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Systematics, Evolution, and Biodiversity

Student Competition Poster

Undergrad SysEB: Biodiversity, Biogeography, and Taxonomy

D3095: You would not believe your eyes: Using predictive modeling to estimate locations of firefly populations in the intermountain West

Monday, November 1, 2021
9:00 AM – 6:30 PM MT
Location:: Exhibit Hall F
Student Competition In-Person Poster

    Presenting Author(s)

  • RN

    Ryen P. Nielsen

    Undergraduate Student
    Laramie County Community College
    Laramie, Wyoming, United States

    • Co-Author(s)

  • HV

    Haleigh Vahlbusch

    Laramie County Community College
    Cheyenne, Wyoming, United States

  • CH

    Christopher Hair

    Laramie County Community College
    Cheyenne, Wyoming, United States

  • GM

    Gavin Martin

    Brigham Young University
    Provo, Utah, United States

Firefly sightings in the Intermountain West have been consistently reported, however, exact locations of populations have been difficult to properly predict and verify without relying on tips from citizen-scientists and other researchers. The purpose of this project was to create an ecological model that could predict probable populations of fireflies in the Intermountain West, specifically Wyoming and Colorado, to further assist in current efforts to understand their overall distribution in the region. The model inferred in this study was created using MaxEnt. Environmental data for the region was taken from WorldClim, and firefly locations were taken from data derived from the Western Firefly Project, NMHU. The results of this study are already corroborating and expanding sightings of fireflies in the Intermountain West.