We are hiking with the cicada biologist, so you don’t have to

From a distance, The trunk of the big maple seems to be covered with brown leaves, or it may be bad acne. However, upon close contact, the bumps formed a caravan of creatures, and everyone tried their best to climb to a safe place among the branches above.

These cicadas have just been exiled from the ground and have been bending down for the past 17 years, sucking sap from the tree roots as they mature under the soil. Today is what entomologists call an important day, which is their “sprout”. After the cold spring, the soil temperature in Silver Spring, a suburb of Maryland, reached 64 degrees. The sun is down, and the larvae crawl out of their holes, looking for the nearest tall man-a tree, bushes, or a piece of patio furniture-to climb up. Then, they waited for their bodies to become stronger, stronger, and become miniature hulks in the insect world. Within a few hours, the cicada shed its brown shells and turned from a teenager to an adult. Their bodies turned black, their eyes turned into red bloodshot eyes, formed powerful copper wings, and they were eager to mate as soon as possible.

In the 15 eastern states, the same ceremony is underway.Dozens of cicadas emerged from “Brood X” this week-there are 3 different species in the population (2 of them are from species magician) Simultaneously appear from the ground. In the eastern United States, there are more than a dozen 17-year-old cicadas and three 13-year-old cicadas, which appeared in different years.But Brood X (Entomologists use Roman numerals) is one of the largest races, and lives in the places closest to large population centers, such as Washington DC and New Jersey, And extends westward to Ohio and Indiana.

Zoe Getman-Pickering Postdoctoral scientist One of the few cicada researchers at George Washington University who used six weeks of budding to get as much information as possible about the insect’s weird lifestyle, abnormal gut microbes, and how large-scale population surges fluctuate. All over the eastern forest and suburban ecosystems. Wearing comfortable jeans and a khaki hiking shirt, Getman-Pickering wandered through the local nature reserve with a clipboard and binoculars, watching thousands of hatching cicadas.

She has some sympathy for their struggle. Just like human beings more than a year after Covid-19, they have become accustomed to public appearances again. Getman-Pickering said: “After the pandemic, this has something to do with a lot of people.” “The sunlight they came out was shining, a little clumsy and awkward, trying to return to the world.”

She picked up a newly born adult and examined its abdomen to see if it was male or female. The female has a pointed “ovipositor” to lay eggs. Otherwise they all look the same.

Getman-Pickering and Grace Soltis, undergraduates at the University of Maryland, are not only interested in insects, but also documented which types of birds feed on this unexpected abundance. Getman-Pickering said: “We predict that with the emergence of all cicadas, there will be a lot of easily available food for birds to use.” “When you can get free edible prawns, why bother looking for tiny caterpillars? All of his work?”

She said that as the number of birds has changed from normal caterpillars and other small insects to this new buffet, the number of birds has soared. Providing more food for the birds means better breeding opportunities, and-later there are more young birds.

Indeed, less than an hour after the cicadas started to climb the big maple tree, a pair of soft woodpeckers, a few sparrows and a crow swooped over and started to eat among the large weeds. Getman-Pickering said, it’s not just birds. She said: “Every animal is eating cicadas, including rats and dogs, if they are not under control.” People also.

Getman-Pickering collects data in the fields every day. These data come from the suburbs of Maryland, another remote rural area, and control points near the Chesapeake Bay where there are no cicadas. She hopes to compare the populations of birds and caterpillars to outline the ecological pattern that cicadas may still exist in a few weeks. Getman-Pickering said: “When birds no longer eat caterpillars, the number of caterpillars will explode and may cause more damage to trees. We also expect that the number of parasitic wasps will increase. They go from the inside to the outside. Eat caterpillars and preserve important organs.”