Page 32 - ARUBA TODAY

A32 FEATURE
Thursday 21 June 2018
In a forest on the trail of synchronous fireflies

By TED ANTHONY theories.
KELLETTVILLE, Pa. (AP) — Pic- Synchronous males can
ture a moonless June eve- see each other light up,
ning, shortly after midnight, and they can reset their
deep in a northwestern internal pacemakers in
Pennsylvania forest. Wild real time to sync with male
sounds echo gently. Stars counterparts flying nearby,
glow far above through the according to researchers.
canopy of trees. Otherwise Females wait below, in
it is dark — so very dark. brush near the ground. The
But wait. There — right males light up to attract
there, to the left — a single them, as with most firefly
tiny light flickers on. And species.
then another. And another. But why? Why light up to-
In moments they are switch- gether, when that would
ing on and off in stunning seem to create competi-
synchronicity, as if, deep in tion for males trying to en-
the woods, you have come tice a female mate? Why
upon a magical summer- create what Sara Lewis,
time Christmas tree. It's a who has researched fire-
show of light and nature, flies for more than two de-
biology and dreaminess. cades, calls "silent synchro-
It's everything the glowing nous symphonies"?
screen in your pocket is not. This June 14, 2018 photo Peggy Butler, organizer of the Pennsylvania Firefly Festival looking at "It's still a mystery," says
This is what it's like to walk some fireflies in a jar at the Tionesta Creek and Firefly Island, in Kettleville, Pa. Associated Press Lewis, a biology professor
smack into a pack of syn- at Tufts University in Massa-
chronous fireflies — "light- People come from around ___ cellphones can interrupt chusetts. "Why some, and
ning bugs," as many of the world for this. Peggy THE EXPERIENCE mating and impact the why not others? Why are
us called them in child- and Ken Butler organize an To walk on the edge of next firefly generation. they doing it? We still don't
hood. But these possess the annual Pennsylvania Firefly Tionesta Creek, cross over And yet, the appreciation know."
unique capability of flash- Festival here, offering an "firefly island" and wander of natural phenomena in There are theories. The first,
ing in glorious, almost oth- intricate, quiet and fleeting into the forest to see the an age of videogames known as "visual clutter,"
erworldly unison. experience where science synchronous insects glow- and synthetic distractions is suggests that it's to male
The display happens every and poetry live side by side. ing and flitting above is to worth something, too. fireflies' advantage to clus-
year in North America as Visitors come to see the ponder a wonderful ques- "I'm very actively trying to ter so they're broadcasting
spring ebbs into summer. It "Chinese lantern" fireflies tion: Where do the fireflies spend my life not staring at in sync with other males in
sweeps north as tempera- that seem to float through end and the stars begin? a screen," says Kiley Voss, their line of sight, thus at-
tures warm, up from Ten- the air by Tionesta Creek. The Butlers moved here 21, of Buffalo, New York, tracting female attention.
nessee's Smoky Mountains But they come, most of all, from Ohio several years who's studying conserva- The second theory, the "si-
to, on this night, the thick for the synchronous fireflies, ago with no idea of the tion biology and interning lent window," focuses not
woods of the 500,000-acre that put on their choreo- bounty in their backyard. with the Butlers. "I want to on the synchronized light-
(200,000-hectare) Allegh- graphed light show for two Firefly researchers showed spend my life outdoors and ing but in the pause for
eny National Forest, 100 weeks in late June in the up and told them, essen- be places where there's no darkness between bursts.
miles (160 kilometers) from forest around the Butlers' tially, "Prepare yourselves. cell service. This is one of Perhaps, that theory goes,
Pittsburgh. Black Caddis Ranch. You're going to get a lot of those places." if they're all dark for 6 sec-
Of hundreds of types of "It's so hard to put into visitors." ___ onds or so, they can more
fireflies, these are perhaps words," Peggy Butler says. They did. Last year, more THE SCIENCE BEHIND IT easily see females flashing
the most remarkable. What "A lot of people tell us than 500 people con- How do they do it? And in the brush below.The third
they do, in a world of mass- they're here for a bucket verged on their property why? hypothesis involves a par-
produced experiences, is list item. They're trying to for the festival. This year, The first question has an ticular species of synchro-
organic and natural and find some missing piece of campgrounds are booked answer. As for the second, nous fireflies that congre-
utterly unplugged. something." for peak firefly season. firefly experts only have gate in "display trees." q
The phenomenon injects
some economic energy
into an area once domi-
nated by sawmills, lum-
beryards and tanneries.
But that traffic comes at a
cost: "thousands of people
traipsing through the forest,
willy-nilly, looking for these
things," as Butler puts it.
Because female fireflies
stay close to the ground,
as do firefly larva and im-
mature insects, more foot
traffic can mean more fire-
fly casualties. And because
This June 13, 2018 shows versicolor, or "Chinese lanterns," fire- This June 13, 2018 photo shows a sign in the Allegheny National
flies that seem to float through the air along a path on the Tio- fireflies light up less when Forest that directs hikers to Peggy and Ken Butler's Black Caddis
nesta Creek in Kettleville, Pa. light pollution is present, Ranch in Kelletville, Pa.
Associated Press visitors with flashlights and Associated Press