Sunday, July 10, 2011
The Neglected Fireflies of Goa | iGoa
The Neglected Fireflies of Goa | iGoa: "- Sent using Google Toolbar"
Monday, May 16, 2011
Kazulech-Kazule>>Everything that you wish to know on fireflies-Visit- http://www.byteland.org/firefly/index.html#photograph
Do not miss
http://www.byteland.org/firefly/index.html#photograph
we need such studies in Goa
http://www.byteland.org/firefly/index.html#photograph
we need such studies in Goa
Kazule-Save the fireflies of Goa (article in OHeraldo, Sunday, May 15, 2011)
Kazule-Save the fireflies of Goa
Dr. Nandkumar M. Kamat
(Published in Oheraldo, Sunday, May 15, 2011)
By the time this article is published the pre-monsoon showers would have arrived. These showers are magical in every sense. It may rain sporadically anytime between January to April. But the rains in second half of May are special. These are messengers of the approaching monsoon. The rains also carry a general message to the dormant or hibernating life in the subsoil,in vegetation, under rocks and hollows of the trees –that it is their wake up time. The first life forms to wake up and signal their presence at night are the fireflies-kazule of Goa (kazulo for singular in Konkani). I have made the earliest sightings on May 15, 2001. If rains persist sporadically after the monsoon ends officially on September 30 then the moisture permits kazule to be active till middle of November. So fireflies punctuate the nights radiantly at least for six months of the year. But there is no emotional investment in these tiny creatures of night as compared to attention received by tigers, turtles,frogs and butterflies. As a resident of Goa University campus for past 10 years I have made detailed field and laboratory observations of habitat and lifecycle of these species. I collected information from rural and urban areas of Goa on sightings of fireflies. There are two dominant species of fireflies-Photinus and Photuris. Both are disappearing rapidly from urban and semi urban areas of Goa and this should be a cause of concern because monsoon nights without an impressive display of fireflies is not our idea of Goan landscape. To create awareness among Goans who love their backyard kazule, I am launching ‘Save fireflies of Goa’ awareness campaign-SFGAC ( Sambalat Goenche kazule) from May 15, 2011. The details of this campaign are given on my blog http://www.kazule.blogpsot.com which would also have the weblinks to 18 videos on local species of fireflies which I have uploaded on my You Tube video channel. Why fireflies of Goa are endangered?. Firstly there is too much interference in their natural habitats-the grasslands and natural wild vegetation. Then their larval hibernation in soil is disturbed on account of burning of ground cover and pollution. People love to burn their garden litter but in this process they also destroy the dormant firefly larvae. Sprays of agrochemicals, insecticides and pesticides have also proved detrimental to these species. The firefly larvae which manage to survive these threats emerge after the first rains.Fireflies prefer absolute darkness or diffuse, soft light. But the heavy illumination especially the monochromatic sodium vapour lamps have been distracting their mating signals. Fireflies use an intricate signalling mechanism. This mechanism doesn’t’ work in presence of bright background light.Fireflies have already vanished from the towns of Goa. To my horror, the population of both the species of fireflies-Photinus and Photuris has come down drastically in my own campus-basically a grassland with scrub vegetation. It wouldbe the same story for the plateaus with grasslands. The whole Verna plateau was once teeming with fireflies. While travelling to Margao I remember the firefly sightings on this road during monsoon. What would be the childhood of Goan children if they miss these beautiful flying insects?. Santa Cruz/ Calapur has now become a dirty and congested village. But in the same village we grew up inthe company of fireflies. We used to catch them and put in an empty stalk (dandaro)of Papaya leaf and watch our glowing biological torch. Now there is a firefly famine in Santa Cruz. Although I have given up harassing the fireflies,occasionally I need to collect them for studies in the laboratory. Anyone withkeen sense of observation can join the SFGAC. First note their appearance(date, time) , the habitat ( grassland, trees, near lakes etc.) , frequency of sighting ( how many per hour?) , numbers ( can you count the individuals in a given area?) , density and distribution. If you wish to be more systematic then visit the website of Museum of Science, Boston, USA https://www.mos.org/fireflywatch/,the world’s most extensive global effort to create awareness about fireflies. Fireflies tell us whether we care for our environment. If fireflies vanish from your area then it signals erosion in quality of environment and quality of life.
