Thousands of Cicadas Climbing a Tree

Watching Planet Earth sparked an interest in an unusual insect called a Cicada. The Cicadas, of the super family Cicadoidea, live in temperate to tropical climates and are completely benign to humans. They are often one of the most recognized of all insects, mainly due to their large size and extraordinary acoustic talents. Most cicadas go through a life cycle that lasts somewhere between two to four years. Yet on the other hand, there are several species have much longer life cycles: such as the North American genus, Magicicada, which has a number of distinct “broods” that go through either 17-year or 13-year cycles.

While flies and mosquitoes live for just a few weeks, cicadas, depending on species, spend either 13 or 17 years below ground in the nymph stage, feeding on plant roots. During the few weeks the Cicadas are above ground, there is an extremely loud and frantic effort for the insects to mate; and more importantly, for the females to deposit their eggs in trees. It is these Magicicadas that have begun to catch the attention of many scientists who are curious as to what the benefits of their existence are.

While they are above ground, these insects become an incredibly abundant food source for birds, lizards, snakes and fish. Because there are billions of cicadas that hatch all at once, predators can only eat about 15 percent of them, leaving the rest as fertilizer for the surrounding plants. “Even as dead bugs they are still influencing these forest ecosystems,” said Louie Yang, whose research was published in the journal “Science” and in an article on CNN.

For several years after a cicada emergence, the benefits often include faster growing trees and bigger seeds in some flowers. Many scientists call this sudden burst of new resources from the decomposing cicadas a “resource pulse.” Intriguing enough, because scientists have the ability to predict the cicadas’ appearance, practically to the day, it makes studying this phenomenon much simpler.

Yang specifically focused his research on the nitrogen levels in plants after a Cicada emergence.  ”What we found was that these plants are actually taking up nitrogen that comes from cicadas. The seeds of the insect-fertilized plants were also 9 percent bigger than those in a control group,” said Yang. With this significant addition of nitrogen and other nutrients, the entire forest seems to have several years of significant growth.

So what’s the significance to us? Well, first off we should appreciate the abundance of bugs not only in our back yard but all around this world. Without them, our ecosystems would not be able to sustain themselves, nor would they ever have these valuable “resource pulses.”

Written and compiled by: Adrienne Carlson

Check out this video:

Return of the 17 Year Cicadas

Articles referenced and used:

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