Shanghai's unique firefly culture could be facing extinction

This is the time of the year when night life has a new meaning. The city's fireflies, with their alluring, blinking magical displays, offer a fascinating contrast to the city's techno-colored street and shop lighting, and many Shanghai people are setting out to spend time watching and enjoying this natural spectacle.

The hunt for the fireflies has also been given a public push recently by the publication of recommended viewing spots for the tiny nocturnal creatures by the Shanghai Municipal Tourism Administration.

The list of six destinations includes the highly recommended Cenbu village, a village beside Shanghai's largest freshwater lake Dianshan Lake in Qingpu district. Other spots listed are the Shanghai Botanical Garden, the Chenshan Botanical Garden and the Shanghai Zoo.

These are some of the last places where fireflies can be easily found in the city. Fireflies can only live where there is good quality air and water, little external lighting, lush undergrowth and little pesticide. They emit a flashing light to attract mates or prey.

Jiang Long is the founder of the Firefly Environmental Protection Volunteers, and he told the Global Times that there are two species of fireflies chiefly found around Shanghai - one prefers a drier environment while the other thrives near water.

Inconsiderate tourists

But experts and activists are warning against an influx of visitors to these places and, in particular, Cenbu village. Unlike the fireflies at the botanical gardens and the zoo, which offer guided tours, the delicate creatures at the village are more vulnerable to unruly and inconsiderate tourists.

Fu Xinhua is China's leading firefly expert and a professor with the Huazhong Agricultural University in Wuhan. He told the Metro Express newspaper that some firefly watchers could harm the fireflies with their behavior - for example using flashlights which can disturb their mating.

It's a serious point. The Nanjing Daily reported that after a firefly watching area at Zijin Mountain in Nanjing was publicized last year, tourists overwhelmed the place and the species has almost vanished from the mountain.

In fact, the number of fireflies at Cenbu village has already fallen sharply. On summer nights in 2012, up to about 3,000 fireflies were visible but last year fewer than 1,500 could be seen.

Though there is no evidence that the visitors are the sole or major cause of the trend, villagers told eastday.com that the area had become quite popular with tourists and some city visitors seemed to enjoy catching frogs and lobsters and other wildlife.

At the Shanghai Botanical Garden there is a summer night program for firefly watching conducted by ecologists, teachers and trained volunteers. Staff there told the Global Times that although there were no precise figures for firefly populations over the past few years, they had not noticed any decline in numbers.

Organized tours

Volunteer founder Jiang told the Global Times that the Shanghai Botanical Garden firefly watch tours were the best organized of the firefly outings in the city because of the professionalism of the guides.

"The big advantage of Shanghai Botanical Garden's program is that the guides are experts or have completed the training course run by the Shanghai Wild Bird Society, and this has laid a solid foundation for quality firefly watching and sustainable eco-tourism.

"Because these guides carefully explain and closely monitor the situation, any disturbance to the fireflies or their habitat is kept to a minimum," Jiang said.

Garden staff said the rules for going on one of their nocturnal animal programs included making sure that visitors did not use flashlights or take pictures with flash. "Talking loudly and catching fireflies were also forbidden," a staff member said.

Jiang agrees with this approach. "It not only satisfies the visitors' curiosity, but gives them information about the species and might spur some to take part in protecting them."

He said that this year Shanghai Zoo would also have guides trained by the Shanghai Wild Bird Society working in its firefly program.

But for Cenbu village both experts, Jiang and professor Fu, propose more radical solutions than just encouraging tourists to appreciate the natural beauty of fireflies - they want to see protection of the magical little creatures made a priority.