{"id":10764,"date":"2014-09-01T07:01:46","date_gmt":"2014-09-01T11:01:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/creative.clemson.edu\/clemsonworld\/?p=10764"},"modified":"2014-09-01T07:01:46","modified_gmt":"2014-09-01T11:01:46","slug":"fireflies-vanishing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/fireflies-vanishing\/","title":{"rendered":"Are Fireflies Vanishing?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Clemson team recruits citizens scientists to answer the question.<\/h2>\n

In the liturgy of a late spring night, the call and response of a tree frog chorus accompanied the fireflies\u2019 ethereal light, as a guard let in a dozen people to the Cooper Library to launch a \u201cflash\u201d mob.
\nIt was the May 31 kickoff for 2014 Clemson Firefly Count, part of a project investigating the question, \u201cAre fireflies vanishing?\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Over the summer, firefly census takers would count lightning bugs for the fifth year in a row. New technology was being used, and the Vanishing Firefly Project team of scientists and students was keeping their fingers crossed that it would work without a hitch.
\nThe count this year included new and improved mobile apps, software to view the count in progress and social media to get the word out. The work spanned the University, calling on talents of entomologists, environmental and computer scientists and science educators.
\nComputer science senior Joshua Hull hunched over his laptop, checking the computer network that collected observers\u2019 tallies and displayed their locations. He also had upgraded one of two mobile apps people used to \u201cphone\u201d in their counts.
\n\u201cI feel like my mother must have felt when she dropped me off at college,\u201d Hull said. \u201cShe had prepared me the best she could, and it was time to let me go into the real world. But I\u2019m not going to cry like she did.\u201d
\nHull paused, scanning a new screen load of data. \u201cUnless things go bad, then I might cry.\u201d
\nBy the end of the evening, Hull was smiling, not crying.<\/p><\/div>
\n

The Making of the Cover<\/a><\/h3><\/header>

\"Fireflies7-10-14_015\"<\/a>Ashley Jones shares the process of capturing the magic of fireflies.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>