Hello community!
I know that many of you like to speculate about dinosaur-like critters, and that is fine and dandy; but in the end, they all taste like chicken.
This little note is not about that.
Since Brood X is about to erupt in the eastern USA, as the title states: Consider the periodical cicada.
- periodical cicadas have a cycle of (depending on the brood) something like 13 to 17 years.
- while waiting to emerge they suck the sap out of tree roots.
- and then, all at once, they emerge all together with their beady little red eyes and one -- and only one -- thought on their little minds, namely "I'm gonna have sex today!"
I think that god was taking a day off from special creation when cicadas arose.
You may ask: "How is this relevant to the SpecEvo community?" I suggest you go back and re-read my observations because, you know, how likely is it that a critter should spend 17 years underground sucking the sap out of tree roots only to emerge for one day in the hope of getting laid?
Periodical cicadas may not be as fancy and thrilling as dinosaur-like critters, but they surely do have an unusual lifestyle.
Hello educators,
This spring, millions of periodical cicadas will emerge from the ground in MD, VA, WV, PA, KY, NC, OH. A team of researchers and GWU and Georgetown University have put together free K-6 educational materials for the Brood X periodical cicada emergence. We have made a 20-minute presentation and a digital notebook for you to use with your students. Don't miss our Haiku contest! Please share with your colleagues - let's replace fear with fascination and use this wonder of nature as a teachable moment! Enjoy!
https://friendtocicadas.org/
In this article
“How 17-year cicadas keep track of time”
They found evidence that cicadas will track time through fluctuations of light as days go by. They guess that light patterns cause the plant xylem (which the cicadas feed on while 17 years underground) to undergo amino acid concentration change, in terms of quantity and quality, which the cicadas track and react to.
Is this right? Are there any follow up studies to show the actual molecular basis in how the cicadas track time through plant xylem, or otherwise?
