Category: Invertebrates

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Las luciérnagas encuentran el amor en Utah

Las luciérnagas encuentran el amor en Utah: Las luciérnagas (Firefly), Courtesy Pixabay, Francisco Javier Corado Rivera, Contributor
Las luciérnagas (Firefly),
Courtesy Pixabay, Francisco Javier Corado Rivera, Contributor
Mi nombre es Kate, y me llamo Carlos, y hoy este Wild About Utah está en español e inglés. Esta historia también, se puede escuchar on line en UPR.org

Contra todo pronóstico, las luciérnagas encuentran el amor aquí en Utah. En lugares como el Parque de las Luciérnagas en Nibley, puedes ver estas deslumbrantes linternas bailar y rebotar a partir de principios de junio. Ver estas luciérnagas es mágico, aún más cuando sabes lo que les costó brillar cada noche.

El primer desafío que enfrenta una luciérnaga es encontrar un buen hábitat húmedo aquí en el árido Utah. Encontrar un hábitat oscuro y húmedo puede ser difícil, pero de alguna manera las luciérnagas lo han logrado y lo han hecho en Utah desde posiblemente 1929. Una vez que una luciérnaga encuentra un buen lugar, ahora tienen que encontrarse entre sí. Hacer esto requiere precisión y química. En su linterna abdominal, la enzima luciferasa debe abrazar tanto la luciferina como una molécula de energía estrechamente para ayudar a combinar sus partes.

Luego, la luciferina se combina con oxígeno para formar la energética oxiluciferasa. Al igual que un niño con demasiados dulces, la oxiluciferasa ahora está desesperada por liberar algo de energía antes de que sea demasiada. Esto lo hace liberando un fotón que emite luz y vemos la magia ante nuestros ojos. Como si crear luz dentro del cuerpo no fuera suficiente, ahora deben ajustar su señal a su especie y encontrarse entre sí. Cada especie tiene un código morse único de luz que necesitan parpadear para encontrarse.

Ahora, digamos que una luciérnaga llega a un hábitat pantanoso y conoce al amor de su corta vida de 3 semanas, ahora puede comenzar el romance. Los machos y hembras copulan durante horas, permaneciendo quietos y pegados de extremo a extremo. Durante este tiempo, el macho le da a la hembra lo que se llama un regalo nupcial lleno de proteínas junto con su esperma. ¡Si eso no es romántico, no sé qué lo es!

Las hembras almacenarán este regalo y lo digerirán durante varios días para ayudarla a obtener las proteínas necesarias para poner sus huevos. Una vez puestos, estos huevos tardarán entre unos pocos meses a 2 años en convertirse en adultos, donde iluminarán su corazón para repetir el proceso.

Para mi entender la naturaleza y los pequeños detalles de ella me llena de satisfacción, el saber que es tan perfecta. Esa pequeña luz llena esperanza, nos muestra que el mañana sera mejor.

Mi nombre es Kate y me llamo Carlos y estamos locos por Utah.

Credits:
English Version: Fireflies Find Love in Utah, https://wildaboututah.org/fireflies-find-love-in-utah/
Images: Courtesy Pixabay, Francisco Javier Corado, Rivera, Contributor, https://pixabay.com/photos/insect-nature-yard-firefly-5151913/
Featured Audio: Courtesy & Copyright Anderson, Howe, & Wakeman
Text: Kate Hunter & Carlos Ramos, https://logannature.org/staff
Additional Reading: Lyle Bingham, https://bridgerlandaudubon.org/

Additional Reading

Wild About Utah Pieces by Kate Hunter https://wildaboututah.org/author/kate-hunter/
Wild About Utah Pieces by Carlos Ramos https://wildaboututah.org/author/carlos-ramos/

Strand, Holly, Firefly Light, Wild About Utah, June 20, 2013, https://wildaboututah.org/firefly-light/

Hellstern, Ron, June Fireflies, Wild About Utah, June 19, 2017, https://wildaboututah.org/june-fireflies/

Bills, Christy, Fireflies, Wild About Utah, May 15, 2019, https://wildaboututah.org/fireflies/

Heers, Mary, Fireflies at Nibley Firefly Park, Wild About Utah, May 23, 2022, https://wildaboututah.org/see-fireflies-at-nibley-firefly-park/

