Journal of Threatened Taxa |
www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 October 2022 | 14(10): 22016–22020
ISSN 0974-7907 (Online) | ISSN 0974-7893
(Print)
https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.7939.14.10.22016-22020
#7939 | Received 01 April 2022 | Final
received 09 July 2022 | Finally accepted 27 September 2022
Firefly survey:
adopting citizen science approach to record the status of flashing beetles
Nidhi Rana 1,
Rajesh Rayal 2 & V.P. Uniyal
3
1,2 Department of
Zoology, School of Basic & Applied Sciences, Shri Guru Ram Rai University,
Patel Nagar, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India.
1,3 Wildlife Institute of
India, Chandrabani, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India.
1 kuku.nidhi66@gmail.com,
2 drrajeshrayal@gmail.com (corresponding author), 3 uniyalvp@wii.gov.in
Abstract: Fireflies are
magnificent beetles, under the family Lampyridae
(order Coleoptera). They form an exceptional part of
a natural landscape. However, natural firefly populations are threatened by
several stressors, predominantly driven by anthropogenic development.
Evaluation of firefly abundance through counts of their flashes provides an
insight into the good health of the ecosystem, which could be easily observed
and recorded by citizen scientists. On the occasion of World Firefly Day (3–4
July 2021), a firefly counting survey was conducted to record their occurrence,
by engaging people from all over India, using the online platform. A datasheet
with appropriate questions was prepared; barcodes and links were generated for
the people. Through the survey, we received suitable participation and fitting
data from 14 states of India—Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Gujarat,
Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala,
Karnataka, West Bengal, Assam, and Ladakh. The total
number of fireflies that were observed from all these states together was more
than 26,000. Through the present study, significant data on fireflies
occurrence have been recorded from various parts of the country. In addition to
this, we get an understanding of using this citizen science approach on a
bigger spectrum for varieties of projects and an effortless system of educating
people.
Keywords: Anthropogenic
development, beetles, bioindicators, bioluminescence, citizen scientists,
ecosystem, Lampyridae, watch, World Firefly Day.
Editor: Anonymity requested. Date of publication: 26 October
2022 (online & print)
Citation: Rana, N., R. Rayal & V.P. Uniyal (2022). Firefly survey:
adopting citizen science approach to record the status of flashing beetles. Journal of Threatened
Taxa 14(10): 22016–22020. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.7939.14.10.22016-22020
Copyright: © Rana et al. 2022. Creative Commons
Attribution 4.0 International License. JoTT allows unrestricted use, reproduction, and
distribution of this article in any medium by providing adequate credit to the
author(s) and the source of publication.
Funding: The Rufford
Foundation, (Nidhi Rana-33710-1).
Competing interests: The authors
declare no competing interests.
Acknowledgements: Authors are thankful
to the Rufford Foundation for financial assistance to
conduct the study. Director and Dean Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, and
Shri Guru Ram Rai University authorities for encouragement and support. Mr. Sohom Seal and Amar Paul Singh for their help during the
present investigation.
Citizen science is an
approach of engaging non-technical people in gathering information, used by
scientists to investigate research problems (Bonney et al. 2009). With this
method of data collection, immense information could be gathered, and this
could lead to a larger database (Trumbull et al. 2000).
Fireflies are known
for showcasing the astonishing property of bioluminescence. The encounter with
these charismatic beetles, left behind beautiful memories in people of all ages
(Ho et al. 2009). Many people show interest and curiosity to know about their
bioluminescent phenomena. There are several citizen science projects on
fireflies in the USA, which worked successfully (Chow et al. 2014). Scientists
have used this approach for the evaluation of many insects population around
the world. But in India, we still lack these kinds of practices. There are more
than 2,000 species of fireflies all over the world (Lewis 2016). They provide
conspecific light signals for mating and predation (Lewis & Crastely 2008), and being holometabolous their life cycle
completes in four different life stages namely- egg, larva, pupa, and adult.
Unlike adults, the larva is a well-known predator of our garden pests like
snails and slugs, and other small invertebrates, hence work as biocontrol agent
and maintain the health of an ecosystem (Bogahawatta
2009). Other than this, fireflies are considered a flagship species, their
conservation can also lead to the conservation of other flora and fauna sharing
the same habitat (Fallon et al. 2019).
