Could seeing the luminescent twinkle of fireflies on summer evenings soon be a thing of the past? Recent claims circulating on social media say that we may be the last generation to have grown up with fireflies. But how true is that?
A 2024 study in Science of The Total Environment compiled 24,000 North American surveys from Firefly Watch, a citizen science initiative, revealing that firefly populations in North America are declining. The surveys identified several factors that could be contributing to firefly decline, but there may still be a bright spot of hope for firefly conservation, so perhaps we won’t be the last generation to grow up with fireflies.
Fireflies in North America typically live east of the Rocky Mountains and prefer wet, humid climates over dry and arid ones. According to Firefly Conservation & Research — a nonprofit that works to educate the public about fireflies — these ...
