The Last Firefly: Urbanization Rapidly Destroying Firefly Populations

A dying Photinus firefly struggles to right itself after a short maiden flight in which it was probably exposed to pyrethrins sprayed by a fogger.

Firefly demes are rapidly being devastated by light pollution, over spraying for mosquitoes by oil-based foggers, and turning forest, fields and meadows into asphalt parking lots and concrete urban jungles.
By Terry Lynch, Naturalist and Photographer

On a warm summer's eve I've see displays of thousands of fireflies, the largest displays being in rural areas absent of any human habitation or artificial light sources. The primary exception to this has been in my younger years when I studied Photinus pyralis in Jacksonville, Alabama, where I lived just a block away form Talladega National Forest. Although my home was in a developed neighborhood with street lights upon every corner, there were no mosquito sprayers and an abundance of P. pyralis occurred in my backyard, sparking a life-long interest in creatures which glow.

Through the years I'd often note the observation of fireflies in Firefly Notebooks which I kept, along with other observations of animals and plants which I enjoyed observing, studying and photographing. In fact, I've been carrying around a camera since that first Kodak box camera my father, Lt. Col. Leonard P. Lynch, gave me when I was seven years old. This has enabled me to better record my observations and sharpen my memory, indeed, making me a better observer and journalist. It also helped to learn how to draw, a skill I perfected, working as a scientific and technical illustrator and photographer, with many of my charts, graphs, maps, tables and even some of my photographs appearing in scientific and technical journals under the authorship of eminent professors who could not draw a straight line, much less use a French curve.

The advent of the Internet which, unlike Al Gore, I had no part in inventing :-), enabled me to self publish many of my studies of fireflies in a form which both the general public as well as the academic community might enjoy. One of the most popular sites I have produced is Firefly FAQ, which has helped people everywhere learn about fireflies, and sparked an interest in the more serious study of fireflies. In 2008 the Museum of Science, in Boston, took up the challenge of stimulating interest in firefly observation starting a Firefly Watch project. Since my own firefly forums had been sabotaged by spammers, I decided to join in the effort being made by the MOS that my skills, abilities, experience and long history of observing, studying and learning about fireflies might help, offering to assist in the identification of firefly specimens that everyone may make more accurate reports of the fireflies they are observing. This was also prompted by the fact that the MOS FFW program was not asking everyone to collect and identify specimens, which I regarded as BAD science. Although the pioneering work of Dr. James E. Lloyd and others revealed that firefly species each have distinctive flash-patters characteristic of the respective species observed in a particular deme, the flash patters of fireflies that were recorded were always associated with specimens that were collected and later identified through very close examination of their morphology. To jump to the conclusion that flash pattern alone may be used to confirm and identify fireflies is a pretty big leap of faith, one I believe makes for some pretty BAD science. Thus I signed on to the MOS FFW project as Dr. Firefly, creating a Dr. Firefly's ID Service asking everyone to collect, preserve and send firefly specimens and photographs of fireflies. Hopefully this will enable the production of dichotomous keys that may better enable everyone to identify the fireflies they are interested in observing and studying.

I am also hoping that through setting a good example of how to make good and accurate firefly observations, I might stimulate others to do the same. Thus my first report to the MOS FFW project was made 3 July, 2010, after a visit to Lake Archusa, Mississippi. This is a location which is enjoyed by the community and people of Clarke County, Mississippi, being used primarily for such recreation as fishing, water skiing, jet skiing, swimming, walking, outdoor concerts, festivals, camping and generally enjoying the great outdoors. The rural location of Lake Archusa makes it an ideal location to study nature and observe how humans are impacting such species as fireflies.

Lake Archusa, Mississippi is a popular area with locals who enjoy fishing, boating and other outdoor recreation. Fishermen are seen here looking west from the area where firefly observations were made during the summer of 2010 by Terry Lynch. Several species of Photinus were observed as well as Photuris.

