Return of the Cicadas in 2021: A Teenage Love Story

For seventeen years, these teenagers have been feeding on plant roots underground. In the spring of 2021 from Georgia to New York and as far west as Illinois trillions of Brood X periodical cicadas will emerge from the earth. In some locations densities will reach 1.5 million per acre.  Professor and Extension Specialist at the University of Maryland, Dr. Mike Raupp, will share the natural history, evolution, ecology, and behavior of the seven indigenous species of periodical cicadas, wax poetically about cicada romance in the treetops and how their mischief will cause some damage to trees and shrubs, and explain how their injurious escapades can be foiled without resorting to pesticides. This remarkable event happens nowhere else on the planet, so naturalists in the DMV, get ready for some fun.

 A Professor and Extension Specialist at the University of Maryland, Mike is a Fellow of the Entomological Society of America. His extension programs provide training on the theory and practice of sustainable pest management to green industry professionals and the general public. His research programs focus on global change issues including invasive species and urbanization. He has authored more than 250 scientific and lay publications and delivered more than 1300 presentations. A regular guest on NPR, Mike has appeared on all major television networks in this country and several abroad and has been featured on National Geographic, Science Channel, Lehrer News Hour, BBC, and PBS. His “Bug of the Week” website, www.bugoftheweek.com and Youtube channel www.youtube.com/user/BugOfTheWeek reaches several thousand viewers weekly in more than 180 countries. He has received a dozen regional or national awards for excellence in extension programming and media communications. His most recent book “26 Things that Bug Me” introduces youngsters to the wonders of insects and natural history while “Managing Insect and Mites on Woody Landscape Plants” is a standard for the arboricultural industry.