Join Stokes Nature Center for their firefly tours, from 9:15-10:15 at Virgil Gibbons Heritage Park/Firefly Park in Nibley, UT!
All nights are offered in English while June 6 and 7th will also have Spanish Tours
Dates and Links to Ticketing are Here:
–   June 3rd-https://givebutter.com/firefly25-june3
–   June 5th-https://givebutter.com/firefly25-june5
–   June 6th-https://givebutter.com/firefly25-june6 (Tours offered in Spanish as well)
–   June 7th-https://givebutter.com/firefly25-june7 (Tours offered in Spanish as well)

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Fireflies Find Love in Utah

Fireflies Find Love in Utah: Firefly (Las luciérnagas), Courtesy Pixabay, Francisco Javier Corado Rivera, Contributor
Firefly (Las luciérnagas),
Courtesy Pixabay, Francisco Javier Corado Rivera, Contributor
My name is Kate and my name is Carlos. Today’s Wild About Utah is in both Spanish and English. The Spanish version will be read by Carlos Ramos. You can also listen to this story in Spanish this Wednesday evening between 9:01-9:06 or online.

Against all odds, fireflies find love here in Utah. Out at places like Firefly Park in Nibley, you can watch these dazzling lanterns dance and bounce, starting around early June. Watching these fireflies is magical, even more when you know what it took for them to glow each night.

The first challenge a firefly faces is finding a good wet habitat out here in arid Utah. Finding dark, wet habitat can be tough, but somehow fireflies have done it and have done so in Utah since potentially 1929. Once a firefly finds a good spot, now they have to find each other. Doing this requires precision and chemistry. In their abdominal lantern, the enzyme luciferase must hug both luciferin and a molecule of energy tightly to help combine their parts. Then luciferin combines with oxygen to form the energetic Oxyluciferase. Much like a kid with too much candy, Oxyluciferase is now desperate to release some energy before it’s too much. It does this by releasing a light-emitting photon and we see the magic before our eyes. As if creating light inside one’s body wasn’t tough enough, now they must attune their signal to their species and find each other. Each species has a unique Morse code of light they need to blip in order to find each other.

Now, let’s say a firefly makes it to a marshy habitat and they meet the love of their short 3-week life, now the romance can begin. Males and females copulate for hours, remaining still and stuck end to end. During this time, the male gives the female what’s called a nuptial gift full of protein along with his sperm. If that isn’t romantic, I don’t know what is! The females will store this gift and digest it over several days to help her get the protein to lay her eggs. Once laid, these eggs will take between a few months to 2 years to become adults where they will light their heart out to repeat the process.

For me, thinking about all the chemistry involved, both molecular and romantic, is moving. I hope we can protect their light for generations to come.

My name is Kate and my name is Carlos and we’re Wild About Utah.

Credits:
Spanish Version: Las luciérnagas encuentran el amor en Utah, https://wildaboututah.org/las-luciernagas-encuentran-el-amor-en-utah/
Images: Courtesy Pixabay, Francisco Javier Corado, Rivera, Contributor, https://pixabay.com/photos/insect-nature-yard-firefly-5151913/
Featured Audio: Courtesy & Copyright Anderson, Howe, & Wakeman
Text: Kate Hunter & Carlos Ramos, https://logannature.org/staff
Additional Reading: Lyle Bingham, https://bridgerlandaudubon.org/

Additional Reading

Wild About Utah Pieces by Kate Hunter https://wildaboututah.org/author/kate-hunter/
Wild About Utah Pieces by Carlos Ramos https://wildaboututah.org/author/carlos-ramos/

Strand, Holly, Firefly Light, Wild About Utah, June 20, 2013, https://wildaboututah.org/firefly-light/

Hellstern, Ron, June Fireflies, Wild About Utah, June 19, 2017, https://wildaboututah.org/june-fireflies/

Bills, Christy, Fireflies, Wild About Utah, May 15, 2019, https://wildaboututah.org/fireflies/

Heers, Mary, Fireflies at Nibley Firefly Park, Wild About Utah, May 23, 2022, https://wildaboututah.org/see-fireflies-at-nibley-firefly-park/

