After developing underground for 17-years, a swarm of buzzing cicadas will soon emerge across eastern Ohio.
A lot has changed since they were last here in 1999, including the emergence of citizen scientists.
Exploradio explores the history, biology, and sounds of 17-year cicadas.
Teenage insects enter adulthood
naturalist MarkWarmanis digging cicada larva out of a dirt-filled dish. Known as nymphs, they lumber across his hand.
鈥淭his is a 17-year-old insect that I鈥檝e got in my hands right now, and this is like a senior in high school.鈥�
Soon it will shed its youthful exterior and emerge as a full-fledged adult, part of a phenomenon unique in nature.
The 17-year cicada, called periodical cicadas, are found only in the eastern US. A 13-year cousin lives in Southern states.
A patchwork of twelve populations, called , emerge in succeeding years from the Mississippi to the Atlantic state.
This year it鈥檚 Brood V鈥檚 turn, arriving in eastern Ohio, parts of West Virginia and patches of Virginia and Maryland.
As adults, these bumbling, teen-age nymphs will find their voice鈥�
The ancient mysteries of Magicicada
Emerging in their millions, it鈥檚 one of the loudest sounds in nature - louder than a landing jet.
The 17-year-cicada has baffled scientists and intrigued people since the time of the pilgrims.
William Bradford, governor of the Plymouth Colony, was among the first Europeans to describe them, when after the 1633 emergence he wrote, 鈥渢hey made such a constant yelling noise as made all the woods ring of them.鈥�
The Pilgrims, reminded of the biblical plague, called them locusts - a misnomer that still pops up today.
Their scientific name is , playing off their magical, Methuselah-like powers.
An Ohio observer was the first to figure out their 17-year cycle.
Dr. S.P. Hildreth in 1812 detailed Brood V鈥檚 emergence in his home town of Marietta, exactly 17 years after they were seen there in 1795.
2016 is just the latest in three million years of 17-year cycles for these enigmatic insects.
The evolution of the prime number cycle
鈥淭hat鈥檚 one of the great mysteries of biology,鈥� says , whoteaches biology at Mount St. Joseph College in Cincinnati and has been tracking periodical cicadas for 40 years.
He says the answer may involve math.
鈥淭he benefit of having a 17 year life cycle is that it鈥檚 a , and having a prime number life cycle makes it pretty difficult for a predator to evolve synchrony with a specialized life cycle like that.鈥�
The benefit is that the cicadas come out in such huge numbers every 17 years, that no matter how matter bugs get eaten, there are still millions more to carry on the line.
鈥淎 good analogy that I鈥檝e used before is that if you walk outside and find the world swarming with flying Hershey鈥檚 kisses, humans would eat a lot of them," says Kritsky, "but eventually we would get tired of eating them.鈥�
And this year cicada scientists are converging on Ohio, not to eat them, but to map the Brood V emergence.
Mapping the 2016 Brood V
Leading the effort is, who teaches biology at the University of Connecticut.
He says the key to unlocking the mystery of cicadas鈥� unique lifestyle, is by better understanding how all the broods fit together.
Cooley says that our attempts to understand the evolution of the 17-year life cycle, 鈥渁re kind of stuck until we have a better idea where the different broods and the different species are found.鈥�
Ohio鈥檚 Brood V includes of 17-year cicadas and Cooley and his team of citizen scientists will be diligently mapping them by listening to their unique songs.
Roy Troutman is a master cicada tracker from the Cincinnati area.
鈥淢y ears are attuned to the sound," says Troutman, "and if I hear a cicada no matter what species, it鈥檚 just like automatically I can hear it in the background.鈥�
As a citizen scientist, he鈥檚 helping Cooley pinpoint where each species occurs in Brood V.
Cicadas emerge into the digital age
All the data is being gathered on Cooley鈥檚 website. There鈥檚where anyone who sees cicadas can contribute data.
Cooley is eager to hear what citizen scientists in northeast Ohio discover.
鈥淪o it will be a good question to see whether we have all three species going all the way up to the top of the brood.鈥�
And that鈥檚 where naturalist Mark Warman comes in.
He鈥檚 leading the effort to engage the public in the mysteries of magicicada in helping fill-in gaps in maps from the last time they were here in 1999.
鈥淲e don鈥檛 have that granular, or that detailed level of information, and that鈥檚 really what we hope to capture in this emergence, says Warman.
"Are they in your backyard? Are they in the park near your home? Take a picture, share it with us, or fill out our 鈥�
After 17 years underground, the bugs are emerging into the Internet age 鈥� with , and 鈥� websites and GPS, this will certainly be their most documented arrival ever.
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