I did this last year and saw twice as many fireflies.
Which means I saw six total all summer.
The suburbs suck.
this post was submitted on 24 Oct 2025
687 points (99.9% liked)
Science Memes
17268 readers
406 users here now
Welcome to c/science_memes @ Mander.xyz!
A place for majestic STEMLORD peacocking, as well as memes about the realities of working in a lab.
Rules
- Don't throw mud. Behave like an intellectual and remember the human.
- Keep it rooted (on topic).
- No spam.
- Infographics welcome, get schooled.
This is a science community. We use the Dawkins definition of meme.
Research Committee
Other Mander Communities
Science and Research
Biology and Life Sciences
- !abiogenesis@mander.xyz
- !animal-behavior@mander.xyz
- !anthropology@mander.xyz
- !arachnology@mander.xyz
- !balconygardening@slrpnk.net
- !biodiversity@mander.xyz
- !biology@mander.xyz
- !biophysics@mander.xyz
- !botany@mander.xyz
- !ecology@mander.xyz
- !entomology@mander.xyz
- !fermentation@mander.xyz
- !herpetology@mander.xyz
- !houseplants@mander.xyz
- !medicine@mander.xyz
- !microscopy@mander.xyz
- !mycology@mander.xyz
- !nudibranchs@mander.xyz
- !nutrition@mander.xyz
- !palaeoecology@mander.xyz
- !palaeontology@mander.xyz
- !photosynthesis@mander.xyz
- !plantid@mander.xyz
- !plants@mander.xyz
- !reptiles and amphibians@mander.xyz
Physical Sciences
- !astronomy@mander.xyz
- !chemistry@mander.xyz
- !earthscience@mander.xyz
- !geography@mander.xyz
- !geospatial@mander.xyz
- !nuclear@mander.xyz
- !physics@mander.xyz
- !quantum-computing@mander.xyz
- !spectroscopy@mander.xyz
Humanities and Social Sciences
Practical and Applied Sciences
- !exercise-and sports-science@mander.xyz
- !gardening@mander.xyz
- !self sufficiency@mander.xyz
- !soilscience@slrpnk.net
- !terrariums@mander.xyz
- !timelapse@mander.xyz
Memes
Miscellaneous
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
Yeah this is drinking straws vs private jets.
Growing up in the suburbs we raked all the leaves and packed them in plastic bags which were then picked up as trash (no recycling back then). We had hundreds of fireflies everywhere.
Today I'm on 3.5 acres, half of which I don't mow at all and the other half I don't rake the leaves. But there are still fewer fireflies than 40 years ago.
There are fewer everything. I've commented on the ecosystem collapse many time, don't have the energy any longer.
At least my yard is coming back. Our house is the reason the block has frogs, dragonflies, etc.
The bees and Monarch butterflies and Hummingbirds know where I live, which is about the best I can do locally.
Man! Now that you mention it I haven't seen monarch butterflies in my area for a few years now. We used to see thousands of them every late summer when they start their migration to Mexico. I feel sad now. :(
Plant milkweed. They’ll find it.
There are a couple monarch mimics that will also come to them (which is cool because they mimic each other to make their poison more effective, instead of pretending to be poisonous).
poisonous butterflies 🦋 ?? nooo
Same here. Used to get whole families of deer, rabbits, hedgehogs, squirrels etc eating our gardens goodies. Nowadays its lucky to catch a single magpie nibbling on an apple. Animals today are so damn picky. /s
The decline in insect populations is so bad even Jeremy Clarkson is trying to fight it.
That's how you know it's really bad.
It's all the pesticides we use in gardens and agriculture. It's in our air water everywhere decimating all kinds of insects.
Ok but part of this is because of what we were doing back then, so it isn’t quite the same. Yes there are larger things at play BUT these things you do locally on your 3.5 acres can have a huge impact.
But the problem I'm experiencing is that doing the "best" isn't helping much at all. It's like telling people that putting some greens in their aquarium will help their fish while at the same time the water in the aquarium is bleach.
Ok but the problem in this analogy is that collectively we were all pouring bleach into the aquarium, the fix is to collectively stop.
It won’t happen immediately and it won’t go back to where it was for a long time.
Yes there are larger factors at play but this is one of those scenarios where your local action has an actual impact that is noticeable.
You’re not wrong that you alone won’t solve it and the best you can do alone won’t fix it, but doing what you’re doing is closer to not adding your bleach to the fish tank but instead letting it have some water.
A doubling is still a big deal, though. You made a difference! Imagine if that were to keep up throughout the neighborhood.
It’s a far cry from when I lived in the woods and could walk around on a dark night just from the light of fireflies.
When I was a child in the 70s we'd visit my great-grandparents in Indianapolis and the lightning bugs were like that. Image, a heavily polluted, major metro area had more lightning bugs than anywhere I've seen since.
I’m living in the same place I grew up and when I was a kid we could catch a couple dozen a night, enough to fill a jar and read by.
I had a sergeant who sneaked up on some troopies based on the light from the unshielded radium pips on someone's wristwatch.
(Why yes. He was 22me regiment; why do you ask?)
But, point is, you didn't take a flashlight because the light was enough, and your eyes adjusted and made it enough, because it was enough.
Anyway, 10 years of doubling is 1000x. 6ooo fireflies would be cool.
If I’m still in the suburbs in a decade I’ll kill myself.
I’m fucking back off to the boonies at the first opportunity
That could very well just be early stages. Very few fireflies means not many to reproduce
conversely, I saw tons last year in the suburbs!
this year was wasps, though
Save the environment by NOT doing a bullshit chore? Sounds like a fuckin win to me. I already wasn't going to, but now I can feel smug about it.
While your on it don't cut your grass for more of that.
Way ahead of you bud.
The fact that you don't weed is also good. Barring invasive species most weeds are native species that local fauna rely on.
If I'd bought a home in ohio where I grew up i wanted to look into mint as ground cover and plant some wild strawberries.
Still cleanup sidewalks and walkways please, those leaves can be slippery little guys
I’ve got bad news. From my very limited knowledge of fire fires they don’t bread all that fast and colonies don’t travel very far.
So you might increase the fireflies you currently have you shouldn’t expect new fireflies.
they don’t bread all that fast
Well they're toast, then.
Thanks for pointing out the one and only typo I made. Just the one typo. No need for anyone to re-read my comment. There was just that one typo and we all had a Good laugh about it.
It still helps. And they might not travel far but they do travel so it’s good to have a destination.
The best part is that even if it doesn’t work the entire point is that you aren’t doing extra work. Literally just do nothing and at worst nothing will happen but at best you’ll start seeing more and more improvement, if slowly at first.
Hmm "next summer" "spend two years on and underground" doesn't quite fit together.
sure it does.
the fireflies that are already alive have a better chance to make it to next year if they have appropriate conditions to live in
How so? They need that habitat during the whole period - not just the first year.
It helps I guess ? Making some of the conditions more likely makes the sum* of all conditions more likely
*math vocabulary may be approximative
So...should we rake the woods to prevent forest fireflies?
The last time I saw them was around 30 years ago. What should I do then?
pile up 30 yrs of leaves and leave them bee
The leaves will help, but also, reduce light pollution (if at all possible)
But how will all the people making their rounds twice a day in parks with leafblowers at this time of year earn their living, then? Doing something meaningful? I don't think so!
I don't know about the insect population in my backyard but I do know that it is a safe haven for wall lizards, they don't even hide anymore when I'm there.
But I don't have any trees in my garden and it's a bit small to get one really. Also we don't have fireflies here.
I thought Joel already took care of those losers...