AP Photo/Museum of Science, Don Salvatore
This photo released by the Museum of Science shows a firefly or lightning bug. Fireflies are neither bugs nor flies; they are actually beetles, which have two pairs of wings.
“You hear people saying, growing up I saw fireflies all the time, now I don’t see them anymore.” – Christopher Cratsley, a professor at Fitchburg State College in Massachusetts
Recent reports from around the globe have been quite capricious regarding firefly populations, suggesting either numerous influxes or sudden diminishment. Firefly Watch, an organization based at the Museum of Science in Boston, actively seeks to educate the public on fireflies as well as record observations from people across the globe. For starters, fireflies are not flies – they’re beetles. The life of a firefly consists of living underground as grubs or rather larva. When actually seen by the naked human eye, we’re witnessing roughly two weeks of the firefly’s total life. So what purpose do these fireflies exhibit above the surface? Well to mate of course. Male fireflies glow in order to attract the attention of onlooking females.
Wherein lies the problem?
Well, scientists have two possible answers. In general, Fireflies are prone to disturbances in their habitat whether below and above ground. Scientists believe think water pollution may have an affect on the spawn rate of larvae, particularly pertinent in southeast Asia. The southeastern firefly has shown a decline in population size up to 70 percent! But scientists suspect fireflies potentially lay vulnerable to another form of pollution: light pollution. Scientists suspect light pollution or excessive artificial light may potentially impact both male and females trying to find a suitable mate. If a correlation between fireflies and light pollution exists, it’ll add more evidence that creatures on the Earth are affected by light pollution to the : Sea turtles.
Firefly problems in Tatsuno Town, Nagano Prefecture, Japan
I have been investigating fireflies in Tatsuno for many years.
Tatsuno is one of the most famous towns in Japan for many fireflies emerging every summer, and many tourists come to watch fireflies twinkling. The Tatsuno town government stresses in its homepage or brochure that it has kept protecting fireflies for a long time, but it is not necessarily true.
About 40 years ago, Mr Katsuno got many non-native fireflies from firefly dealers in other areas and then released them into the Matsuo-kyo area in this town. Since then, government officials instructed by Mr Katsuno have bred many non-native fireflies in the field, so native fireflies seem to have gone extinct in the Matsuo-kyo area. The town government has tended to conceal this fact.
The ratio of non-native fireflies has also increased in another area in this town. I have often asked the town government to protect native fireflies, but they (government officials and the mayor) have ignored it. They say to me that if the number of fireflies increases, it does not matter whether they are native or non-native, because even non-native fireflies are helpful for tourism bringing money. I never agree with their opinion. I think local governments are generally required to protect biodiversity. One of the reasons is that Japan has ratified the Convention on Biological Diversity. However, the Tatsuno town government has been neglecting it. Now our research on Tatsuno fireflies is being stopped by this local government, because this government is unwilling to admit that non-native fireflies are spreading.
Now I ask you, “What do you think of the action of the Tatsuno town government?”