Last summer, I had the privilege of witnessing one of nature’s greatest spectacles; the emergence of a brood of periodic cicadas. However, this particular event was special, once in a lifetime even; a double brood event, meaning that two cicada broods emerge simultaneously. For this, I made a special expedition to the wilds of Springfield, Illinois due to the fact that it was an area where the two cicada broods overlap.(1) Today, let’s explore what makes these insects so fascinating. The term “periodical cicada” can actually refer to one of several species of cicada in the genus Magicicada. All native to eastern North America, these insects are well known for their distinctive reproductive cycle. In the beginning, a cicada hatches from an egg typically laid on branches and twigs. Upon hatching, the young cicada will proceed to make their way underground, where they will stay and feed on tree sap for over a decade.(3) For the species M. tredecim, M. neotredecim, M. tredecassini, & M. tredecula, This represents a period of 13 years; they are beat in this regard by M. septendecim, M. Cassini, & M. septendecula, which spend a whopping 17 years underground.(2) After this extensive period of digging tunnels and feeding on plant roots, the cicada will then become a nymph, which sees them digging to the surface and shedding their exoskeletons to develop into their adult form. It is in this adult form that we hear the distinctive calls of the cicada, produced by the males for the purpose of attracting a mate. After mating, the cicadas die off, in which the life cycle starts anew.(3) It should be noted that all species of cicada follow a similar outline for their life cycles, albeit within different time frames.  The method by which these critters create their signature sound is also quite fascinating. Insects, and by extension cicadas, do not posses many of the organs that many vertebrates, such as ourselves, use to produce sound; these include organs such as lungs, tracheas, voice boxes, and tounges. Instead, cicadas have developed the ability to produce noise through a combination of two methods. The first of these methods is through rubbing it’s wings together in a fashion not too dissimilar to the way that crickets rub their legs together to produce their distinct nighttime call. The other method that cicadas use to produce their sound is through the use of an organ known as a tymbal. The tymbal is a series of ribs that cicadas flex to produce sound. To borrow an analogy from Kyle Scheiber, who wrote on behalf of the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum of the Chicago Academy of the Sciences, “The action is like how a bendy straw makes sound: pulling and pushing the ribs of the bendy straw together makes a series of clicks. If you could push, pull, and twist a bendy straw hundreds of times a second the sound of the clicks would be so close together that you’d only hear a buzzing sound: this is how fast the cicada is able to vibrate its tymbal.”(6)  From the perspective of a large mammal such as ourselves, this may not necessarily seem like an exhilarating subject, the effects can be earthshaking when felt from the emergence of billions of insects, as is what happens with the periodical cicada. When walking through the forest, it felt as though I was immersed in an alien landscape. At all hours of the day, the normal quiet background soundscape of the woods was replaced by the constant droning of billions upon billions of inch long insects, trying to make the most of their short 4-6 weeks on the surface to continue the species. In the branches and stems of the understory the diligent naturalist can find the small exoskeletons left behind by the nymphs when growing into adults, a physical echo of their subterranean life. Even the soil is changed, with any exposed patches becoming a trypophobic mosaic of holes left from the emerging cicadas. While this special double emergence of overlapping periodical cicada brood was rare, specifically only happening once every 221 years, researchers have studied both it and past periodical cicada events and have found that these small creatures can have significant impacts on the ecosystems they call home. One paper that has been crafted from this research is “Activity responses of a mammal community to a 17-year cicada emergence event” by Alex S Proudman, Landon Jones, Morgan O Watkins, & Elizabeth Flaherty. Published in the Journal of Mammalogy, the researchers used trail cameras and audio recording devices to monitor various mammal species in Northwest Indiana. They found that raccoons significantly changed their behavior in response to the cicadas, indicating that they may have fed extensively on periodic cicadas, while white-tailed deer had a significant decrease in activity, likely due to the noise of the cicadas.