North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Robert Stanton" <robert.l.stanton@gmail.com>]

Lucky,

>
When we had the last major brood emergence, it was really eerie to
step outside and hear the singing of billions of these things -
sounded like something
right out of a 1950s science fiction movie about spaceships from Mars.
>
Really neat, wasn't it?  These sort of events stand out in our minds
and demarcate moments of interest in life.

>
I had a little single-string Echo grass trimmer whose whirling twine
emitted a sound which must have been identical to that of the female
cicadas, 'cause any
time I cranked it up, I was immediately swarmed by amorous males.
>
Female cicadas do not make sounds; they lack the organs in which to do
so.  Female periodical cicadas make "wing flick" responses to males,
which sound remarkably like a very fast snap of the fingers.  It's
likely that your trimmer sounded similar enough to male songs to
encourage their typical aggregation behavior.  One would have to
compare waveforms to be certain, though.

>
compared to the bazillions that will be active during these emergences
of major broods of periodic cicadas.  You folks who are making light
of the damage they can do haven't seen what I've experienced.
>
I'm in Champaign, IL (zone 5) and extensively traveled throughout last
year's Chicago and farther south emergence of the thirteenth brood.  I
observed flagging on trees in various neighborhoods, which was more
notable in the fall.  No one I talked to mentioned serious damage to
trees or shrubs, and I noticed many newly planted trees and shrubs
covered in protective netting.  Of course there will be exceptions to
every rule; I couldn't talk to everyone.

It's strange to me to hear humans claim that cicadas cause "damage"
when they oviposit and kill some branches, but that when humans kill
some branches we are acting in the plant's best interest and are
"pruning" it.  I'm sure the plant releases the same compounds
regardless of who is changing its shape.

I get as annoyed as anyone when flea beetles eat the broccoli I
planted or Japanese beetles strip the leaves off berry plants, often
killing them.  The periodicals are in a different category, though, in
that they are not annual and do not voraciously attack the
life-systems of the plant.  In fact, for all we know, having
periodical cicadas suck some juice from plants benefits the host by
*preventing* diseases or other intruders.  As far as I know, there
have been no studies on potential mutualistic relationships between
cicadas and plants, but one could speculate that it wouldn't do the
cicadas any good if that which enabled their life to continue became
diseased as a result of the stress they caused.

I would encourage all to either allow periodicals to oviposit and live
with the results, cover with netting if absolutely necessary, or pay
more attention to local cycles and plant new vegetation at a time
sufficiently far from an emergence to not hinder your short-term
goals.

Enjoy your periodicals; you only get three or four in your life,
Robert