Try It! Firefly Watch Citizen Science

Tomorrow is the 4th of July and all across the United States, the sky will be filled with lights of every color. But long before we were setting the night aflame with fireworks, nature put lights in the skies with fireflies. One of my first blog entries back in 2011 was on fireflies and their unique ability to not only produce light, but control it. 

I may miss a lot of things about Florida since moving to Pennsylvania in 2009, but I never had fireflies in my Florida apartment complex. I love watching them light up my backyard like Christmas lights. But a part of me is sad when watching fireflies, because I know that there used to be a lot more fireflies. Fireflies around the world are in decline due to habitat loss and light pollution. When you rely on lights to communicate to potential mates, you need darkness in order for your voice to be heard, so to speak. 

To try to figure out the factors that are influencing firefly populations, the Museum of Science in Boston has started a Citizen Science campaign called Firefly Watch. By looking for fireflies in your own backyard for ten minutes once a week, you can help scientists learn how to help these magical insects.

Signing up online is easy, as is telling researchers about your study area (ie your backyard). You don't have to know plant species, habitat classification, or annual rainfall, you simply choose from the options provided to describe your yard based on what general type of vegetation you have (e.g. grass, flower beds, shrubs, trees), whether there are bodies of water or golf courses nearby, if there are lights in your yard, and if you use fertilizers or pesticides.

Where's the "barren yard under an evil invasive Norway maple bordered by a native garden" option?

Once you've signed up, you can take advantage of a variety of information to turn you into a Firefly Geek before your first observations. Most of this information is found in the Toolkit bar on the right of the screen, but if you click "How to Participate" there's a neat interactive guide called the Virtual Habitat that shows the variety of light colors and blinking patterns used to differentiate between firefly species. If you have kids (or if you're a kid at heart like myself), this is a fun and eye-catching section to play with.

Then it's time to make your observations and report them! Don't worry if you didn't figure out what species you have in your yard, all you have to note is how many different kinds of flash colors and patterns you observe. I may not know what the name is of the firefly Mr. Nature Geek and I call "triple blinks," but I just learned that our "blink ups" are the common eastern, or big dipper firefly! These guys blink in a J-shape and are of particular interest to the study.

So this Independence Day weekend I call upon you, my geeky legion, to come forth and perform your scientific duty and participate in Firefly Watch! With our help, we can contribute to research that might help light up your backyard beyond the 4th of July.

Come to Your Nocturnal Senses

(originally posted June 4, 2011)

If you’ve never gone for a hike at night without the aid of a flashlight, I highly recommend it. As a friend of mine says; “If you want to go hiking with a flashlight, you might as well go during the day; there’s lots of light then.” Humans have better night vision than we give ourselves credit for and after as short as 15 minutes, your eyes become quite adapted to the dark and navigating on an established trail becomes quite easy. Without a clunky flashlight to give away your presence or to ruin your night vision, your senses become heightened to a whole new nocturnal world around you.

Hiking in the dark your ear becomes tuned to the softest rustle. If you’re hiking in Florida and hear what sounds like some large predator headed your way, don’t worry, it’s more than likely a nine-banded armadillo. During the day armadillos already sound like a tank barreling through the palmettos, so at night I can imagine how you might feel the urge to run as fast as you can in the opposite direction. But there are fascinating and pleasant sounds of the night to be heard as well, such as an insect serenade, a frog chorus, or an owl’s call to its mate.

You may think that your vision would be the last sense you’d rely on in the dark, but there are lots of things to see at night. Many people have pleasant memories of catching fireflies as children, and going on a hike in the dark is a great way to find them. If you’re lucky and walking in the early summer, you just might see a juvenile firefly, better known as glowworms. And if you’re really lucky, you’ll get to see not just glowing insects, but fungi as well, a phenomenon called foxfire. 

Scientists may not know the reason that foxfire exists in some fungi, but they do know that it is created by the same chemical reaction as found in fireflies. But things don’t have to glow to be seen at night; it is quite easy to spot the silhouette of a bat zooming overhead collecting insects against the moonlit sky.

The warm summer months are a perfect time to take a night hike. Even if you walk around your neighborhood you just may make some interesting discoveries. Tonight when taking a hike around my Philadelphia suburb, I saw fireflies, a skunk (from a safe distance thankfully!), bats, and even heard a red fox’s defensive scream. Just remember to leave the flashlight at home!

Waiting for the Light to Shine

(originally posted April 28, 2011)

They’re coming. I find myself scanning the lawn, my garden, and Norway maple in my backyard every night at dusk, holding my breath and looking for them. Even as I write this blog, I pause between sentences and check out the window…just in case. It was this time last year when I saw the season’s first blinking light of a firefly, and I am anxiously awaiting its return. To many, fireflies (or lightning bugs as you may call them) bring back childhood memories of catching as many as we could and putting them in a jar to watch their amazing light show. We may all know and love the firefly for its greenish-yellow glow, but there’s much more to their flash than blinks the eye!

Despite their name, fireflies are actually a species of beetle that can be found on every continent except Antarctica. There are over 2,000 species of fireflies worldwide and an astounding 175 species here in the United States alone! Although not all adult fireflies produce light, all species of eggs and larvae (nicknamed glowworms) glow as a way of warning potential predators that they taste bad. The adults that do produce light do so in order to find not only a mate, but sometimes dinner in a most sinister way. Some fireflies copy the flashing patterns of other species in order lure them in and eat them!

Even the chemistry behind a firefly’s flash is amazing. Unlike bioluminescent animals which simply glow, the firefly’s ability to turn its light on and off (blink) is a rare find in nature. And the energy used to produce the light? In an incandescent light bulb, 10 percent of the energy that goes into the bulb is used to produce light, and the rest is emitted as heat. With fireflies, an astounding 90 percent of the energy goes into producing the light. Talk about the ultimate Energy Star appliance!

It’s getting darker now, and I’m still hoping that a bright yellow-green flash will catch my eye. Perhaps while I’m waiting, a recounting of a childhood or more recent memory will help pass the time. What are some of your favorite firefly stories? I need a distraction—this suspense is harder than waiting for Santa Claus!