BATON ROUGE, La. (Louisiana First)- They once lit up Louisiana nights—but now they’re disappearing. One familiar insect population is fading fast, and the LSU AgCenter is stepping in to help bring it back.
In the town of Jean Lafitte, the LSU AgCenter was approached to help rebuild the firefly population that had once lived in a community park. Now, the project has grown into something much bigger, because Louisiana isn’t the only state seeing a decline in the insect.
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Ways to increase the firefly population
Entomologist Christine Gambino said there are a couple of steps you can take to give fireflies a home in your own backyard.
“Native plants are where the adults collect and reproduce, so native grasses are very important, such as sugarcane plumegrass and lizard-tail for females to go on top and blink their lights,” said Gambino…