Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Comment
  • Published:

A new chapter in the physics of firefly swarms

Orit Peleg describes how a blend of models and experiments are revealing new insights about the intricate physics of firefly swarms.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: Physics of firefly synchronization through models and experiments.

References

  1. Strogatz, S. Sync: The Emerging Science of Spontaneous Order (Hyperion, 2003).

  2. Sarfati, R. & Peleg, O. Chimera states among synchronous fireflies. Sci. Adv. 8, eadd6690 (2022).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  3. Sarfati, R., Hayes, J. C. & Peleg, O. Self-organization in natural swarms of Photinus carolinus synchronous fireflies. Sci. Adv. 7, eabg9259 (2021).

    Article  ADS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  4. Sarfati, R. et al. Spatio-temporal reconstruction of emergent flash synchronization in firefly swarms via stereoscopic 360-degree cameras. J. R. Soc. Interface 17, 20200179 (2020).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  5. Ramírez-Ávila, G. M. et al. A simple game and its dynamical richness for modeling synchronization in firefly-like oscillators. Eur. Phys. J. Spec. Top. 231, 203–212 (2022).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. McCrea, M., Ermentrout, B. & Rubin, J. E. A model for the collective synchronization of flashing in Photinus carolinus. J. R. Soc. Interface 19, 20220439 (2022).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  7. Sarfati, R. et al. Emergent periodicity in the collective synchronous flashing of fireflies. eLife 12, e78908 (2023).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Wang, B. & Aljadeff, J. Multiplicative shot-noise: A new route to stability of plastic networks. Phys. Rev. Lett. 129, 068101 (2022).

    Article  ADS  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. O’Keeffe, K. P., Hong, H. & Strogatz, S. H. Oscillators that sync and swarm. Nat. Commun. 8, 1504 (2017).

    Article  ADS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  10. Martin, O. et al. Embracing firefly flash pattern variability with data-driven species classification. Preprint at bioRxiv https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.03.08.531653 (2023).

Download references

Acknowledgements

O.P. acknowledges support from National Science Foundation grant #2239331, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation grant #FG-2023-20488 and Research Cooperation for Science Advancement grant #28219.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Orit Peleg.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The author declares no competing interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Peleg, O. A new chapter in the physics of firefly swarms. Nat Rev Phys 6, 72–74 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s42254-023-00675-z

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s42254-023-00675-z

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing AI and Robotics

Sign up for the Nature Briefing: AI and Robotics newsletter — what matters in AI and robotics research, free to your inbox weekly.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing: AI and Robotics