• Post Reply Bookmark Topic Watch Topic
  • New Topic
permaculture forums growies critters building homesteading energy monies kitchen purity ungarbage community wilderness fiber arts art permaculture artisans regional education skip experiences global resources cider press projects digital market permies.com pie forums private forums all forums
this forum made possible by our volunteer staff, including ...
master stewards:
  • Carla Burke
  • Nancy Reading
  • r ranson
  • Jay Angler
  • John F Dean
  • Pearl Sutton
stewards:
  • Nicole Alderman
  • paul wheaton
  • Anne Miller
master gardeners:
  • Christopher Weeks
  • Timothy Norton
gardeners:
  • thomas rubino
  • Jeremy VanGelder
  • Matt McSpadden

Cicadas in an ecosystem

 
Posts: 1
  • Likes 1
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
What functions do cicadas play in an ecosystem?
 
pollinator
Posts: 614
Location: South East Kansas
208
7
forest garden trees books cooking bike bee
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Good question! I do not know the answer but I found a website called cicada mania (here is the link https://www.cicadamania.com/ ). I also found this NPR bit fun (here is the link https://npr.org/2021/03/24/980867225/brood-x-the-rise-of-the-17-year-cicadas )

 
pollinator
Posts: 241
65
  • Likes 3
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
I'm no expert but I do know they add tons of biomass back into the soil when they die off. They also increase the droppings of every creature around here.  I have seen frogs and birds so full they could barely move, day after day till the cicadas were gone.
 
steward
Posts: 16323
Location: USDA Zone 8a
4305
dog hunting food preservation cooking bee greening the desert
  • Likes 3
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Cicadas are beneficial insects.  They don't have mouthparts so for food they suck sap instead of eating vegetation.

They aerate the soil when they emerge. Their bodies serve as an important source of nitrogen for growing trees.

You can feed them to your chickens, etc.

 
pollinator
Posts: 200
Location: MD, USA. zone 7
71
  • Likes 1
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Food. If you're in an area with a heavy burst of them, every dog, cat, raccoon, bug eating bird, snake, rodent, etc is gorged senseless the entire time. And then all those exoskeletons get returned to feed the soil.

I do wonder if local cycles of them (the different swarms have different prime numbers) have any sort of tie in with how (especially nut) trees have abundant and slow years.
 
gardener
Posts: 828
Location: Central Indiana, zone 6a, clay loam
589
forest garden fungi foraging trees urban chicken medical herbs ungarbage
  • Likes 2
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Welcome to Permies, Arman! What a great question!

The damage caused to twigs by cicadas laying eggs in them basically prunes them, thereby stimulating growth. Also detailed in this video, they sometimes serve as a host for a very strange fungus.


They certainly create a beautiful soundscape (at least to my ears). Wonder if that has any effects on their ecosystem?
 
A new kitten. What are we gonna name it? How about tiny ad?
turnkey permaculture paradise for zero monies
https://permies.com/t/267198/turnkey-permaculture-paradise-monies
reply
    Bookmark Topic Watch Topic
  • New Topic