manage mosquitoes is thought to be a primary reason for declines in firefly populations. An increase in pesticide use contributes to reductions in prey species and light pollution affects their ability to find mates and attract prey.
So less food, less sex makes for unhappy fireflies and if they aren’t dancing through the night skies that often are not dark enough to please them, guess who’s at fault?
"Spotlight on Green News & Views" is posted Saturday at 5pm Pacific Time and Wednesday at 3:30 Pacific Time on the Daily Kos front page. Be sure to recommend and comment.