As I was observing fireflies at Lake Archusa on the 4th of July eve, a band played "Sweet Home Alabama" from across the lake where hundreds of people had gathered to listen to the music and enjoy a fireworks display. I was the only one watching fireflies. Suddenly my firefly observations were interrupted by the explosion of fireworks, bombs bursting in the air, disrupting the summer's eve. I turned my attention to the celebration, sitting down by the lake's edge, camera in hand to record the fireworks display. I clicked the camera's shutter just at the right moment to capture exploding bursts. It was not fireflies, but a spectacular display of lights in the night sky over Lake Archusa, none the less.

The author's firefly observations were interrupted by fireworks exploding over Lake Archusa during a 4th of July celebration. Photo © 2010 by Terry Lynch 2 sec. exposure, IS0 100 F 3.5

Boats of partying spectators cruised over the darkened lake, the cheers and screams of excited recreational boaters following each exploding burst and blast of fireworks, dwarfing the chirp of crickets, the chatter of katydids and the rush of waves from the wake of boats rushing into shore. Not a single firefly lit the night as people partied upon their boats, loving and laughing, drifting over the water. Every few moments more fireworks would explode into the darkened sky adding their red, green, blue and white phosphors to the star lit sky with a loud boom, boom, boom! Fireflies flash but they do not disturb the night with a boom, least that what an adoring female hears inside her tiny firefly brain! :-)

Sitting my back against a tree, I listened to nature's orchestra, now joined by the concert across Lake Archusa. I was reminded of my firefly hunts many years ago upon the University of Florida campus as the sound of partying bellowed from Fraternity Row. Nothing has changed in all these years 'cept now the partying is in rural America, sound and light polluting the night. I wonder will the children of tomorrow see any fireflies, not so much because they may have disappeared completely as the fact that in those places where fireflies still dance, any humans will be watching fireworks and listing to rock, singing, dancing, romancing deep into the night.

Lake Archusa is lit up by a great burst of fireworks during a 4th of July celebration. Photo © 2010 by Terry Lynch 2 sec. exposure, IS0 100 F 3.5

It was, perhaps, such partying which rudely interrupted my firefly watching so many years ago, and now it is happening again, only here I am at Lake Archusa, the stars arching across the sky of the whole USA, no one else aware that a few fireflies are struggling against the blinding lights of urbanization and man's encroachment to survive.

As Venus sets beneath the tree tops in the west I look across Lake Archuas. "Ride Sally Ride" is playing loud and clear from the concert stage. Fireworks still are exploding occasionally in the distance in celebration of the Fourth of July. I sit waiting, hoping to see at least one late flying firefly as Venus dips beneath the horizon and vanishes from the heavens. How long will it be before the last firefly follows her and is gone forever? One can but wonder. Hopefully it will not be in my lifetime, yet with ecological disasters like the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, I'm not very confident in humanity's ability to care for planet Earth, not if we continue on the path we are on burning fossil fuels and making everything from foam cups and mugs to automobiles and airplanes out of plastic!

Walking along the asphalt trail around Lake Archusa with my dog, Angel, I pause for a moment, my shadow falling long on the ground. Imagine that, seeing one's shadow in the middle of the night! It's the result of a blazing halide stadium light set to operate throughout the night, from dusk 'til dawn, illuminating the park so paranoid are people that they turn night into day. I take a photograph, a self portraits, though all it shows is a man and his dog.

The author paused briefly to take this photo of his long shadow being cast by a bright halide lamp in the middle of the night as his dog, Angel, waits patiently for walking to resume. Photo © 2010 by Terry Lynch. 1 sec. Exposure. with flash at IS0 100 F 2.6

That's how I want to be remembered, a man and his dog walking through the night searching for creatures which glow! What better epitaph could there possibly be for me and posterity!

Pausing upon the asphalt walk which leads into the distance, disappearing, I ponder the role asphalt has played in the disappearance of fireflies. The larvae of fireflies need soil in which to live and develop as do the earthworms and other soft bodied animals they feed upon. Turning fields, forest and other firefly habitats into asphalt highways, walkways, and parking lots is dooms day for firefly populations.

