Purdue University’s cicada tracking program ends today.
The university’s Department of Entomology asked for help tracking the insects, since they spend just a few weeks mating above ground before disappearing for 17 years. Cicada enthusiasts have been using the app iNaturalist to snap photos and provide data on where the red-eyed bugs have emerged in the Hoosier state.
Elizabeth Barnes, who’s heading the program, says these location data will help researchers study everything from the insects’ genetics to protecting young plants during the next Brood X (ten) emergence.
The most common cicada observed in Purdue program has been the Pharaoh cicada, or Magicicada septendecim.
“Getting these reports allows us to see patterns,” Barnes said. “And once all the data is back in, that'll let us start kind of digging into it more and start trying to figure out exactly why are there cicadas here versus there?”
For example, one wooded area in Indianapolis has had a surprising lack of cicadas, whereas they’ve been emerging en masse off the side of a highway a few miles away.
The program also has shed light on other organisms’ activity around cicada time. Submissions have provided information on everything from Luna moths and snakes to the time wildflowers began to bloom.
“I'm anticipating there to be a lot of papers coming out in the next couple of years based on this data from the emergence. It's very exciting,” Barnes said.
Brood X is expected to die out as the month ends, but Barnes said people can still provide data to Cicada Safari after Monday. The smartphone app is collecting similar data for Mount St. Joseph University in Cincinnati.
