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A32 FEATURE
Tuesday 17 sepTember 2019
In a forest on the trail of synchronous fireflies

By TED ANTHONY why?
Associated Press The first question has an
KELLETTVILLE, Pa. (AP) — Pic- answer. As for the second,
ture a moonless June eve- firefly experts only have
ning, shortly after midnight, theories.
deep in a northwestern Synchronous males can
Pennsylvania forest. Wild see each other light up,
sounds echo gently. Stars and they can reset their
glow far above through the internal pacemakers in
canopy of trees. Otherwise real time to sync with male
it is dark — so very dark. counterparts flying nearby,
But wait. There — right according to researchers.
there, to the left — a single Females wait below, in
tiny light flickers on. And brush near the ground. The
then another. And another. males light up to attract
In moments they are switch- them, as with most firefly
ing on and off in stunning species.
synchronicity, as if, deep in But why? Why light up to-
the woods, you have come gether, when that would
upon a magical summer- seem to create competi-
time Christmas tree. It's a tion for males trying to en-
show of light and nature, tice a female mate? Why
biology and dreaminess. create what Sara Lewis,
It's everything the glowing This June 14, 2019 photo Peggy Butler, organizer of the Pennsylvania Firefly Festival looking at who has researched fire-
screen in your pocket is not. some fireflies in a jar at the Tionesta Creek and Firefly Island, in Kettleville, Pa. flies for more than two de-
This is what it's like to walk Associated Press cades, calls "silent synchro-
smack into a pack of syn- nous symphonies"?
chronous fireflies — "light- utterly unplugged. find some missing piece of fireflies light up less when "It's still a mystery," says
ning bugs," as many of People come from around something." light pollution is present, Lewis, a biology professor
us called them in child- the world for this. Peggy ___ visitors with flashlights and at Tufts University in Massa-
hood. But these possess the and Ken Butler organize an THE EXPERIENCE cellphones can interrupt chusetts. "Why some, and
unique capability of flash- annual Pennsylvania Firefly To walk on the edge of mating and impact the why not others? Why are
ing in glorious, almost oth- Festival here, offering an Tionesta Creek, cross over next firefly generation. they doing it? We still don't
erworldly unison. intricate, quiet and fleeting "firefly island" and wander And yet, the appreciation know."
The display happens every experience where science into the forest to see the of natural phenomena in There are theories. The first,
year in North America as and poetry live side by side. synchronous insects glow- an age of videogames known as "visual clutter,"
spring ebbs into summer. It Visitors come to see the ing and flitting above is to and synthetic distractions is suggests that it's to male
sweeps north as tempera- "Chinese lantern" fireflies ponder a wonderful ques- worth something, too. fireflies' advantage to clus-
tures warm, up from Ten- that seem to float through tion: Where do the fireflies "I'm very actively trying to ter so they're broadcasting
nessee's Smoky Mountains the air by Tionesta Creek. end and the stars begin? spend my life not staring at in sync with other males in
to, on this night, the thick But they come, most of all, The Butlers moved here a screen," says Kiley Voss, their line of sight, thus at-
woods of the 500,000-acre for the synchronous fireflies, from Ohio several years 21, of Buffalo, New York, tracting female attention.
(200,000-hectare) Allegh- that put on their choreo- ago with no idea of the who's studying conserva- The second theory, the "si-
eny National Forest, 100 graphed light show for two bounty in their backyard. tion biology and interning lent window," focuses not
miles (160 kilometers) from weeks in late June in the Firefly researchers showed with the Butlers. "I want to on the synchronized light-
Pittsburgh. forest around the Butlers' up and told them, essen- spend my life outdoors and ing but in the pause for
Of hundreds of types of Black Caddis Ranch. tially, "Prepare yourselves. be places where there's no darkness between bursts.
fireflies, these are perhaps "It's so hard to put into You're going to get a lot of cell service. This is one of Perhaps, that theory goes,
the most remarkable. What words," Peggy Butler says. visitors." those places." if they're all dark for 6 sec-
they do, in a world of mass- "A lot of people tell us They did. Last year, more ___ onds or so, they can more
produced experiences, is they're here for a bucket than 500 people con- THE SCIENCE BEHIND IT easily see females flashing
organic and natural and list item. They're trying to verged on their property How do they do it? And in the brush below.q
for the festival. This year,
campgrounds are booked
for peak firefly season.
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-
This June 13, 2019 shows versicolor, or "Chinese lanterns," fire- This June 13, 2019 photo shows a sign in the Allegheny National
flies that seem to float through the air along a path on the Tio- mature insects, more foot Forest that directs hikers to Peggy and Ken Butler's Black Caddis
nesta Creek in Kettleville, Pa. traffic can mean more fire- Ranch in Kelletville, Pa.
Associated Press fly casualties. And because Associated Press