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Synchronous fireflies found in Oak Ridge Wildlife Management Area

Posted at 7:41 pm July 15, 2015
By Oak Ridge Today Staff 2 Comments

Synchronous Fireflies

In the foreground: Predatory Photuris sp. which is recognizable by the red on the pronotum (head shield), larger size, and stripes on the wings. The firefly in the background is the Photuris frontalis (a.k.a. snappy sync). (Photo by TWRA)

 

By Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency

Paul Shaw, a TWRA fisheries creel agent, has taken an interest in fireflies this summer, which has led to an amazing discovery.

Intrigued by the synchronous fireflies at Elkmont in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and learning that Lynn Faust, the premiere synchronous firefly researcher in the GSMNP had them on her property near his own, Shaw set out on a mission to find other populations in east Tennessee.

His initial search in early June produced a healthy but isolated population on his densely forested property, which lies about a mile north of the Oak Ridge Wildlife Management Area.

During the next few weeks, Shaw—along with ORWMA Manager Jim Evans, former TWRA employee Wade Gefellars, and several others—formed a group called the “Firefly Team” that began visiting sites around ORWMA with hopes of discovering other synchronous fireflies. Their research areas consisted of about 30 sites, which were not arbitrary, random locations but were carefully calculated by biological factors similar to those at Elkmont. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Front Page News, Government, State, Top Stories Tagged With: Elkmont, Firefly Team, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, GSMNP, Jim Evans, Lynn Faust, Oak Ridge Wildlife Management Area, ORWMA, Paul Shaw, Photinus carolinus, Photuris frontalis, Snappy Syncs, synchronous fireflies, Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, TWRA, Wade Gefellars

Five more spring nature walks planned on Oak Ridge Reservation

Posted at 9:37 pm March 24, 2015
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

Five more nature walks are planned this spring on the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Reservation with themes of frog calls and bat monitoring, wildflowers and forest growth, bird watching, invasive plants, reptiles, and amphibians.

The frog calls and bat monitoring walk is scheduled from 7 to 9 p.m. Saturday, April 4, and will be concentrated in the ponds around East Tennessee Technology Park. Wade Gefellers and Kitty McCracken of ORNL’s Environmental Sciences Division will demonstrate how local bat populations are monitored and methods to identify local frog populations based on calls. Participants, limited to 25 with children allowed, will meet at the ETTP visitors overlook parking lot at 7 p.m. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Front Page News, Meetings and Events, Oak Ridge Reservation, U.S. Department of Energy Tagged With: amphibians, bat monitoring, bird nature walk, Clinch River Environmental Studies Organization, CRESO, East Tennessee Technology Park, Environmental Sciences Division, ETTP, frog calls, Jamie Herold, Jim Evans, John Byrd, Kitty McCracken, Larry Pounds, nature walks, Oak Ridge Reservation, old growth forest walk, ORNL, Paul Durr, reptiles, spring nature walks, spring walk, Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, Tracy Clem, Trent Jett, U.S. Department of Energy, Wade Gefellers, wildflower, wildflowers

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