(5) Another study conducted to research the effects of periodic cicada is “Influences of a periodical cicada emergence on eastern phoebe reproduction and behavior” by Allison M Klement. In this study, it was found that Sayornis phoebe, or the Eastern phoebe, more rapidly laid second egg clutches, had bigger second clutches, and overall had a more productive breeding season during a periodical cicada event in 2004 as compared to a more typical year in 2005.(4) Experiencing this once in a lifetime event was one of the best experiences of my life. While much has, rightfully, been made about seeing the great migrations of the Serengeti or the migrations of the titanic baleen whales, the periodical cicada reminds us that the wonder of nature can also be found in the small creatures and places that are often overlooked. It’s a reminder to always be on the lookout for the treasures of the natural world because you never how it’s small things will surprise you in a big way. Citations & Farther Reading
1.Borenstein, S. (2024, June 14). Illinois is hit with Cicada Chaos. this is what it’s like to see, hear and feel billions of bugs. AP News. https://apnews.com/article/cicada-invasion-buzz-alien-illinois-bugs-ab82f46e224ea56a44302a3b569e8074 2.Cooley, J. (2017, February 17). Species. Periodical Cicada Information Pages. https://cicadas.uconn.edu/species/ 3.Jesse. (2024, May 29). The 3 stages of the cicada life cycle. Wildlife Informer. https://wildlifeinformer.com/cicada-life-cycle/ 4.Klement, A. M. (n.d.). Influences of a periodical cicada emergence on eastern Phoebe reproduction and behavior. Purdue e-Pubs. https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/dissertations/AAI1490670/ 5.Proudman, A. S., Jones, L. R., Watkins, M. O., & Flaherty, E. A. (2024). Activity responses of a mammal community to a 17-year cicada emergence event. Journal of Mammalogy, 105(5), 1190–1199. https://doi.org/10.1093/jmammal/gyae062 6.Schiber, K. (2017, August 25). How do cicadas make sound?. Nature Museum. https://naturemuseum.org/cas/blog/how-do-cicadas-make-sound
0 Comments
 The internet archive, founded in 1996, is a nonprofit organization intending to be a universally accessible internet based library where one can access a variety of cultural, scientific, and historical materials. One of their most well known projects is the Wayback Machine, an archive of web pages currently numbering at 835 billion pages. The internet archive itself also boasts impressive collections, such as 44 million books, 4.8 million images, and 1 million software programs.(1)
Unfortunately, the archive is currently facing significant legal threat. A number of book publishers have filed a lawsuit against the Internet archive, specifically in regards to their open library program. In this program, the archive uses a process known as controlled digital lending, or CDL. With CDL libraries, such as the archive, lend out a limited number of (2) The library has lost the initial trial in this case, resulting in the removal of half a million books from their collection.(3) The archive is currently filing an appeal. If you wish to help them in their efforts to protect against the continued attack against libraries in America, they ask that you sign this open letter and to watch their arguments tomorrow at 10 am. You can also donate to them here. 1. About the Internet Archive. Internet Archive: About IA. (n.d.). https://archive.org/about/ 2. McSherry, C. (2024, April 17). Hachette v. internet archive. Electronic Frontier Foundation. https://www.eff.org/cases/hachette-v-internet-archive 3. Meyer, D. (n.d.). The internet’s memory is under threat. MSN. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/the-internet-s-memory-is-under-threat/ar-BB1oRToN Hello Everyone, I would like to announce that the good folks over at Voyage Michigan Magazine have interviewed me an have featured me in a story! Feel free to check it out here: Article
I am happy to announce that Forest Photographer studios is officially open for business. If you are interested in helping to support my work, feel free to check out the shops I have on Fine Art America, Society6, and Zazzle. I also have a Patreon if you would prefer supporting me through that route. I sincerely hope that this marks the beginning of something great!
Hello, I'm Forest Photographer. I'm a photographer from West Michigan with a strong interest in the natural world, science, and the world broadly. I currently have an Instagram and a Pinterest, with plans for future social media accounts. I am also planning on starting a Patreon and establishing a presence on Fine Art America and Redbubble to help support my work. In terms of the blog aspect of the site, I am currently planning on using it to help promote my photography work as well as for general blog posts for mine and everyone's enjoyment. If people like the blog and/or I enjoy blogging, I plan to make the blog a more prominent part of the site and potentially into a distinct thing. I hope you enjoy! Categories
|
AuthorHey everyone, welcome to the blog! I enjoy photography, travel, nature, science, and conservation. CategoriesArchives
June 2024
|
RSS Feed