However, their
population is declining (Lewis et al. 2020). Recently, 18 species of fireflies
were characterized as threatened as per IUCN Red list (Fallon et al. 2021).
Fireflies are not only important for our ecosystem but also play an appreciable
role in boosting the economy (Lewis et al. 2021). As in countries like the USA,
Malaysia, Thailand, and Mexico, they have set up firefly parks and sanctuaries
for conservation purposes, which provides livelihood to the local people and
helps in generating funds (Lewis et al. 2021). Not only in these countries but
also in India we have places like Purushwadi, Bhandardara in Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra, where
they have camping sites along with firefly trails. However, such practices make
fireflies susceptible to numerous tourism-associated threats. But with proper
training programs for guides, conserving the much needed habitats, and by local
stakeholder involvement, these issues can be resolved (Lewis et al. 2021).
Firefly populations are declining over the globe (Lewis et al. 2020; Chatragadda 2020), which attracted our attention and we
came up with the citizen science approach as an appropriate tool for conducting
the survey. We used the online platform to engage people in the survey. To
address the importance of these magnificent beetles the whole world celebrates
World Firefly Day on the 3–4 July every year. In 2021, the day was also
celebrated in Dehradun (India) with an aim of generating information on
fireflies occurrence from different areas of the country.
Material and Methods
The current study was
a subset of a larger citizen science approach to assess occurrence reports of
fireflies across various areas of the country. For this preliminary assessment
an online survey on the occasion of World Firefly Day (3–4 July 2021) was
conducted. For the event, a cover page was designed using MS PowerPoint with
the theme of the event ‘firefly watch’ (Image 1). Datasheets (Image 2), two
barcodes, and three links were generated using the software (ArcGIS Survey
123). One of the three links was for pinpointing the location in the dashboard
so that exact coordinates of the fireflies sighting area could be extracted.
Number of relevant questions were also provided for the collection of the
database (Image 2). All of these datasheets were circulated two days before the
World Firefly Day, through personal contacts and also get uploaded on the
website of the Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun. In India, no study on
fireflies has been done involving citizen scientists till date, there are no standardised protocol for doing such observations over the
globe. However, a firefly watch project was organized in USA, which was solely
based on the questionnaire and does not provide any standardised
protocols useful for such citizen science programs. Thus, in this survey the
participants were guided to observe the fireflies between 2000 h and 2200 h
(peak time of sighting fireflies as per previous observation) around their
nearby areas. The organizing team, covered the Kaduapani
area of the Asharodi range in Dehradun district,
Uttarakhand, India (30.288°N, 77.913°E) to observe the fireflies on the
occasion, and in general in a 100-m walk they observed around 500 fireflies
flying and flashing making it one of the potential areas to sight fireflies.
Results
The data has been
received from more than 71 individual sites from 14 different states of India.
The total number of fireflies observed through the survey was more than 26,000
across the country. After analysing the numbers of
fireflies from different regions of the country (Image 3), it was concluded
that Makhala and Kolkas
forest areas of Amravati district (Maharashtra), Kaduapani
beat in Asharodi range (Uttarakhand), and Fulkamli village (West Bengal) were the most potential
sites where fireflies were sighted in large numbers.
Discussion
Over the world, there
are several molecular and taxonomic studies on fireflies (Ballantyne &
McLean 1970; Ballantyne et al. 2019). However, in India there is not much
attention has been given to these beetles till date, which makes it data
deficient, although, there are some studies related to the bioluminescence
emission of fireflies from Guwahati (Barua et al.
2007). A study on the declining population of the genus Abscondita
from Barrankula village of Andhra Pradesh (Chatragadda 2020), and a study discussing the records of
two new species of subfamily Luciolinae has been
found for the first time in India (Ghosh et al. 2020). But still, these studies
are not enough and there is a lot more scope for evaluating firefly diversity
and abundance throughout the country. Thus, this study aimed to generate
preliminary information regarding their occurrence, across several observing
areas from all over the country through the citizen science program. But, as we
did not receive data from half of the states, further projects and surveys by
engaging people from all over the country must be developed to have an estimate
of the status of fireflies. The citizen science approach will also help in escalating
awareness among people.
For images &
figure - - click here for full PDF
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