Thursday 18 August 2022

Cicadas Cease to Chorus?

Provence's circadas are no longer producing their characteristic chorus. Cicada sound is produced from tymbals on the male's abdomen, when he feels frisky. It appears that male cicadas don't sing, when the temperature in the shade exceeds 36 degrees Centigrade. Climate change is making exceeding this temperature in the Summer much more likely (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/aug/17/too-hot-to-chirp-french-heatwave-silences-cicadas-of-provence). Provence's loss of the cicada chorus is yet another example of how the climate crisis may force animals to move. Some species go up mountains, until they can to no higher. Others move towards the poles, until they can move no further. Cicada nymphs live underground for many years. We have no idea, however, if their lives and/or their mass emergences are also influenced by climate change.

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