HONORING THE EARTH | Fireflies! A Glowing Annual Spectacle
When I was a kid growing up on Long Island, I remember the joy of chasing and catching fireflies. We had a mason jar with a screened lid and loved to catch them and watch them light up the jar for us. But then years and years went by and I swear I don’t remember seeing fireflies, not when I lived in New Orleans, or Fort Worth, or in Clearwater. Honestly, no recollection of seeing them in the summertime. Not until I moved to Atlanta. And now, they are a wondrous annual spectacle. I see them in the city and I especially see them up in the N. GA mountains. During my first visit to my sister’s house in Hiawassee during the summertime, at night, the landscape was alive with fireflies. There was no light pollution to diffuse them, nothing but lawn and marsh grass between the house and the lake. The yard was ALIVE with fireflies. I was awestruck and brought back to those times growing up. It was magical. There is something about fireflies!
Known as fireflies in some areas and lightning bugs in others – what did you call them? Did you know they are neither a bug nor a fly? They are a beetle. There are over 2,000 species of fireflies in the world and only some species produce adults that glow. That process is called bioluminescence, meaning they can produce their own light. Those that do, each has its own unique blinking pattern to attract its mate. In some places, fireflies synchronize their flashing.
In order to glow, the fireflies create a complex chemical reaction which is reported to be the most efficient in the world. Almost 100% of the energy from the chemical reaction (oxygen combines with calcium, adenosine triphosphate {ATP, the energy-carrying molecule of all cells} and a chemical called luciferin, when an enzyme called luciferase is present) becomes light. The light fireflies produce can be green, yellow or orange.
Fireflies are considered beneficial insects. Toward the end of the summer, the adult female will lay ~100 eggs in the soil. After a month, the eggs hatch into larvae and feed on snails, slugs and worms also living in the soil. During the winter, the larvae remain underground until they become adults and emerge in the spring and the cycle begins again.
Those things contributing to the decline of firefly populations include light pollution, loss of habitat, and use of insecticides. Most fireflies thrive on rotting wood and leaf litter, as well as on the edges of streams and ponds. Insecticides will kill all insects, including beneficial ones.
The Firefly Research and Conservancy suggest the following simple actions to help attract fireflies to your yard:
- Turn off outside lights off at night, even eliminating lighted garden pathways
- Allow fallen logs and leaf litter to accumulate in parts of your yard or landscape
- Create some water features for the fireflies to assemble around
- Reduce or eliminate synthetic lawn chemicals and pesticides
- Do not over mow the lawn and plant native plant materials
And if you still want to catch fireflies, go ahead, but keep them safe by placing a wet paper towel in the bottom of the glass jar (did not know this when I was a kid – my jar was dry!), be sure to poke holes in the lid so they can breathe, and then let them go after a day or so.
If you enjoy seeing the summer visitors in your yard, take some time, be present, and enjoy the light show. For more tips on how to make your yard and garden inviting to fireflies, visit firefly.org
Blog Post by Jane Lomas
