Cicadas regulate the number of birds

Cicadas have unusual life cycle. Most of the time they are in the form of larvae, burrowing, living underground. They only turn into winged insects, chirping in the summer after 13 or 17 years. Until now, scientists have not explained why the cicada's life cycle is so long.

Recently, Cornell University scientists have come up with interesting hypotheses that it is the cicadas that regulate the number of bird populations that use them as food for themselves. Based on the laws of ecology, everyone thinks that when cicadas are 'blooming' much, the amount of birds will increase. But American ecologists have found the opposite, every year these insects breed a lot, the number of feathers with feathers decreases.

At first they commented that when the cicada appeared on the ground, it seemed more absent. To determine the relationship between cicadas and birds, scientists have collected data on bird population fluctuations over the past half century, paying special attention to populations of birds that like to eat. cicadas, like the American gold-beaked cuckoo, the red-headed woodpecker and the sparrow.

They discovered that at the time of the cicadas crawling on the molting ground, the number of birds mentioned above dropped markedly, then began to increase and then decreased. It seems that nature has given cicadas the chance to wait for the most appropriate time (ie few enemies to destroy me) to molt.

It is hard to believe that insects cause such an impact on birds for so long. Cicadas create a large biomass and when this biomass suddenly reaches freely, it affects more than 10 years later.

Ecologists emphasize that in order to confirm this, research must continue. The influence of cicada decisions on bird populations confirmed objective statistics, but they still have not answered the question of why waiting for 17 or 13 years, new cicadas come from underground. to molt and proliferate. Why do these insects live in seclusion in the ground for at least 13 years to leave the deep cave to see the sunlight, while other insects have to wait for 4 years?