Have you seen fireflies lately?
Many people may not remember when they last saw fireflies. But you know what? Fireflies were once a very common insect in China and were distributed in many parts of China, especially in the southern and southeast coastal areas. If you lived in the countryside as a child, you may have seen them.
Since fireflies were once very common in our country, why can't we see them now?
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" Where did the fireflies go > data-track="4"? </h1>
At present, there are about 2,000 known species of fireflies in the world, there may be 200-300 species in China, and many fireflies have become extinct before we know it. There are many reasons for the extinction of fireflies, the most important of which is changes in the environment.
Fireflies are completely metamorphosed insects, going through four stages of eggs, nymphs, pupae and adult insects in their lives, of which the flying fireflies we see are the adult stage, but the adults only live for about 1 week, most of the time they appear as nymphs.
Fireflies are very demanding on the environment at any stage of development, too dry, too hot, too cold, too wet to ensure their survival. And fireflies are divided into aquatic and terrestrial, some fireflies like to lay eggs in water, and some fireflies like to lay eggs in the soil. Among them, the fireflies that like to lay eggs in the water are more affected by human agriculture, because people will dry up the water in the paddy field during the rice harvest season and plough the soil, making it difficult for firefly eggs to hatch and survive.
Also, in the impression of farmers, fireflies are pests that steal crops. But this is actually a slander of fireflies, the main stage of their life is nymphs, and nymphs do not feed on crops, but on snails, they will secrete a toxin, after killing snails can also be pre-digested, convenient for fireflies nymphs to eat. Many snails will endanger the development of agriculture, so from an agricultural point of view, fireflies are actually beneficial insects.
Adult fireflies can only live for about a week, when they have no intention of foraging, but are busy mating, even if they are hungry, they only feed on nectar and dew, which does not endanger agriculture.
Although fireflies do not harm agriculture, but can eliminate snails and benefit agriculture, they are victims of farmers' use of pesticides, and they are not as susceptible to pesticide resistance as other insects, so that the use of pesticides has reduced their populations and even disappeared locally.
In addition, light pollution can also cause their numbers to decline, and adult fireflies need to look for a mate in the darker nights, but the appearance of light makes it difficult for them to find their own mate. Adult fireflies have a lifespan of only about 1 week, and if they are too late to find a mate and give birth to offspring, their populations will also decline.
Although there are no fireflies in the city, the city has a great demand for fireflies, and some parks or weddings will buy fireflies to release and increase the atmosphere, but in fact, all these fireflies will die, because the urban environment is not suitable for their survival.
The researchers found that once the local fireflies disappeared, the fireflies would no longer appear naturally in the local area, because the fireflies did not migrate, they flew only about 100 meters away, and they lived in the same place for generations.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" Data-track="14" How do > protect fireflies? </h1>
Since the number of fireflies is constantly disappearing, what can we do for fireflies?
For those of us living in cities, the best thing to do is not to buy fireflies to release, or not to participate in any fireflies release activities. It should be known that the reason why merchants are willing to release fireflies is because this link will attract a large number of people, but it should be known that the vast majority of fireflies are released as a result of death.
For people living in the countryside, not selling them is the best protection.
For scientists, efforts are made to establish an ecological habitat for them, and to ban the use of pesticides and fertilizers in this habitat, so that they can provide a suitable breeding environment to protect them as much as possible. However, China's territory is vast and the distribution of fireflies is relatively wide, and this conservation activity is difficult to promote by one or two scientists, and it also needs more people's attention and investment.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="19" > summary</h1>
The reason why fireflies disappear is because fireflies have very high requirements for the environment and do not like to appear in places with light, so the environment in the city is not suitable for them. The number of fireflies in the countryside is declining due to the use of pesticides, problems such as water storage, pumping and ploughing in farmland, resulting in a low hatching rate.
Once the fireflies disappear from somewhere, then there will be no more fireflies in the local area, because the fireflies never migrate, so the fireflies in each place need people to spend time and energy to protect, which in turn increases the burden on researchers, and because of this, the number of fireflies will inevitably decline, or even disappear completely from somewhere.