“The Firefly” in Different Points of View

Since I left Thailand, I have been faced with many novel experiences such as new culture, strange people, English speaking environment, and also various kinds of food that I am not familiar with. In addition, I have gotten an incomparable experience from my housemate’s research. She is a Thai Ph.D. student researching fireflies in Thailand. Under good support of her scholarship, she can research fireflies with her collaborator in the U.S. for 8 months. She has gone out every night before sunset to see her fireflies at Newnan’s Lake. Because they are beautiful and mysterious insects, I had many questions about fireflies and most of them were quite difficult to answer. Thus, she took me to her study field to learn and answer the questions by myself. I just knew there are almost 2,000 different species of them over the world. With high diversity, the fireflies in different areas of the world also have different species, behavior, and habitats. I considered that there are a few different points of view of fireflies here and in Thailand. That probably can answer a question in your mind if you have one. First of all, there are completely different species of fireflies here and in Thailand. I believe that not many people caught fireflies to look at their shape and color and tell the differences of them, if they are not a scientist. In Thailand, we have “synchronous fireflies” which congregate on a mangrove tree and flash at the same frequency like a Christmas tree. They make a beautiful night and have become to eco-tourism in Thailand. In contrast, in the U.S.A., there is a “predatory species” which the mated female can change flash pattern (as a love language that make a male and a female meet together and mate) to lure male of another species to be her food. She needs a substance inside another species to make what she can survive from. You will be surprised if you see the big female catch the tiny male like a bird catches insects. Secondly, Thai and American fireflies have different flash patterns. In fact, the fireflies have specific flash pattern to communicate with the females in the same species (ask for mating), but Thai fireflies have more frequent flash. Thus, catching a firefly is not hard because you can track where it is. On the other hand, I cannot catch American ones easily because they have a long period of inter-flash. A firefly professor explained that most American fireflies are prey species. They try to escape from tracking of the predator species. I was so surprised to know that. It is not only the predator that has a powerful technique to catch a prey, the prey also has one. Everyone needs to survive under a frightful life. Lastly, as my friend’s research scope, there are different effects of light pollution on firefly population here and in Thailand. I think not many people are concerned that the light will destroy fireflies. The stronger and brighter lights disturb the flashing behavior or sexual communication of fireflies, which then fail mating and are lost from that area. In Thailand, the fluorescent bulb is the common use in many houses, commercial buildings and also streetlights. It is the main source of light pollution affecting the Thai firefly population. On the other hand, the incandescent bulb is popular bulb here. So, the fireflies get an effect from it. In conclusion, there are many different characters and behaviors between Thai and American fireflies that I have learnt from my friend. However, nowadays they face the same problem, decreasing in number and disappearing from many areas. I was impressed when I watched lines of flashes at night and touched the tiny beetle with small light in both Thailand and the U.S.A. If a kid has a chance like me, how does he/she feel? It will be good, if everyone helps to conserve “fireflies” and they can survive for long and long. Thank you for the incomparable experience from my friend (Miss Anchana Thancharoen) and 3 firefly professors from University of Florida (Dr. Marc Branham, Dr. Jame Lloyd, and Dr. Steve Wing).