Fireflies are slowly vanishing

You may have noticed. There seems to be a lot fewer fireflies around these days than there used to be. But an expert says we can reverse the decline of the little flashing bug.

Ben Pfeiffer of firefly.org says "there is a variety of reasons why fireflies are disappearing across the United States, and it is kind of multi-faceted."

The reasons include degradation of their habitat, pesticide overuse, even light pollution — too many bright outdoor lights at night that confuse fireflies as they try to mate.

Pfeiffer says improving groundwater and providing fireflies with a leafy habitat can help them.

"Fireflies are habitat-dependent and habitat-specific. So when you change the habitat, that can have really bad consequences for the firefly population. Some can just up and disappear. Habitat disturbances affect fireflies pretty considerably, mainly for the locally-adapted species. Species that you will find in waterways that are locally-adapted to just that little area and when you wipe it out, they are not able to recover."

Ben Pfeiffer has compiled a wealth of information about the firefly and its plight on his website, firefly.org:

— Turn off outside lights at night

— Plant trees and let logs rot in your yard.

— Install water features in your garden

— Don't use lawn chemicals.

Also on New Jersey 101.5:

Joe Cutter is the afternoon news anchor on New Jersey 101.5