Join Stokes Nature Center for their firefly tours, from 9:15-10:15 at Virgil Gibbons Heritage Park/Firefly Park in Nibley, UT!
All nights are offered in English while June 6 and 7th will also have Spanish Tours
Dates and Links to Ticketing are Here:
–   June 3rd-https://givebutter.com/firefly25-june3
–   June 5th-https://givebutter.com/firefly25-june5
–   June 6th-https://givebutter.com/firefly25-june6 (Tours offered in Spanish as well)
–   June 7th-https://givebutter.com/firefly25-june7 (Tours offered in Spanish as well)

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Cuckoo Bees

Cuckoo bees: Indiscriminate Cuckoo bee Courtesy & © Mark Brunson, Photographer
Indiscriminate Cuckoo Bee
Courtesy & © Mark Brunson, Photographer

Indiscriminate Cuckoo bee Courtesy & © Mark Brunson, PhotographerIndiscriminate Cuckoo Bee
Courtesy & © Mark Brunson, Photographer

I’d like to tell you a crime story. At least, it would be a crime story if told from a human perspective. But is it still a crime story if it’s about the natural world? I’ll tell it and then let you decide for yourself.

First let me set the stage: Not long ago I was hiking in Northern Utah’s Bear River Range. It was the height of wildflower season, and I was enjoying the colorful variety of blossoms along the trail. I stopped to admire a tall, showy plant with dozens of purplish-green blossoms: Frasera speciosa, commonly known as monument plant or green gentian. It’s often seen near the top of Logan Canyon, but what struck me about this particular monument plant was that it was full of bumble bees.

I knew that a Utah-based conservation science organization, Sageland Collaborative, is asking community volunteers to help them measure bumble bee diversity in the state, so I took out my phone and snapped a few photos. Later I uploaded the best photos into an app called iNaturalist so they’d end up in the Utah Pollinator Pursuit database maintained by the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources with Sageland’s help. Then I waited to learn what species of bumble bee I’d seen. The answer came back: indiscriminate cuckoo bumble bee. I thought: What an unusual name. I needed to know more.

It turns out “indiscriminate” simply means that, unlike many native bees that are particular about what they eat, this species doesn’t much care where it gets its nectar. As for “cuckoo”? Like the birds they’re named after, these bumble bees are thieves.

Or to say it more scientifically: these bumble bees are kleptoparasites. Parasites – animals that take resources they need from other species to the detriment of those species – and “klepto,” as in stealing. Like cuckoos or cowbirds, they lay their eggs in the nests of other bumble bee species, letting the workers from the host species do the work of raising them.

Here’s where our crime story gets even more sinister. When a cuckoo bumble bee queen finds a suitable nest to rob – one with a good-sized group of workers to raise the bee larvae, but not so many workers that they can easily protect their queen – she kills the host queen and becomes part of the colony, laying her alien eggs for the host workers to feed.

Cuckoo bumble bees don’t need their own workers, so they’re less often seen on wildflowers. In fact, there’s a good chance that some of the other bumble bees on my monument plant – the ones I didn’t get a picture of – were members of the host species. They also don’t need to take pollen back to a nest of their own, so they don’t have those “pollen baskets” we often see on the hind legs of female bumble bees.

But they do move pollen from flower to flower when it sticks to their bodies as they feed. In other words, they do play a role in sustaining the wildflowers we enjoy every summer. So is this really a crime story? Or is it just another example of the amazing diversity of behaviors found in nature? While you’re deciding about that for yourselves, I hope you get a chance to enjoy watching Utah’s various kinds of bumble bees as they do their all-important work.

I’m Mark Brunson, and I’m wild about Utah’s native bees.

Credits:

Images Courtesy & Copyright Mark Brunson, Photographer
Featured Audio: Courtesy & © Kevin Colver, https://wildstore.wildsanctuary.com/collections/special-collections and J. Chase and K.W. Baldwin. https://upr.org/
Text: Mark Brunson, https://www.usu.edu/experts/profile/mark-brunson/
Additional Reading: Lyle Bingham, https://bridgerlandaudubon.org/

Additional Reading

Wild About Utah pieces authored by Mark Brunson

Sheffield, Cory S., Cuckoo bees, Epeoloides pilosula, The Xerces Society, https://www.xerces.org/endangered-species/species-profiles/at-risk-bees/cuckoo-bees