Am I the only one who cares about the disappearance of fireflies? Am I the only one who wonders what is destroying the fireflies? I use to think that this might be the case, or at least that I was among the very few people who really cared about fireflies and had a passion for their study. But over the years I've found a few others who share my passion, if not for fireflies, at least for other insects and creatures which glow. But often I've felt that I was on the outside looking in, seeing an apathetic world partying and little concerned about such matters as vanishing fireflies.

Then there are those times when I have been distracted from my firefly and nature studies with life's concerns, on the inside looking out. I would have to work and struggle just to make ends meet. For many years I helped take care of my dear mother, La Faye S. Lynch, who one day just lost a good bit of her mind and was diagnosed with dementia. She was here and we were talking, just as I might be with you now, then in a flash she was gone! I also spent many years as a guardian for my brother Larry, who had mental retardation from birth. It is difficult to find time to study fireflies when there are such pressing family needs.

I've been on the inside looking out and on the outside looking in. One day I'll be in the great beyond, up their in the heavens looking down. Hope I still see some fireflies flashing in the night, and a few other mortal souls alive, searching for creatures which glow. Maybe I'll even see you, who knows?

Bright halide light in park at Lake Archusa attracts moths and other nocturnal insects from the surrounding forest of pine and oak. Perhaps the worst location for such bright lights is at a lake side where it serves much like a lighthouse beacon, beaming across the wide open expanse of the lake, attracting flying insects from a great distance, blinding moths and beetles, causing erratic flight patterns, interfering with their reproduction and contributing to their extinction and demise. Photo © 2010 by Terry Lynch. Canon Zoom Lens 4x15 5.8-23.2 mm, IS0 200, Exposure 1 sec. F 5.5

Leaving Lake Archusa I gazed up at the bright lights as myriads of bedazzled moths and beetles flew in maddened flight about the blinding light. How many tons of insects around the nation and the world succumb to such bright hypnotic lights? From space you can look down at Earth and see vast areas where night has been turned to day by artificial lighting. Humanity is polluting the planet with artificial lighting. Why is this being done? Are the majority of people just afraid of the dark? Is it because of the profit to be made from artificial lighting and the electricity it takes to provide for such great amounts of artificial lighting? Or is it simply because people are ignorant and do not care how much their actions destroy the natural world around them?

I'd be quite happy if there were no artificial lights illuminating the night. I recall after hurricane Katrina swept through my little town that the power was off for several days. I could look up and see the stars as they were meant to be seen. With every street lamp that is lit you loose some stars. Light enough street lamps and the entire heaven of stars disappears in a hazy glow. I wonder if not only will our children's children be able to see fireflies, but will they be able to see the stars?

Some areas around Lake Archusa have been developed and have very bright lights for security. The sodium colored lights (left) do not attract insects; however, bright halide lamps (right) cause an extreme amount of light pollution and can attract moths and beetles from great distances. These bright lights may also make it difficult for many species of fireflies to locate females and mate. Plus if you turn on enough artificial lamps at night you will not be able to see a single star! PHOTO © 2010 by Terry Lynch

Are fireflies disappearing in your area? Are firefly demes being effected by air pollution, by poisons and insecticides in the air? Does the over spraying for mosquitoes effect firefly life span, mating and numbers of firefly larvae produced? The MOS FFW program is endeavoring to answer these questions by asking everyone, everywhere to watch for fireflies. Although such a firefly watch may yield useful data, especially if conducted over a long period of time, say 20 years, and include the collection of species specific data, there are better ways to determine how such factors as air pollution may be effecting firefly life span, and hence causing firefly populations to dwindle. Its called the scientific method, which has been around for quite awhile. Simply do a controlled experiment to test the effects of pollutants upon firefly life span.

