Birds and bees reacted to the great American eclipse of 2017

This stunning view of the total solar eclipse in 2017 was achieved by combining seven exposures ranging from short to long. The surface of the Moon is visible on this image because it is illuminated by the light reflected by the Earth, called Earthshine. (Credit: Michael S. Adler)

On August 21, 2017, more than half of the US population took at least a few minutes of its busy schedule to catch the first total solar eclipse to cross the Americas in nearly 40 years. While many of us were looking up, stunned by the breathtaking view above, countless researchers have spent their time diligently collecting data to study the biological effects that are occurring. an eclipse of sun blockage can have on wildlife.

Abandon Sky!

One of these groups of researchers, led by Cecilia Nilsson of Cornell University, decided to use an extensive network of 143 weather radar stations scattered throughout the country to determine if there is a problem. Strangely programmed darkness of the eclipse would cause flying animals – such as birds and insects – to flood the skies as they usually do at sunset.

According to the study, this is not the case.

In fact, while the eclipse was darkening the sky, researchers were surprised to find that organic air traffic seemed to have decreased overall. And based on this finding, the team was able to draw some key conclusions.

First, the diurnal creatures (which are usually active during the day and inactive at night) seemed to have abandoned the air for the ground as the moon slowly absorbed the sun. This discovery lends credence to numerous anecdotal reports of decreased chirping and an apparent increase in perch behavior in birds during eclipses. Secondly, the researchers found that the eclipse's dark signals were not powerful enough for nocturnal animals to fly away as it was the case. sunset.

The authors write: "This trend suggests that clues associated with the eclipse were insufficient to initiate nocturnal activity comparable to that of sunset but sufficient to suppress daytime activity."

In addition, at some places along the eclipse's journey, researchers found a brief increase in the number of animals flying at low altitudes during the whole. According to the study, this peak, which occurred only during the whole and was too low to have an impact on the average of the data, "could indicate that insects have a more immediate and explicit reaction to l & # 39; darkness. "

Animal reactions to the eclipse

It is interesting to note that the idea that insects change strongly and rapidly in behavior during a total solar eclipse is corroborated by another study published last month in the Annals of the Entomological Society of America. As part of the study, researchers from the University of Missouri organized a large number of science citizens and elementary school classrooms to acoustically control how all of them influence bee behavior.

The results were surprisingly clear: the bees stopped buzzing during the total solar eclipse.

"We expected, according to some articles in the literature, that the activity of the bees diminishes as the light decreases during the eclipse and reaches a minimum at all," he said. the main author, Candace Galen, in a press release. "But we did not expect the change to be so abrupt, that the bees continue to fly to the totality and then only to stop completely. It was like "turning off the lights" at the summer camp! This surprised us. "

"The eclipse gave us the opportunity to ask ourselves if the new environmental context – open sky at midday – would change the behavior of bees' behavior in the dark and dark," Galen said. "As we have found, complete darkness causes the same behavior in bees, regardless of the time or the context. And this new information on the cognition of bees. "

The next eclipse

Although there has been a 40-year hiatus between the two previous total eclipses in the continental United States, fortunately the Americans do not have to wait that long. On April 8, 2024, a total solar eclipse will travel back to Texas, slide into the heart of the country and end in Maine – and countless researchers will again monitor the impact of this eclipse on the flora and fauna the United States.