Charles van Rees provides entomological expertise for N-EWN Nature At Work Series


IRIS affiliate and Odum School of Ecology research scientist Charles Van Rees recently provided expertise on periodical cicadas for the Network for Engineering With Nature’s “Nature At Work” series. Van Rees described the life cycle and population strategy of these interesting insects, which evade predator life cycles by emerging en masse every 13 or 17 years.

2024 is a special year for this group of cicadas, which come from the genus Magicicada– literally, “magic cicada” in Latin. Brood XIII, a group of multiple 17-year cicada species, is emerging at the same time as Brood XIX (also known as the Great Southern Brood), which is made up of 13-year species. These groups haven’t emerged at the same time since 1803, and won’t overlap again for over 200 years.

“Take pictures and show people that it’s kind of a fun thing. It’s just like the eclipse. Go see it,” van Rees encouraged. “It’s a magical thing that’s unique to our area and unique to our lifetime.”

Read the full article here.

Featured image (top) by Levon Avdoyan via Flickr.