The buzz we're hearing from cicadas: Insects need our help

In some tree-lined neighborhoods, people are wondering why they haven’t seen many cicadas — or even any of them — in an historic year when hordes of the 17-year-cycle critters are emerging in Chicago at the same time a 13-year brood emerges farther south.

The cicadas might be MIA because farming, paving, predators, soil excavation or something else interfered with a past brood. It takes several generations for the red-eyed and membranous-winged insects to re-establish themselves.

It’s a reminder of how disruptions affect the ecosystem in ways that aren’t immediately obvious. Who knows that a cicada cycle has been disrupted until the cicadas don't emerge from the ground after hiding out for 17 years?

It also emphasizes the importance of turning to nature-based solutions to nurture native insects, which are an important food source for birds, bats, native pollinators and the rest of the ecosystem. The more than we reconsider our built environment and integrate green space, the more we support the whole environment.

Doug Taron, curator emeritus at the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum, told us people alter nature's rhythms in many ways, including by development, climate change and reducing biodiversity, which affects insects.

"Insects are just an enormously diverse group," Taron said.

For example, hundreds of native bee species pollinate plants, even though they don’t provide honey for humans, Taron said. He advises "keeping yards a little less tidy" by leaving unmowed areas to nurture lightning bugs, using less chemically intensive yard-care solutions and emphasizing native plantings for gardening.

Pesticides especially affect the whole food chain. Humans can't control nature, but they can be good stewards.

Cicadas don't hurt people, pets, gardens or crops — though the buzzing din they raise may get old — but they do aerate the ground, improve water filtration and add nutrients to the soil as they decompose.

The neighborhoods where people aren't seeing many cicadas remind us many insect species are in decline. In 2019, the journal Biological Conservation reported 40% of insect species are threatened by extinction. According to a 2020 analysis of 16 studies, insect populations have declined by about 45% globally over the last 40 years.

Yet some species of noxious insect pests actually thrive when the ecosystem is struggling, which is another argument for keeping nature in balance.

Feel fortunate if you see large numbers of 17-year cicadas — which are different from annual cicadas that emerge in small numbers every year — even if you think they look a little creepy. And do what you can to ensure there will be healthy future broods.

We welcome letters to the editor and op-eds. Check out our guidelines for both.

Send letters to letters@suntimes.com