Humanity is killing off fireflies, new study says

There are more than 2,000 species of fireflies in the world, but many of them are facing extinction because of human activity, according to a study published Monday in the journal BioScience. Some of the 10 top ways humanity is snuffing out fireflies are not unique to the beloved bioluminescent beetles — loss of habitat to development and agriculture is the top threat to fireflies globally, for example, and exposure to pesticides like neonicotinoids, used on soybeans and corn, is No 3.

But firefly tourism in places like Japan, Thailand, North Carolina, Mexico, and Malaysia has also put species at risk of extinction, and the No. 2 threat outlined in the study is light pollution. "In addition to disrupting natural biorhythms — including our own — light pollution really messes up firefly mating rituals," study co-author Avalon Owens at Tufts University said in a news release. Fireflies use their glow to attract mates, and they can't always outshine direct light from street lights and neon signs or, more insidiously, skyglow, the diffuse light from cities and towns that can dim the night sky even far into the wilderness.

"Of course fireflies are particularly vulnerable to light pollution, more so than perhaps any other insect group, so it makes sense that this also emerges as a major concern," Dave Goulson, a biology professor at Britain's University of Sussex who chronicles the decimation of bug species, told CNN. Goulson was among the dozen authors of this study, all of them affiliated with the Firefly Specialist Group of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

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Lead author Sara Lewis, a biology professor at Tufts, pointed to the Malaysian firefly (Pteroptyx tener) and English glowworm (Lampyris noctiluca) as among the species at risk of extinction, but said some, like the Big Dipper (Photinus pyralis) common in North America, "can survive pretty much anywhere."