Periodical cicadas
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Periodical cicadas are cicadas whose juvenile stages remain underground for unusually long, synchronised periods before emerging in enormous numbers. Species in the genus Magicicada have life cycles of either 13 or 17 years.
Nymphs feed on fluids from plant roots while developing below ground. In an emergence year, soil temperature and seasonal cues help coordinate their appearance, after which they climb vegetation, moult into adults, mate, lay eggs, and die within several weeks.
The mass emergence may reduce the risk to any individual through predator satiation: predators consume many cicadas but cannot consume them all. Populations with the same emergence schedule are organised into geographically defined broods.
The prime-number cycle lengths have attracted interest because they may reduce synchronisation with shorter predator or parasite cycles and limit interbreeding among broods. Periodical cicadas are therefore important examples in the study of biological timing, evolution, population cycles, and ecosystem nutrient pulses.
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- Source / publisher: Wikipedia
- URL type: WWW
- Credits: Wikipedia
- URL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Periodical_cicadas