Smale, Parker, Understanding cuckoo bumble bees: terrors or treasures?, Wildlife Preservation Canada, February 29, 2024, https://wildlifepreservation.ca/blog/understanding-cuckoo-bumble-bees-terrors-or-treasures/

Barth, Amanda, The Unique Lives of Cuckoo Bees, Sageland Collaborative, July 25, 2024, https://sagelandcollaborative.org/blog/2024/7/25/the-unique-lives-of-cuckoo-bees

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Invasive Quagga Mussels-Help Needed

Quagga Mussels on Propeller Courtesy & Copyright Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, Faith Jolley, Photographer
Quagga Mussels on Propeller
Courtesy & Copyright Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, Faith Jolley, Photographer

Quagga Mussels Exposed at Lake Powell Courtesy & Copyright Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, Phil Tuttle, Photographer Quagga Mussels Exposed at Lake Powell
Courtesy & Copyright Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, Phil Tuttle, Photographer

Quagga Mussels Exposed at Lake Powell Courtesy & Copyright Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, Phil Tuttle, Photographer Quagga Mussels Exposed at Lake Powell
Courtesy & Copyright Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, Phil Tuttle, Photographer

Watercraft Inspection Point. It is unlawful to drive past an open inspection station when carrying watercraft. Courtesy & Copyright Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, Faith Jolley, Photographer Watercraft Inspection Point
It is unlawful to drive past an open inspection station when carrying watercraft
Courtesy & Copyright Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, Faith Jolley, Photographer

Technician Pressure Washing Watercraft with 140 F Water Courtesy & Copyright Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, Faith Jolley, Photographer Technician Pressure Washing Watercraft with 140 F Water
Courtesy & Copyright Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, Faith Jolley, Photographer

Entering Decontamination Dip Tank Courtesy & Copyright Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, Michael Christensen, Photographer Entering Decontamination Dip Tank
Courtesy & Copyright Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, Michael Christensen, Photographer

Nature lovers need to be concerned about invasive aquatic species, especially the devastating potential of quagga mussels and their close relatives zebra mussels. Although these invertebrates don’t move much as adults, it is important to understand how they traveled here, the reasons these mussels are dangerous, and the ways their proliferation can be prevented.

Dan Egan in his Death and LIfe of the Great Lakes explains that quagga mussels and zebra mussels migrated from the waters of the Black and Caspian seas to the Great Lakes in the ballast tanks of ocean-going freighters. Since 1989, these mussels have hitch-hiked on boats across the Great Lakes and throughout the Mississippi River drainage. They traveled up the Missouri into Montana and across the continental divide to Lake Mead, down the Colorado to California, and upstream to Lake Powell. Currently, they cover much of the United States except for parts of Utah and the Northwest.

The threat from quickly spreading, voracious, mussels is real. Quaggas reproduce better than most freshwater mussels, each spawning as many as one million microscopic veligers per year. Since mussels filter plankton from freshwater so well, little is left to nourish fish and aquatic insects. Mussels also grow quickly where water moves: piling on top of each other, clogging pipes, and fouling propellers. Unfortunately, the damage is not limited to watercraft. Water delivery pipes and power generation structures also suffer. Even death doesn’t get rid of them. Shells make beaches dangerous for bare hands and feet. Where quagga mussels take hold, the mitigation costs to private citizens and municipalities multiply dramatically.

Utah is using education, licensing, and assistance to keep invasives from spreading to other waters. Everyone operating motorized watercraft of any kind in Utah is required to take and pass the informative, mussel-aware boater course every year; pay an invasive species fee; affix stickers to watercraft; and display documents in each launch vehicle. The education effort emphasizes why watercraft surfaces, piping, and enclosed spaces must be thoroughly cleaned to prevent new infections. Although not licensed, rafts, float tubes, waders, and fishing equipment also require attention.

Stopping proliferation is the emphasis of the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources. Aquatic Invasive Species Lieutenant, Bruce Johnson, reminds everyone to “Clean, Drain, and Dry” all watercraft. Then he explains how the DWR can assist owners navigating the mandatory statewide inspection and cleanout stations. There, wildlife technicians inspect all watercraft and have the option to pressure wash visible and hidden recesses with 140-degree water. Alternatively, they can apply a seal, sequestering watercraft from relaunch until after a mandated 7-30 day drying period passes. But pressure washing a boat and trailer takes about 45 minutes and drying takes weeks. So recently, to improve treatment quality, enhance safety, and speed up the process, the DWR installed decontamination dip tanks. Dip tanks take about 10 minutes, and are much faster than a lengthy power wash. As officials add more dip tanks across the state, only the invasive species come up short.

