Cicada emergence

http://www.sciencenetlinks.com/sci_update.cfm?DocID=214

Provider: American Association for the Advancement of Science

About this resource

Appropriate grades

5

Subjects

science (environmental science, technology and innovation), thinking skills (information literacy)

Provider

American Association for the Advancement of Science

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In this Science Update, students explore the periodic cycles of cicadas. Keith Clay, a biologist at Indiana University describes an experiment he conducted where fruit trees were grown in large pots in a greenhouse. Then, by turning the lights off and on, the trees’ growth was accelerated through their seasonal cycles. These large pots had cicadas in the soil on the root system, and the cicadas emerged after the 17th cycle—not 17 years. Clay suggests that because the cicadas drink sap from the tree roots, they kept track of how it flows or could be detecting something in the sap, which might be a clue as to what triggers their emergence. Furthermore, the soil temperature has something to do with the pattern of emergence. Science NetLinks provides a link to the audio file, a written transcript, and questions to engage students in discussion about the life cycles of cicadas and what other experiments might cause cicadas to change their patterns. This activity also contains links to other web resources about cicadas.