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Thread: Who Owns Appalachia’s Greatest Natural Light Show?

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    Post Who Owns Appalachia’s Greatest Natural Light Show?

    Who Owns Appalachia’s Greatest Natural Light Show? - Many viewers want to bask in synchronous fireflies’ glow. Ecologists want to ensure that the insects aren’t hurt in the process.

    Fireflies-Radim Schreiber_138764_Path_1200px.jpg


    Clyde Sorenson had a hunch. Archival data from the North Carolina Entomological Museum’s collection had led him to suspect that some of the fireflies atop Grandfather Mountain in western North Carolina might be more than the average lightning bug. An entomologist at North Carolina State University, Sorenson is the sort of college professor who challenges his students to write a Shakespearean sonnet praising their favorite insect. He headed up to the mountains in the summer of 2019, and while staying in one of Grandfather’s cabins, he decided to do a little investigating.

    “I got finished dinner, and I started poking around, turning on the porch light,” he says. “When it got good and dark, the synchronous fireflies started to show up. I was tickled on two scores: one, it’s really cool to see them. And two, I was right.”

    Sorenson had uncovered a population of synchronous fireflies pulsing in the heart of North Carolina’s Blue Ridge mountain range. Firefly displays vary wildly, depending on the species. Some, like the common Big Dipper firefly, flash in low, long swoops. Others hover close to the ground, glowing faintly and steadily, like the eerie Blue Ghost. But most displays are asynchronous—each bug creates its own beat.


    Photinus carolinus, the species that Sorenson found, is one of a small handful of synchronous firefly species in the world. These insects flash together in six to eight quick bursts, then go dark for eight seconds. Biologists suspect that the pause evolved to confuse predators, allowing the fireflies to find a mate under brief cover of darkness.


    eastern FF.jpg

    synchronous-fireflies-22.jpg

    ezgif-2-90847cd960f2.gif

    ezgif-2-ad3562605d90.gif




    https://www.atlasobscura.com/article...ies-appalachia

    https://www.amusingplanet.com/2016/0...fireflies.html
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    RMNIXON (04-24-2021)

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    Quote Originally Posted by DGUtley View Post
    Who Owns Appalachia’s Greatest Natural Light Show? - Many viewers want to bask in synchronous fireflies’ glow. Ecologists want to ensure that the insects aren’t hurt in the process.


    Attachment 37428


    Clyde Sorenson had a hunch. Archival data from the North Carolina Entomological Museum’s collection had led him to suspect that some of the fireflies atop Grandfather Mountain in western North Carolina might be more than the average lightning bug. An entomologist at North Carolina State University, Sorenson is the sort of college professor who challenges his students to write a Shakespearean sonnet praising their favorite insect. He headed up to the mountains in the summer of 2019, and while staying in one of Grandfather’s cabins, he decided to do a little investigating.

    “I got finished dinner, and I started poking around, turning on the porch light,” he says. “When it got good and dark, the synchronous fireflies started to show up. I was tickled on two scores: one, it’s really cool to see them. And two, I was right.”

    Sorenson had uncovered a population of synchronous fireflies pulsing in the heart of North Carolina’s Blue Ridge mountain range. Firefly displays vary wildly, depending on the species. Some, like the common Big Dipper firefly, flash in low, long swoops. Others hover close to the ground, glowing faintly and steadily, like the eerie Blue Ghost. But most displays are asynchronous—each bug creates its own beat.


    Photinus carolinus, the species that Sorenson found, is one of a small handful of synchronous firefly species in the world. These insects flash together in six to eight quick bursts, then go dark for eight seconds. Biologists suspect that the pause evolved to confuse predators, allowing the fireflies to find a mate under brief cover of darkness.


    Attachment 37429

    Attachment 37430

    Attachment 37431

    Attachment 37432




    https://www.atlasobscura.com/article...ies-appalachia

    https://www.amusingplanet.com/2016/0...fireflies.html
    What's a "firefly"? I've only ever heard of lightning bugs, lol.
    Cutesy Time is OVER

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    Quote Originally Posted by countryboy View Post
    What's a "firefly"?
    Last edited by Cletus; 04-24-2021 at 11:22 AM.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Cletus View Post
    For some reason your image isn't showing up. I was only kidding. In Ohio we call them lightning bugs.
    Cutesy Time is OVER

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    Fixed it.
    “Extremism in defense of liberty is no vice. Moderation in pursuit of justice is no virtue.” - Barry Goldwater

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    countryboy (04-24-2021)

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    Quote Originally Posted by countryboy View Post
    For some reason your image isn't showing up. I was only kidding. In Ohio we call them lightning bugs.

    They were lightning bugs in Arkansas, too.

    Fireflies in California, I think.

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