Spatial and Temporal Tracking and Observation at Low Densities of Flash Synchrony in Male Photinus carolinus Fireflies in Great Smoky Mountain National Park

Hayes, Julie; Peleg, Orit; Sarfati, Raphael

Field Methods: 1. In an open area, potentially adjacent to forested area, and ideally with moist or marshy substrate where a robust male Photinus carolinus population displaying synchronous flashing is observed. Ideally this is in an area with minimal light pollution and disturbance. We will collect footage using two to four cameras placed at carefully triangulated distances with no disturbance to the populations being recorded. We may place as many as 6 cameras (including 360-degree cameras) of different capabilities around the study site with no ground, habitat, or animal disturbance. Recording will begin and dusk and continue until synchronous flashing has significantly subsided. We hope to collect at least 3 full evening’s worth of footage during the peak of synchrony. 2. We will capture one male Photinus carolinus firefly and place him inside a petri dish inside a dark enclosure at the field site along with programmed LEDs and camera recording and flashing will be stimulated with species-specific flashing from varying numbers of LEDs. Repetitions of this experiment will be completed with 10 different males, each of which will be released the same evening as their capture.** 3. We will complete the same experiment as (2) with multiple different males in petri dishes (from 2 to 10), using the same males captured in (2).** (Experiments 1, 2, and 3 collectively will necessitate the collection of only 10 male Photinus carolinus and could be completed in one evening of experimentation, although multiple repetitions of the experiment would be ideal.) 4. We will capture up to 80 males and place different concentrations of them in a darkened enclosure of an area of roughly 5ft x 5ft x 5ft to measure the synchronization behavior at different densities and record the behavior with cameras. Ideally, we would record one group at a different density for an entire evening and would perform this experiment at 10 different densities.** Data collected in this study can be made public on our lab webpage and/or GitHub once our initial analyses of the data are published. Please see diagrams in attached Study Proposal File for further illustration of experiments 1, 2, and 3. **If a permit is approved, we of course will take any and all direction and specification from the Park Service about experimental design and very specifically if we capture different males every evening for these experiments or keep the males we have already captured in hospitable captivity (Bug Dorm in a shaded area with marshy or moist substrate away from public view) for experimentation in future evenings.