The threat posed by invasive mussels requires everyone’s attention. Cleaning watercraft is the beachhead. Making sure mussels don’t get carried to new waters is the quest.

I’m Lyle Bingham for Bridgerland Audubon and I’m Wild About Utah and controlling invasive species.

Credits:
Photos: Courtesy & Copyright Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, Faith Jolley, PIO
Featured Audio: Courtesy & Copyright © Friend Weller, Utah Public Radio upr.org
Text: Lyle Bingham, https://bridgerlandaudubon.org/
Additional Reading: Lyle Bingham, https://bridgerlandaudubon.org/

Additional Reading

Lyle Bingham’s Wild About Utah Postings

Hellstern, Ron, Invasive Species, Wild About Utah, September 24, 2018, https://wildaboututah.org/ron-describes-exotic-invasive-species/

Egan, Dan, The Death and Life of the Great Lakes, W. W. Norton & Company, 2017, https://www.amazon.com/Death-Life-Great-Lakes/dp/0393246434

Egan, Dan, How invasive species changed the Great Lakes forever. Zebra mussels, quagga mussels have turned the lakes’ ecosystem upside down, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, September 2, 2021, https://www.jsonline.com/in-depth/archives/2021/09/02/how-zebra-mussels-and-quagga-mussels-changed-great-lakes-forever/7832198002/

Dan Egan, Leaping out of the lakes: Invasive mussels spread across America. Officials at Lake Powell fought for a decade to keep out quagga mussels. They lost the fight., Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, September 2, 2021, https://www.jsonline.com/in-depth/archives/2021/09/02/leaping-out-lakes-invasive-mussels-spread-across-america/5562151001/

Mull, Ann, Spears, Lori, Quagga Mussel (Dreissena bugensis) and Zebra Mussel (Dreissena polymorpha), Extension, Utah State University, https://extension.usu.edu/pests/research/quagga-mussel-and-zebra-mussel

Mull, Ann, Spears, Lori, Quagga Mussel (Dreissena bugensis) and Zebra Mussel (Dreissena polymorpha), Utah Pests, USU Extension, June 2021, https://extension.usu.edu/pests/research/quagga-mussel-and-zebra-mussel

Mull, Ann, Spears, Lori, Quagga Mussel and Zebra Mussel, Dreissena polymorpha Pallas and Dreissena bugensis Andrusov, Fact Sheet, USU Extension, https://extension.usu.edu/pests/factsheets/quagga-mussel-and-zebra-mussel1.pdf

Benson, Amy, Chronological history of zebra and quagga mussels (Dreissenidae) in North America, 1988-2010, USGS Ecosystems Mission Area, https://www.usgs.gov/publications/chronological-history-zebra-and-quagga-mussels-dreissenidae-north-america-1988-2010

Quagga Articles on USGS.gov https://www.usgs.gov/search?keywords=quagga

Quagga mussel – Water Education Foundation https://www.watereducation.org/aquapedia-background/quagga-mussel

Zebra mussels: What they are, what they eat, and how they spread, Lilly Center for Lakes & Streams, Grace College, October 7, 2020, https://lakes.grace.edu/what-are-zebra-mussels/

Invasive mussels Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, August 14, 2023, https://wildlife.utah.gov/fishing/invasive-mussels.html

Quagga Mussels (AIS) | Utah State Parks https://stateparks.utah.gov/activities/boating/quagga-mussels-ais/

What are Aquatic Invasive Species, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, https://stdofthesea.utah.gov/ais/what-are-they/

New boat decontamination dip tank installed at Utah Lake; other locations announced, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, June 29, 2023, https://wildlife.utah.gov/news/utah-wildlife-news/1699-new-boat-decontamination-dip-tank-installed-at-utah-lake.html

Other Ways to Prevent Invasive Species:
Don’t ditch a fish!, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, https://wildlife.utah.gov/dont-ditch.html

Don’t Let it Loose, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, https://www.dontletitloose.com/rehoming-a-pet/utah/