When I began my studies of fireflies some 40 years ago, the first question I wanted to answer was how long do fireflies really live? I was curios to know this as I had read in the literature that adult fireflies have a short life span, but it was conjecture. No one knew for sure how long the species I was studying, Photinus pyralis, really lived. This was an important question to answer because I wanted to rear fireflies, and I needed to know how long adult fireflies lived if I was going to rear them in captivity, collect their eggs, hatch them and rear their larvae. So I did a controlled experiment. I collected large numbers of P. pyralis adults which were in quite abundance. I placed 100 fireflies in quart jars, with 10 fireflies per jar. In the control I places a piece of paper towel moistened with distilled water. In the first variable I placed sugar water and in the third variable I added diluted honey water, using distilled water to make a delute neutrient solution each case. Then each day I did a count of the fireflies that had died and those which remained alive, graphing the results. Through this experiment I found that the mean life span of adult P. pyralis males is two weeks and that those fed sugar water or honey water have their mean life span increased slightly. A report of these findings was made to the Florida Entomological Society in a presentation I delivered at their annual meeting held in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1971.

Repeating this experiment anyone, anywhere might establish the life span of fireflies and see if current conditions are effecting the life span of fireflies. Specimens may also be exposed to chemical agents such as insecticides used to kill mosquitoes, to see how this effects the life span of fireflies. I have not done this experiment again because there simply are not enough fireflies to collect in the area where I live, which itself may be an indication that such factors as over spraying for mosquitoes is wiping out firefly demes. I have, however, noticed that when a mosquito sprayer goes through a neighborhood it leaves in its wake fallen fireflies, glowing upon the ground, laying upside down, unable to walk or right themselves, their glow slowly fading as they perish. I have also captured individual fireflies and discovered that they may expire rapidly in captivity suggesting that they may have been exposed to chemical substances as larvae or as adults, and that therefore they do not live as long as the fireflies I studied years ago.

Testing the life span of adult fireflies is a simple experiment and may be repeated by anyone, anywhere to get some good data about how fireflies demes are being effected by such introduced factors as spraying for mosquitoes. Of course you need to a good population of fireflies to begin with in order to repeat this experiment. Since mosquito spraying in the community where I live has already decimated firefly demes, I hope others may repeat this experiment to measure the life span of fireflies in their area. Also one may test the effects of chemical agents upon adult fireflies by exposing them to small amounts of insecticides commonly use to control mosquitoes. I suspect you may discover such agents are extremely toxic to fireflies causing them to drop like flies. This is not, perhaps, an experiment for the firefly lover.

Having seen great displays of fireflies and witnessed the effect of municipal mosquito spraying upon fireflies, I'm already convinced that a primary cause of the demise of firefly populations in communities which regularly spray for mosquitoes is the truck foggers which prowl the night and spew their clouds of oil-based toxins into the air. Mosquito control programs may also use larvacides to kill developing mosquitoes. Certainly these poisons may effect firefly larvae in aquatic areas or the food upon which the feed. Then you have the use of weed killers, especially when applied by commercial companies to entire lawns in heavy dosages. I suspect weed killer is not what a mother firefly would want her babies eating any more than you would put it in food and feed to your human babies. Yet we do not hesitate to use poisonous substances upon our lawns and gardens to kill and control pests or weeds. The problem is that in the process we may be killing fireflies and other beneficial insects.

Recently I collected a solitary firefly, one of the few I saw flying and flashing searching for a mate. After capturing the firefly I too flashed my small flashlight, simulating the male's flash. I was not able to locate a single female firefly response. I then took this solitary male firefly home and placed it in a nice glass quart jar with a moist piece of paper towel. I was expecting the firefly to live at least for several days. Yet only a few hours later I observed the firefly on its back expiring. The firefly could not right itself, walk or fly, and appeared to be dying. I made a video to record the firefly's behavior. What killed the firefly? Was it exposure to pollutants in the air on its maiden flight? Are their toxic agents in the municipal water supply? I was careless, perhaps, and did not use distilled water, there being none in my home at the time. I put a bottle of distilled water on my shopping list today, that should I capture any more fireflies this years, I'll be able to repeat this experiment and see if they live for longer than over night.

