Over the course of the winter, while the cicada sleeps underground, re-searchers at Southampton have been busy improving the app’s performance on older phones and tweaking the algorithm that distinguishes between different species of insect, and are now ready for the next season.
Based on an analysis of historical data and on the fact that the New Forest cicada sees more abundant hatching every 7-8 years, entomologists from BugLife speculate that the summer of 2014 may be the most favourable of this decade. They are therefore urging volunteers, bug lovers and passionate visitors to download the app and help them rediscover this endangered insect. The algorithm for insect detection is also being integrated in an Orthoptera field guide developed by the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology,
due to be released before the end of the year.
The New Forest cicada is active between mid-May and early July. Head to the project’s website
http://newforestcicada.info to download the app for your iOS (iPhone, iPad and iPod) or Android device, or search your app store for ‘Cicada Hunt’. Then go out to the New Forest, point your phone to the trees and make the biodiversity discovery of the decade.