When looking back on childhood memories of running around the backyard or spending a warm summer night by a bonfire, one common insect might cross your mind: the firefly.
“The great sign of summer,” Marion County Naturalist James Anderson called the bugs.
But today, it might be harder to find the flashing signs of fireflies. Populations across the U.S. are on the decline, and some species run the risk of going extinct entirely.
While data on the bugs is scarce, researchers have found at least one in three species in North America are at risk of going extinct. Their decline is attributed to multiple factors including habitat loss, light pollution and pesticide exposure.
Another factor Anderson has noticed is the elimination of leaf litter. He explained that, as residents rake and bag up their leaf litter, it can reduce the firefly’s habitat.
“A lot of people don’t realize during the larvae stage of the firefly,” Anderson explained, “they spend at least almost two years in that leaf litter and then, once they metamorphosize into adults, they don’t use the leaf litter as much, but they do use it as hunting grounds looking for other insects, slugs, different things like that. So when we’re taking that leaf litter away, it’s really destroying them.”
To combat that loss, Anderson recommended planting native plants to provide cover and food sources for the bugs. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service recommends turning off outdoor lighting, mowing grass less frequently and using non-pesticide solutions for insect control.
Across Ohio there’s about two dozen species of fireflies. Many can be identified by their flight patterns. The species include the big dipper, synchronous fireflies, little gray fireflies, tree-top flashers, the common eastern firefly, day-flying black fireflies and predatory fireflies.
This article originally appeared on Marion Star: Firefly populations are on the decline, how can you help?
Reporting by Abby Bammerlin, Marion Star / Marion Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Abby Bammerlin, Marion Star | USA TODAY Network
