What do fireflies shine for? Why do fireflies glow?

The purpose of fireflies to emit light is mainly to attract mating Buddhas for mating. According to observations, after the male worm emits light, the female worm also fluoresces in response. That way, they can figure out where each other is in the dark.

The process by which fireflies emit light can be used to explain the mechanism of some bioluminescence. ATP is a compound used by biological cells to store energy, ATP can interact with fluorescein in fireflies to form a fluorescent compound, which is catalyzed by luciferase and produces fluorescence in the presence of oxygen. So, this glow is a type of chemiluminescence that does not produce heat when it emits light.

There is also a small beetle that also has a similar light-emitting system to the drum fireworm, but it emits light in a somewhat different way, they can make both luciferin and luciferase in their bodies at the same time, and then excrete both chemicals into the water. When oxidized in water, these two substances produce luminescence. The tail of this beetle is ground and dried, and then mixed with water, it will also glow and will last for a short time, and the more dry powder is added, the longer it will shine.

The light emitted by fireflies is faint, but it is still useful. In ancient China, there was a story about catching fireflies and putting them in bottles to illuminate books and reading at night. During World War II, when Japanese troops patrolled the forests, they used fireflies to illuminate them in order to read short orders without being detected by the enemy.

The purpose of fireflies to emit light is that early scholars put forward hypotheses that they have the functions of courtship, communication, lighting, warning, display, and population regulation. But apart from courtship and communication, other functions are just the result of scientists' observations or just speculation. It is only in recent years that some scholars have verified the warning: in 1999, scholars Knight and others found that lizards that accidentally ate adult fireflies would die, confirming that the glow of adult insects has the function of warning other organisms in addition to finding mates; In 1997, scholars Underwood et al. conducted experiments on rats and confirmed that the luminescence of larvae has a warning effect on mice.

Fireflies have thousands of yellow light cells in their abdomen. These light-emitting cells contain two chemicals, fluorescein and fluorescein. When oxygen enters the cell, it causes the two substances to undergo a chemical reaction to emit light.

So why shine? It's nothing to say, a natural phenomenon where males emit fluorescent courtship and females fluoresce in response. Haha, this is probably the power of love!

Fireflies are only available when there is water, and year-round humidity and lush vegetation are the necessary conditions for the survival of terrestrial fireflies. The environment is quiet, the air is fresh, the rivers, swamps, wetlands, mangroves, and abundant food are the ideal homes for fireflies to survive and thrive. Between 7 and 9 p.m. they are at their most vibrant, and the best time to see fireflies.

Fireflies have specialized light-emitting cells, and there are two types of chemicals in the light-emitting cells, one is called luciferin (in fireflies it is called fireflyluciferin) and the other is called luciferase.

Luciferin can consume ATP under the catalysis of luciferase and react with oxygen, which produces oxidized luciferin in the excited state, and releases photons when the oxidized luciferin returns from the excited state to the ground state.

Almost all of the energy released in the reaction is released in the form of Paipai Douguang, and only a very small part is released in the form of heat, and the reaction efficiency is 95%, so the beetle will not overheat and burn. So far, humans have not been able to create such an efficient light source. There are many white patches on the lower part of the abdomen.

In fact, it is the transparent part of its carapace that is envious. On the inside there is a white film that reflects light. So during the day this part appears white.