News — Cicadas are taking over the Midwest, and their presence is deafening. Kasey Fowler-Finn, Ph.D., associate professor of biology at Saint Louis University, is your expert to cut through the noise.
Fowler-Finn is the foremost insect researcher in St. Louis with expertise in insect communication. She has already leant her expertise to shed light on a variety of insect and cicada topics. Just some of the questions she has answered is how many broods are emerging in the Midwest (two broods, seven species), why do suburbs see more cicadas than urban environments (more trees that sustain higher cicada populations to withstand predators), just how loud do cicadas get (extremely loud) and more.
Most recently, Fowler-Finn discovered a population of cicadas where numerous cicadas were infected with the “zombie cicada” fungus, which causes changes in sexual behavior before death so that the fungus can spread and reproduce for the next generation emerging from the ground in 13 years.
June represents the peak season for cicadas in the Midwest. Their calls can be heard for miles and is the official song of summer. With plenty more time to interact with these amazing insects, there’s still time to have all your questions answered.
To set up an interview with Kasey Fowler-Finn, contact Jacob Born at [email protected].
RSS