2022 Volume 27 Issue 1-2 Pages 45-50
A highly sensitive digital camera recorded the flickering flight of the Japanese firefly (Aquatica lateralis; known as “heike-botaru” in Japanese) in the Yato wetland. The distance to the point where the firefly emits light was calculated from its maximum luminous intensity. Also, the trajectory in the flickering flight behavior was analyzed as three-dimensional (3D) coordinates. We compared two microhabitats used by A. lateralis during flickering flight; that between the space covered by the canopy of waterfront vegetation on the upper part of the wetland; and the space without the canopy on the upper part of the wetland. The comparison demonstrated that the flying behavior of A. lateralis changed according to the microhabitat formed by the waterfront vegetation of the Yato wetland. In addition, there were differences in the flying height and range. This method, which grasps the difference in the microhabitat by 3D analysis of the aquatic firefly's flying behavior, helps evaluate various microhabitats in the Satoyama water system. Understanding the relationship between the microhabitat and the Japanese firefly ecology should be a new evaluation index of firefly conservation activities. Such an index may provide effective feedback to conservation activities and environmental education, creating communities that conserve biodiversity.
