They are a shining symbol of summer, twinkling around your neighborhood like stars in the sky, floating through your yard and glowing as they land in the palm of your hand.
Can you imagine a summer without fireflies?
In the midst of a biodiversity crisis, the degradation of wetlands, the abundance of pesticides on our lawns, and light pollution in urban and suburban areas, fireflies could very well be at risk. If fireflies are in danger, that indicates that many other species are as well.
Fireflies vs lightning bugs
While we often refer to them as fireflies, the truth is that they are not flies at all. Fireflies are part of the Lampyridae family, a family of soft-bodied winged beetles, many of which are light-emitting.
According to firefly.org, There are over 2,000 species of fireflies that occur all over the world, allowing them to be well known across hundreds of regions and cultures. Therefore, the glowing bugs can be called a ton of different names depending on where you are from.
In the United States, most people call them either fireflies or lightning bugs.
Fireflies in New Jersey
Fireflies tend to like warm and fairly wet weather, typically appearing in May, June or July in the United States. In some warmer states such as Texas, they can be spotted late in the season, sometimes into October and November under the right conditions.
There are approximately 150 species of fireflies in North America, according to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. About 30 of these species are known to or thought to be found in New Jersey.
Although these beloved beetles are the highly anticipated harbinger of the summer, the NJDEP says that they are not well studied or understood in the state.
According to Christopher M. Heckscher, firefly researcher and professor of environmental science and ecology at Delaware State University, this is not just an issue New Jersey. Overall, we know so little about fireflies compared to some other species such as butterflies or dragonflies.
"I think the reason we know so little about them in comparison to things like butterflies and dragonflies is because to study them you have to be willing to be outside late at night, sometimes in really remote areas," said Heckscher. "We found that fireflies are often associated with different types of wetlands, so not only do you have to be outside at night, but you also have to be in a wetland somewhere. That can be challenging."
"They're charismatic, everybody loves fireflies, so it's surprising that we know so little about them and when I realized how little we knew I took it on as a challenge," said Heckscher, who takes an interest in the occurrence of species that do not have a lot of information available about them.
Over the last 20 years or so Heckscher has conducted firefly research all up and down the East Coast with most of his work being done in Delaware.
He says that it is important to gather information on lesser-known species so we can get a better handle on how to preserve them.
"Most people recognize that we are in a climate crisis, but we are also in a biodiversity crisis which I think is just as important as the climate crisis," said Heckscher.
He continued, "If we don't understand where species are, how abundant they are, or how rare they are, then there's not any incentive to protect them."
Are fireflies disappearing?
As the threat of biodiversity loss persists, many people have said that they feel like they don't see as many fireflies as they used to.
According to Heckscher, while there is not a lot of hard, quantitative data on this topic, it is likely to be the case as issues such as overdevelopment, the draining of wetlands, and the use of chemicals and pesticides continue to stifle native species.
Fireflies are sensitive to pesticides, so it is likely that spraying chemicals on our lawns are a danger to them.
Many firefly species are associated with wetlands which, over the years, humans have drained and developed. Invasive species have also become an issue in many wetland ecosystems.
In addition, artificial light is thought to be a big problem for fireflies.
"We all know those things are happening and none of them can be good for fireflies," says Heckscher. "So that's kind of where we are in terms of thinking that we are probably seeing less fireflies than we used to."
What can you do to help fireflies
If you are interested in helping fireflies there are a few things that you can do right in your own backyard, according to Heckscher.
- Leave things like leaf litter or damp wood in your yard if possible. Fireflies spend most of their lives in the soil and under leaf litter
- Avoid the use of chemicals on your lawn
- Turn off outside lights at night or install motion sensitive lights instead of keeping them on all night
Another thing you can do if you want to help fireflies is take action and get involved in advocacy for the preservation of open space.
"The more local municipalities and governments hear from folks about the importance of preserving open space, that's gonna have a great effect, not only on fireflies, but also on other native species that might be having trouble," said Heckscher.
You can even attend a firefly festival such as the South Jersey Firefly Festival which is run by the Gloucester County Nature Club. This festival takes place at the Tall Pines State Reserve and features fun education stations along a half-mile trail followed by "nature's light show," as the nighttime settles in.
The 2024 festival took place on June 30, but you can keep an eye out for next year's event and other similar festivals in and around New Jersey.
Additionally, there have been some firefly citizen scientist efforts that, according to Heckscher, have really taken off in recent years and are showing a lot of promise in getting people more involved with fireflies and their conservation.
For example, the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation put together a firefly atlas where people can register and submit their firefly sightings. Registered participants can also conduct a full survey and submit their data.
"That does help folks like me track where different populations are, and there have been new populations of fireflies discovered from regular citizens reporting their firefly observations. So that's a really cool way to get people involved," said Heckscher. "And this has only really been going on for the last few years so it's a new kind of effort that shows a lot of promise."
If you are looking to get involved in firefly research and conservation, you can visit fireflyatlas.org.
"Fireflies are indicators of the health of our environment because we know that they are sensitive to all these things ... They do represent changes in our environment so they're not the only species that are affected by these changes but they're great indicators," said Heckscher. "So, the fact that we're focusing on fireflies, and everybody loves fireflies, that's a good thing."
He continued, "But we also have to remember that it's not just fireflies that we might be losing. If we're losing fireflies, we're losing a whole lot more."
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