Student Research Reports

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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.