True Facts: Where Have All The Fireflies Gone!

If you've been out on a summer's evening and saw flashes of fireflies, or lightning bugs as some people call them, and for a moment you thought that when you were younger there seemed to be a lot more of them, well, don't worry, you're not seeing things. Well, actually, you should worry because you're not seeing things. Because all around the world, people are reporting that they're seeing fewer fireflies. But we don't really know the extent of it. This right here is Canvas Fallon. Well, not what's being pointed to, but the person. You can see that Canvas gets very excited by fractions. Anyway, she works as a senior conservation biologist for the Xerxes Society. Sort of looks like how a second grader would try to spell exercise. A couple of years ago, Candace and her colleagues decided to try and figure out what was happening to fireflies in the United States and Canada. There's Candace with a net. Oh, sorry, that's Richard, not a net. Sorry. After they looked through all the available data, they found that 18 species are threatened with extinction and two more are on the way. But the bigger problem was that for over half of the 177 species in this region, there isn't enough data to know anything. So to try and remedy this, Candace and her science hippie buddies started the Firefly Atlas, which allows people to submit a firefly sighting. That helps, but of course, not everyone knows what to look for. For most of their lives, two years or so, fireflies look like this. Little soft larvae going around and eating snails and slugs. They're carnivorous little bastards. And then at some point, they pupate and become adult beetles. That's right, they're beetles. And from that point, they only live for about another two months or so. But it's during this time that for many species, there's another opportunity to count them. Flashing fireflies flash their tiny heinies to try and attract a mate. And different species have different flash patterns. Think Morse code meets pornography, sort of. Anyway, if you take a long exposure photograph, you can see these visual signatures. There's the long trails of the blue ghost, Fausus reticulata. Those little swoops of Photinus pyranus, the big dipper firefly. Or the little stitchwork trails left by Photinus consummilus. By the way, one of the reasons that fireflies are in decline is because of all the artificial light that we use at night. You can see how much it's increased over the last 75 years. And that'll kill the vibe. You're in a club with a glow stick waving at each other. It's getting flirty. And then some idiot turns all the lights on. It's over. And that's what happens. And you get less babies. Anyway, to track fireflies, why not just take pictures of them flashing and then count them up, right? Well, unfortunately, they have to make it more complicated. Even within a species, there's some variance on those flash patterns. And they also vary with temperature and around artificial light. And a lot of times, you'll be looking at a few different species at once. Luckily, Dr. Orit Pelle and her colleagues have been looking for ways to sort this out. They use machine learning to track and identify fireflies based on videos of their flash patterns. By using two cameras, they can even reconstruct those patterns in three dimensions and figure out what species are there with a high degree of accuracy. And this means that anyone with a couple GoPros can help accelerate this monitoring effort. And you know, fireflies aren't just pretty. They've taught us a lot. What we've learned from their flashy little butts has led to techniques in medical imaging, LEDs, and yes, even glow sticks. But even beyond that, come on, they're magical. Going out into a field at night and watching those little sparkle butts. It's incredible. And I think that alone is worth protecting. With your help, Candace and her team can establish firefly sanctuaries and continue their research into habitat restoration and species monitoring. Firefly conservation is not well funded, so every bit helps. Please consider donating to the Xerxes Society Firefly Conservation Efforts. I've put the link in the description along with the Xerxes Society website. Fireflies need your help. Please donate today. Jenny, what the hell was this shot? Well, I was in the middle of a heartfelt appeal and it looks like he has an itch down there. It's not suitable for gravitas.