P.J. Liesch of the University of Wisconsin's Insect Diagnostic Lab joins the AccuWeather Network to provide information about the emergence of cicadas, insects that spend much of their lives buried.

Centre County

Cicadas are currently emerging in parts of the United States, with their adult phase lasting about a month before they disappear for another 17 years. According to P.J. Liesch of the University of Wisconsin's Insect Diagnostic Lab, cicadas are harmless to people, pets, and most property, with their main activity being mating and laying eggs during their brief time above ground.

Cicadas have a range of natural predators, including birds, mammals, and even humans historically. While they can cause minor damage to young trees when females lay eggs, established trees are generally unaffected. Liesch recommends using fine mesh netting to protect new or small trees during cicada activity, but otherwise advises leaving the insects alone to observe this rare natural phenomenon.

What to know about cicadas

Cicadas are here. They're driving Ariel and I nuts. When are they gonna go? Soon, soon. So most likely within the next two weeks. And when these insects come out, the adults are relatively short-lived, usually a period of roughly a month. And so once they come out, about a week later you start getting all that noise and then you've got about three to four weeks and then they're gonna be gone for 17 more years. Oh, God. That's 17 years, not long enough. They are not the cutest looking, they aren't. And I gotta ask you this, doctor. What are their predators? Who, for a lack of a better word, I'm gonna say, who eats them? It doesn't seem like I see any birds or any robins taking care of them. What are their natural predators? There's actually a lot of things that will eat them. That can include fish, a wide range of vertebrates on land. So terrestrial animals like raccoons, skunks, a wide range of birds will feed on these. So if you maybe have not seen that personally, it still is definitely happening out there. And actually, if you dig into the history books on these insects, humans have even used them as a food source. If you go back to records from the 1600s, it's well-known that Native Americans have eaten these. I've tried them myself and they're really kind of related to shrimp, if you think about it, from an evolutionary standpoint. I tried to make that argument with my wife. It did not go very far. No. Okay, so why are they here? What do they do and do they hurt people, pets, or property? Yeah, first off, really quite harmless. These are insects that have been around for millions of years. From their point of view, they are simply trying to perpetuate their species. And their strategy is to come out at these long time intervals, 17 years, that's gonna make it harder. Perhaps for predators to catch onto that pattern. When they come out, it's just a wild, crazy party for about a month. They come out, they're making a lot of noise. Those are the males singing to attract the females. They mate, they lay eggs, and then a short while later, those adults are dead and gone for 17 more years. Yeah, that's the noise. Yeah, all right. What can homeowners do to protect trees or keep cicadas out of yards and homes? Or is it just best to leave them alone? In my mind, it's really best to just kind of leave them be. It's a very short, ephemeral, I think it's a fascinating, amazing, natural phenomenon to be able to witness this. For a given group of cicadas, you only have so many opportunities in your entire life to see these. So that's pretty cool from that scientific standpoint. In terms of threats to people and properties, really quite harmless. About the most damage they can do is when the females go to lay eggs, they'll cut slits into twigs of trees and shrubs and things like that. If you have a big tree in your yard, the tree is gonna tolerate this damage just fine. The only situation I get concerned is if you maybe had a brand new tree or shrub you planted or a small one. In a situation like that, what I recommend to folks is cover that plant with some fine mesh netting. And you only need to do this for about a month when the cicadas are active. Once they're done and gone, you can take that netting off. But that's a good way to prevent some damage. Otherwise, not really much else you need to do. One more question, sorry. When they're not flying around and making noise and mating, they're just underground, right? Or what are they gonna do in the next 17 years? They spend most of their life down in the soil, in the dark. That's where the juveniles are developing. They're feeding on sap from tree roots. So they're down in the dark. There's no Netflix. All they have to eat is sap from trees. And then when they come up, they only have about a month, but it's a crazy party for them. So I recommend that you cover that plant with some fine mesh netting during that month or so. Wow. I have to hand it to you, doctor. You made cicadas fun. Yeah, and cool. And cool, fun and cool. Made us feel like we were living through something, right? I'm gonna be bragging to everybody about, you know, the cicada infestation in central Pennsylvania. That drove me nuts and it was like an apocalyptic sound for 24 hours. Doctor, thanks for joining us here. Again, thanks for joining us. A lot of great information.

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