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Anecdotally I have seen a huge decrease in firefly's here in SE Michigan over the last few years. Five or so years ago you'd see hundreds of them while driving
by whalesalad 4y ago
Anecdotally I have seen a huge decrease in firefly's here in SE Michigan over the last few years. Five or so years ago you'd see hundreds of them while driving through the farm fields or sitting in your backyard enjoying a summer brewski. Last few years I hardly recall seeing any of them anywhere.
- jcims 4y agoSame story in Ohio. Used to be able to drive along pastures and see thousands of fireflies. My daughter saw some last night for the first time in quite a while. There were less than a dozen in a quarter acre area. She’s 19 and has noticed the difference. (Same with Monarch butterflies albeit on a longer timescale)
- tomrod 4y agoI wonder if the many polar vortexes in 2014, (2015/2017?) have reduced insect populations substantially. I remember that foxes were frozen in fields in Columbus during 2014.
- jcims 4y agoThat’s a great question! No idea but it gives me a glimmer of hope it’s not purely human driven.
- omegaworks 4y agoThe polar vortex is a symptom of the weakening of the jetstream, thought to be occurring because of warming-driven melting of the arctic ice cap. Human-driven melting.
- dontbenebby 4y agoWere they less in urban areas? I didn't see them as much when I lived in a city, but I don't know how much of that was light pollution, it's very difficult where I am to get out someplace where you could see the Milky Way without a car, and when I would I'd see a lot but "swarm" isn't the word I'd use. More like pixels blinking in a weird pattern.
- hedora 4y agoThey used to be extremely common in suburbs.