Catching fireflies is an iconic summer experience for many people living in North America, but the flickering beetles are on the decline.
Catching fireflies is an iconic summer experience for many people living in North America, but the flickering beetles are on the decline. New research has identified factors that may be contributing to declining populations.
The study, which is available online now and will be published in the June 15 issue of Science of the Total Environment, suggests that fireflies are sensitive to various environmental factors, from short-term weather conditions to longer climatic trends.
The team — including researchers from Penn State, the University of Kentucky, Bucknell University and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service — used advanced artificial intelligence-based machine learning techniques to analyze more than 24,000 surveys conducted through the citizen science initiative Firefly Watch, now called Firefly Atlas, to arrive at their conclusions.
Read more at: Penn State University
The study found that fireflies are sensitive to various environmental factors, from short-term weather conditions to longer climatic trends. (Photo Credit: Carla Long)
