That One Time a Moth Scolded Me

This series of research tales told by young protagonists stems from the @UniboPER/PhD Storytelling initiative, which has brought together PhD students, science popularisers, professionals from the Italian Union of Science Journalists (UGIS) and UniboMagazine. The author of this article is Maila Cicero, PhD student in Earth, Life and Environmental Sciences at the University of Bologna

Ms Moth, may I speak with you for a moment?

Can’t you see I’m flying around, minding my own business? But if you must...

I was looking for fireflies. I came back here because I remember spending hours as a child chasing them on those clear, early summer evenings. It was so fun! I’d love to feel that way again.
You’re wasting your time. You won’t find any now.

I thought they’d only disappeared in cities. They’re not even here, in the Apennines near Lucca?
Very few and very rare.

I don’t understand. Where did they go?
You see, things are changing quickly. Once, here in Bagni di Lucca, amidst the mountains, people used to live a simple life. A nice house, a patch of land, a job down at the paper mill to make ends meet. The landscape’s natural beauty framed it all. The vegetation was dense along the Lima torrent valley and the natural habitat was thriving.

Yes, I remember. My grandfather often took me mushroom hunting in the woods.
That’s what I was talking about. Life moved at a slow, simple pace. Then, suddenly, you humans started building lots of houses, one next to the other. You took space from the forest, cut down trees, and filled the valley with yellow lights that replaced the fireflies.

You’re talking about light pollution. That’s why you can’t see the stars in cities, either.
Precisely. You’re losing so much, and you don’t even notice.

Such as?
Moths, for one.

What’s happening to moths?
We’re disappearing. But since we’re not as beautiful and flashy as polar bears or Bengal tigers, no one cares. Have you ever seen an ad that says “Adopt a moth”?

No, I don’t think I have.
Exactly. Most people don’t even know we exist. Yet in my group, the Noctuidae, there are over 35,000 different species. Within the Lepidoptera, we’re the family with the most species.

That’s a lot!
You bet. In the 1980s, researchers tried to count us here in Bagni di Lucca. Guess how many species they found, just in this one region?

How many?
Two hundred and sixty-one.

Impressive. I’m no expert, but that seems quite a large number.
It is. In technical jargon, you would call this valley a biodiversity hotspot, which means that life here thrives in diverse and complex ways.

Fascinating. I didn’t know that. Unfortunately, I know very little about moths. May I ask a question? It might be a bit inappropriate...
Go ahead, ask away.

What’s the ecological purpose of moths? Why are you so important?
[The moth laughs, as only a moth can]
That’s so human of you. You’re always wondering about the meaning and purpose of everything! I could ask you: What’s the point of elephants in the savannah? But let me try to explain how we are actually all connected. There is a thread that links all living beings and it has to do with the exchange of energy. What do you remember about physics?

I studied it a long time ago, but I remember Lavoisier’s principle: nothing is created or destroyed, only transformed.
Exactly. In simple terms: try to picture a continuous flow of energy, endlessly processed by all living beings and put back into circulation, and thus at the disposal of new organisms. In animals, this flow of energy is within the trophic network, that is within what they eat.

So the energy that animals extract from the environment in the form of food is put back into circulation by the animals themselves, as new food?
Precisely. Now, keep in mind this fundamental principle and add another layer: there are predators and preys, right? Energy travels along this pyramid, starting with primary producers, plants, at the base, and predators at the top. Are you following me?

I am.
Good. We moths are at the bottom of the food chain. Which means, unfortunately, that we are eaten by many other animals, such as bats and nocturnal birds. We make up a significant portion of their diets.

So, with fewer moths...
You’ve got it. The damage would not only be to our community, but also to the entire ecosystem, and gradually many other species would suffer from it, all the way to the top of the pyramid.

Is urbanisation to blame?
There are multiple factors.

You mentioned habitat loss. What else?
Heat. Can’t you feel how hot it is? Climate change is drying rivers we drink from during summer, killing the plants we feed on and disrupting our biological cycles. We’re simple creatures with short lives. The effects that these changes have on the environment affect our lives much more than other animals. If all caterpillars die because there are no host plants due to the arid climate, no adult moths will reproduce that year and, the next year, no eggs will hatch. Within a single year, entire species could disappear. Forever.

Is that why moths are used as bioindicators?
Exactly. We’re so sensitive to everything that happens around us that scientists use us to measure the damage caused by climate change. And trust me, they can be irreversible.

I see. Gosh, I came here searching for fireflies, but I’ve found moths that need saving.
And now that you’ve found us... get to work! Do it for all the small forgotten creatures that have no voice and rarely make it into nature documentaries on TV.

Dear precious little moth, you can count on me!