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An Analysis of Photic Flashing in Photinus pyralis to Light Pollution and Select Weather Parameters

Organization(s):Crestwood High School
Student(s):Jenna Baydoun Zahraa Najaf Sarah Gargouri
Grade Level:Secondary School (grades 9-12, ages 14-18)
GLOBE Educator(s):Diana Rae Johns
Contributors:
Report Type(s):International Virtual Science Symposium Report
Protocols:Air Temperature, Barometric Pressure, Precipitation, Relative Humidity, Wind
Presentation Poster: View Document
Language(s):
Date Submitted:04/10/2019
Firefly Protocols
Fireflies begin their mating season during early to mid-June in Southeastern Michigan but exact phenology varies year to year due to atmospheric, hydrologic, and other seasonal variations. Fireflies from two sites were sampled prior to beginning data collection in order to identify the specific species used throughout the research. After observing the firefly phenology, both specimens were identified as Photinus pyralis, a species indigenous to Southeast Michigan. Data collection began on June 18th, 2018 at two separate study sites. Site 1 was on a brightly illuminated main road located in a suburban neighborhood. Site 2 was farther off in a secluded area near a large grouping of mature trees, and where a significantly less amount of light pollution was evident. A variety of GLOBE weather data was collected daily including air temperature, air pressure, daily rainfall, humidity, etc., along with readings of light pollution using a “Sky Quality Meter (measures the brightness of the night sky in magnitudes per square arcsecond). Researchers would head out daily to count the number of flashes and record GLOBE data around dusk. Information was then entered into the GLOBE database website and entered onto an Excel spreadsheet for future reference. An analysis of the data found a positive correlation between firefly flashes and light pollution, humidity, temperature, and precipitation. Fireflies were chosen for this research because of their potential sensitivity to light pollution and climate change. It’s hoped that this research can serve as a benchmark for local studies to see how populations of similar species might be impaired by habitat and climate change. For future references, it would be better to find a way to count the actual number of fireflies in each site as opposed to evaluating their flashing activity, allowing us to precisely pinpoint where population densities are present.



Comments

This is a fascinating experiment to understand how light pollution affects our ecosystem. Something to look into -- Globe at Night protocols indicates that you should take readings at least one hour after sunset. Your readings may be skewed if you took them at dusk.
Hello Tara,
Thank you so much for taking an interest in our project! While it is true that Globe protocol states that in order to gain maximum accuracy we are to take measurements at a certain time, however, our main goal in this research project was to track the number of flashes that come out during peak times. If we had followed through with the order of the Globe Night Protocols, we would have not been able to collect complete data about the frequency of the flash counts, as fireflies tend to come out during the beginning of dusk and retire in an hour or so. Thank you for the suggestions and we will be sure to take this into consideration and improve our data collection process for the better!