Weather radar records drastic drop in mayfly populations | News | Notre Dame News | University of Notre Dame Skip To Content Skip To Navigation Skip To Search University of Notre Dame Notre Dame News Experts ND in the News Subscribe About Us Home Contact Search Menu Home › News › Weather radar records drastic drop in mayfly populations Weather radar records drastic drop in mayfly populations Published: February 03, 2020 Author: Brandi Wampler Palm At the beginning of each summer, mayfly larvae emerge from bodies of water and shed their skin to become full-fledged mayflies, similar to how caterpillars become butterflies. Then, all at once, a swarm of these insects fly away together to reproduce, acting as an important component in the food chain for birds.  Researchers at the University of Notre Dame, University of Oklahoma and Virginia Tech applied radar technology, the same used for meteorology, to quantify the number of mayflies that emerged annually from two different bodies of water: the Upper Mississippi River and the Western Lake Erie Basin. Their goal was to characterize the size of these swarms using the same technique a meteorologist would use to quantify the amount of precipitation that may fall from a cloud.  Pulling radar data from the two locations over a span of eight years, the research team estimated that up to 88 billion mayflies can swarm from each location annually.  “Approximately 88 billion mayflies equate to about 12 trillion calories in the food web, feeding about 54 million baby birds. Therefore, we can assume these insects have a nearly instant impact on the birds that survive off of them when they descend upon their respective shorelines,” said Phillip Stepanian, assistant research professor of civil and environmental engineering and earth sciences, lead author, and affiliated member of Notre Dame’s Environmental Change Initiative (ND-ECI).  Although the initial study was only intended to quantify mayfly swarms, researchers found more than a 50 percent decrease in population from 2012 to 2019 in these two Midwestern water bodies. Study co-author Jennifer Tank, the Ludmilla F., Stephen J. and Robert T. Galla Professor of Biological Sciences and director of ND-ECI, shared that the next steps are to investigate whether declines like this are widespread, and what may be causing such reductions in the mass emergence of this species of mayfly. “Other studies have suggested that declines in water quality caused by nutrient and sediment runoff, as well as warmer temperatures, may be impacting mayfly survival,” said Tank. “These mayflies may be our 'canary in the coal mine' in that they’re sending us a message about how tightly land and water are linked regarding the impact of multiple stressors.” Study co-authors in addition to Stepanian and Tank are Sally A. Entrekin, associate professor of entomology at Virginia Tech; Jeffrey Kelly, professor of biology and director of the Plains Institute at the University of Oklahoma; Djordje Mirkovic, research scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; and Charlotte E. Wainwright, postdoctoral research associate of civil and environmental engineering and earth sciences at Notre Dame. The study was funded by the National Science Foundation. To read the full study, visit https://www.pnas.org/content/early/2020/01/15/1913598117.  Contact: Brandi Wampler, research communications specialist, Notre Dame Research, brandiwampler@nd.edu, 574-631-8183, @UNDResearch Originally published by Brandi Wampler at research.nd.edu on Jan. 29. Posted In: Research Home Experts ND in the News Subscribe About Us Related October 05, 2022 Astrophysicists find evidence for the presence of the first stars October 04, 2022 NIH awards $4 million grant to psychologists researching suicide prevention September 29, 2022 Notre Dame, Ukrainian Catholic University launch three new research grants September 27, 2022 Notre Dame, Trinity College Dublin engineers join to advance novel treatment for cystic fibrosis September 22, 2022 Climate-prepared countries are losing ground, latest ND-GAIN index shows For the Media Contact Office of Public Affairs and Communications Notre Dame News 500 Grace Hall Notre Dame, IN 46556 USA Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube Pinterest © 2022 University of Notre Dame Search Mobile App News Events Visit Accessibility Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube LinkedIn