Festival of Lights
Biology professors Sarah Lower and Gregory Pask brought students from their Bucknell labs to western Pennsylvania to do research and outreach to the general public this June at the annual Pennsylvania Firefly Festival.
![Professor Sarah Lower hunts for Chinese lantern fireflies in the vegetation Professor Sarah Lower hunts for Chinese lantern fireflies in the vegetation](https://magazine.bucknell.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/festival-of-lights-test-03.jpg)
![firefly festival visitors watching a close-up video of a firefly larva firefly festival visitors watching a close-up video of a firefly larva](https://magazine.bucknell.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/festival-of-lights-test-04.jpg)
![Lourenço Martins ’21 shows Sarah Bain ’21 Lourenço Martins ’21 shows Sarah Bain ’21](https://magazine.bucknell.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/festival-of-lights-test-12.jpg)
![Hanh Tran ’20 verifies the identity of a firefly Hanh Tran ’20 verifies the identity of a firefly](https://magazine.bucknell.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/festival-of-lights-test-13.jpg)
Clockwise from top left: Professor Sarah Lower hunts for Chinese lantern fireflies in the vegetation. Lower shows some firefly festival visitors a close-up video of a firefly larva. Lourenço Martins ’21 shows Sarah Bain ’21 and Lower his successful capture. Hanh Tran ’20 verifies the identity of a firefly. Martins finds a day-active firefly, which emit chemicals rather than light to find one another. Tran searches for fireflies at dusk.
Clockwise from top left: Professor Sarah Lower hunts for Chinese lantern fireflies in the vegetation. Lower shows some firefly festival visitors a close-up video of a firefly larva. Hanh Tran ’20 verifies the identity of a firefly. Lourenço Martins ’21 shows Sarah Bain ’21 and Lower his successful capture. Below: Tran searches for fireflies at dusk. Martins finds a day-active firefly, which emit chemicals rather than light to find one another.
Top to bottom: Professor Sarah Lower hunts for Chinese lantern fireflies in the vegetation. Lower shows some firefly festival visitors a close-up video of a firefly larva. Lourenço Martins ’21 shows Sarah Bain ’21 and Lower his successful capture. Hanh Tran ’20 verifies the identity of a firefly. Below: Tran searches for fireflies at dusk. Martins finds a day-active firefly, which emit chemicals rather than light to find one another.
![Tran searches for fireflies at dusk Tran searches for fireflies at dusk](https://magazine.bucknell.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/festival-of-lights-test-06.jpg)
![Martins finds a day-active firefly, which emit chemicals rather than light to find one another Martins finds a day-active firefly, which emit chemicals rather than light to find one another](https://magazine.bucknell.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/festival-of-lights-test-05.jpg)
![Sarah Bain ’21 checks to see if the firefly she caught is male or female Sarah Bain ’21 checks to see if the firefly she caught is male or female](https://magazine.bucknell.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/festival-of-lights-test-08.jpg)
Clockwise from top left: Sarah Bain ’21 checks to see if the firefly she caught is male or female. Wearing a red LED headlamp to minimize disturbance to the fireflies, Professor Sarah Lower places a firefly in a tube. Time-lapse photo of the synchronized flashes of Photinus carolinus fireflies. From left: Cheyenne McKinley ’20, Sarah Bain ’21, Hanh Tran ’20, Professor Lower, Lourenço Martins ’21, Joanna Pask, Heather Pask, Elliot Pask and Professor Greg Pask, biology. Lower reaches into the tall grass to reveal a partially hidden firefly female signaling to males.
Above: Sarah Bain ’21 checks to see if the firefly she caught is male or female. Below: Wearing a red LED headlamp to minimize disturbance to the fireflies, Professor Sarah Lower places a firefly in a tube. Time-lapse photo of the synchronized flashes of Photinus carolinus fireflies. Cheyenne McKinley ’20, Sarah Bain ’21, Hanh Tran ’20, Professor Lower, Lourenço Martins ’21, Joanna Pask, Heather Pask, Elliot Pask and Professor Greg Pask, biology. Lower reaches into the tall grass to reveal a partially hidden firefly female signaling to males.
![Lower reaches into the tall grass to reveal a partially hidden firefly female signaling to males Lower reaches into the tall grass to reveal a partially hidden firefly female signaling to males](https://magazine.bucknell.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/festival-of-lights-test-07.jpg)
![Wearing a red LED headlamp to minimize disturbance to the fireflies, Professor Sarah Lower places a firefly in a tube Wearing a red LED headlamp to minimize disturbance to the fireflies, Professor Sarah Lower places a firefly in a tube](https://magazine.bucknell.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/festival-of-lights-test-09.jpg)
“I’ll often describe firefly flashes as Morse code, where each species has its own code.”
Professor Sarah Lower
![Time-lapse photo of the synchronized flashes of Photinus carolinus fireflies Time-lapse photo of the synchronized flashes of Photinus carolinus fireflies](https://magazine.bucknell.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/festival-of-lights-test-10.jpg)
![Cheyenne McKinley ’20, Sarah Bain ’21, Hanh Tran ’20, Professor Lower, Lourenço Martins ’21, Joanna Pask, Heather Pask, Elliot Pask and Professor Greg Pask Cheyenne McKinley ’20, Sarah Bain ’21, Hanh Tran ’20, Professor Lower, Lourenço Martins ’21, Joanna Pask, Heather Pask, Elliot Pask and Professor Greg Pask](https://magazine.bucknell.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/festival-of-lights-test-11.jpg)
Photos: Carla Long