In the morning the single firefly I caught was laying upside down, motionless. Prior to turning in for the night, I had checked it for glow. I was able to tap the Petri dish into which I had placed the firefly for making a video and stimulate two brief partial flashes. After a few minutes of rest I again tapped upon the Petri dish vigorously to try to make the firefly flash, but there was no response. The firefly was expiring very slowly and could not even fire its lantern when disturbed. What toxic agents would cause such a dreadful demise of this last firefly, stealing away its flash, that none might see its vanishing? Have the big oil and chemical companies grown wise and deceptive, that now the toxins they are using kill fireflies without allowing the fireflies to advertise the fact with a diminutive glow? Who is profiting from the over spraying for mosquitoes? Those foggers which prowl the night use a mist of oil and toxic chemicals. Is big oil and the chemical companies they foster behind the demise of fireflies? Is British Petroleum (aka BP) destroying fireflies in America? Is the same company that caused the worst ecological disaster in history, the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, also largely responsible for the extermination of fireflies in America and around the world? How much money are these big oil and chemical companies making by marketing their oil-fogger control programs to municipalities? Is the vanishing of fireflies the result of greed and profiteering enabled by mass hysteria, paranoia and mosquito born disease phobia? I suspect this is the case, but who am I to sound the alarm? I am simply a humble man who enjoys exploring for creatures which glow.

As I set watching the replay of the last firefly dying, laying upside down, wiggling its legs, I ponder. Is this the fate of all fireflies? Are my tax dollars paying for the toxic chemicals that were in all probability the cause of this firefly's demise? Can the carnage be stopped? Am I the only one who sees what is happening to the fireflies? If others see, why don't they speak out? Are they still in doubt, those esteemed professors who might have some clout? Why do not they carry forth the cry and shout, "The foggers are coming! The foggers are coming!" Am I the only one sounding the alarm? Will people think me mad to express my care and concern for the extermination of fireflies? Does anyone else even care that fireflies are vanishing? Am I the only one with a heart for fireflies?

Some years ago I created a drawing of a firefly glowing and made this into a heart of fireflies. I also created a number of other firefly designs making them available upon gifts and apparel. I was hoping this might spark an interest in fireflies or provide a way that those who enjoy studying fireflies may express their passion. You may find these Safe The Firefly and other Firefly Promotions on-line. Their purchase may help raise awareness and let others know that fireflies are important, that they are disappearing in some areas, that unless we take notice and action to rectify the situation, one day there may be no fireflies. The fireflies you are seeing tonight may be the last fireflies you will ever see unless we discover the reason for their demise and stop their senseless extermination.

The firefly I caught on July 4, 2010 took some 2.5 days to expire. I made a review of foggers and learned that the most common insecticide used was pyrethrins, which effects the nervous system of insects such that they can not fly or walk. Pyrethrins cause a quick knock down of insects and a very slow death, exactly like that which I recorded. Indeed, I had observed the smell of pyrethrins in the air on July 4th; the firefly I collected had expired as a result of exposure to pyrethrins sprayed by a fogger rumbling through the night, spewing a cloud of oil-based toxin. It was not the first time that I'd seen fireflies being exterminated in this fashion; years ago I'd witnessed similar carnage, finding fireflies glowing upon the ground in the darkness after a foggers has rumbled through the neighborhood where I lived in Montgomery, Alabama. I decided that this firefly and all the millions upon millions of fireflies which have suffered a similar demise shall not have died in vain and wrote a poem entitled, "Foggers."

Save The Firefly Stop The Foggers!

Help raise awareness and Save the Firefly with these adorable gifts and apparel.

Help raise awareness and express your passion with these adorable I Love Firefly gifts and apparel.

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