Dr. Nandkumar M. Kamat
(Published in Oheraldo, Sunday, May 15, 2011)
By the time this article is published the pre-monsoon showers would have arrived. These showers are magical in every sense. It may rain sporadically anytime between January to April. But the rains in second half of May are special. These are messengers of the approaching monsoon. The rains also carry a general message to the dormant or hibernating life in the subsoil,in vegetation, under rocks and hollows of the trees –that it is their wake up time. The first life forms to wake up and signal their presence at night are the fireflies-kazule of Goa (kazulo for singular in Konkani). I have made the earliest sightings on May 15, 2001. If rains persist sporadically after the monsoon ends officially on September 30 then the moisture permits kazule to be active till middle of November. So fireflies punctuate the nights radiantly at least for six months of the year. But there is no emotional investment in these tiny creatures of night as compared to attention received by tigers, turtles,frogs and butterflies. As a resident of Goa University campus for past 10 years I have made detailed field and laboratory observations of habitat and lifecycle of these species. I collected information from rural and urban areas of Goa on sightings of fireflies. There are two dominant species of fireflies-Photinus and Photuris. Both are disappearing rapidly from urban and semi urban areas of Goa and this should be a cause of concern because monsoon nights without an impressive display of fireflies is not our idea of Goan landscape. To create awareness among Goans who love their backyard kazule, I am launching ‘Save fireflies of Goa’ awareness campaign-SFGAC ( Sambalat Goenche kazule) from May 15, 2011. The details of this campaign are given on my blog http://www.kazule.blogpsot.com which would also have the weblinks to 18 videos on local species of fireflies which I have uploaded on my You Tube video channel. Why fireflies of Goa are endangered?. Firstly there is too much interference in their natural habitats-the grasslands and natural wild vegetation. Then their larval hibernation in soil is disturbed on account of burning of ground cover and pollution. People love to burn their garden litter but in this process they also destroy the dormant firefly larvae. Sprays of agrochemicals, insecticides and pesticides have also proved detrimental to these species. The firefly larvae which manage to survive these threats emerge after the first rains.Fireflies prefer absolute darkness or diffuse, soft light. But the heavy illumination especially the monochromatic sodium vapour lamps have been distracting their mating signals. Fireflies use an intricate signalling mechanism. This mechanism doesn’t’ work in presence of bright background light.Fireflies have already vanished from the towns of Goa. To my horror, the population of both the species of fireflies-Photinus and Photuris has come down drastically in my own campus-basically a grassland with scrub vegetation. It wouldbe the same story for the plateaus with grasslands. The whole Verna plateau was once teeming with fireflies. While travelling to Margao I remember the firefly sightings on this road during monsoon. What would be the childhood of Goan children if they miss these beautiful flying insects?. Santa Cruz/ Calapur has now become a dirty and congested village. But in the same village we grew up inthe company of fireflies. We used to catch them and put in an empty stalk (dandaro)of Papaya leaf and watch our glowing biological torch. Now there is a firefly famine in Santa Cruz. Although I have given up harassing the fireflies,occasionally I need to collect them for studies in the laboratory. Anyone withkeen sense of observation can join the SFGAC. First note their appearance(date, time) , the habitat ( grassland, trees, near lakes etc.) , frequency of sighting ( how many per hour?) , numbers ( can you count the individuals in a given area?) , density and distribution. If you wish to be more systematic then visit the website of Museum of Science, Boston, USA https://www.mos.org/fireflywatch/,the world’s most extensive global effort to create awareness about fireflies. Fireflies tell us whether we care for our environment. If fireflies vanish from your area then it signals erosion in quality of environment and quality of life.
Web album on fireflies of Goa University campus-https://picasaweb.google.com/Nandkamat/BioluminescentCreaturesOfNightAtGoaUniversity
You can also begin to document the fireflies of your area with a simple digital camera
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Watch my videos on fireflies of Goa on You Tube (2010 sightings)
List of videos taken during the monsoon-2010 (June-November)
Location:- Goa University campus, Taleigao, Goa, India
Discovery of novel bioluminescent caterpillar
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlncKL140Os
Photinus firefly on vegetation at night at Goa University
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLaC9TdbPe4
Natural habitat of Photuris firefly at Goa University campus
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZ2DFXcpuY4
Photinus firefly in a grassland
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3TnSaui5w8
Caterpillar bioluminescence
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42xUPjLUTpM
Photinus firefly on dry ground at Goa university campus
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZI-ArbbaFjg
Rare view of Photuris firefly on ground in infra red band
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wL43qNVSN3c
Photinus bioluminiscent larva crawling on ground
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuXbt1kwnXM
Bioluminescent Photinus firefly larva crawling on ground on a rainy, windy night
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQqspe1zawI
First time on video-behaviour of live Photinus firefly larva in daylight in laborator
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzAde8Tvep0
March of Photinus firefly larva on leaf litter
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHZtc-00-os
Nocturnal foraging by Photinus firefly larva
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgbJb2s741g
Natural defense-Stimulation produces a bioluminescence reflex in Photinus firefly larva
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9R3ASof2FIQ
Experiment to demonstrate reflex action of bioluminescence in Photinus firefly larva
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSLfuFXOvvM
World's first video demonstrating bioluminsecnce as natural defense in Photinus firefly larva
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUXUTkp35tk
Strong bilateral bioluminsecense in stimulated Photinus firefly larva
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNT7fTKYt0g
Photinus firefly in flight
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNhTJsD0itU
The last sighting of Photinus firefly for monsoon 2010
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKL9XkZFGAM
Location:- Goa University campus, Taleigao, Goa, India
Discovery of novel bioluminescent caterpillar
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlncKL140Os
Photinus firefly on vegetation at night at Goa University
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLaC9TdbPe4
Natural habitat of Photuris firefly at Goa University campus
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZ2DFXcpuY4
Photinus firefly in a grassland
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3TnSaui5w8
Caterpillar bioluminescence
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42xUPjLUTpM
Photinus firefly on dry ground at Goa university campus
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZI-ArbbaFjg
Rare view of Photuris firefly on ground in infra red band
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wL43qNVSN3c
Photinus bioluminiscent larva crawling on ground
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuXbt1kwnXM
Bioluminescent Photinus firefly larva crawling on ground on a rainy, windy night
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQqspe1zawI
First time on video-behaviour of live Photinus firefly larva in daylight in laborator
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzAde8Tvep0
March of Photinus firefly larva on leaf litter
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHZtc-00-os
Nocturnal foraging by Photinus firefly larva
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgbJb2s741g
Natural defense-Stimulation produces a bioluminescence reflex in Photinus firefly larva
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9R3ASof2FIQ
Experiment to demonstrate reflex action of bioluminescence in Photinus firefly larva
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSLfuFXOvvM
World's first video demonstrating bioluminsecnce as natural defense in Photinus firefly larva
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUXUTkp35tk
Strong bilateral bioluminsecense in stimulated Photinus firefly larva
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNT7fTKYt0g
Photinus firefly in flight
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNhTJsD0itU
The last sighting of Photinus firefly for monsoon 2010
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKL9XkZFGAM
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
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