For the love of lightning bugs, experts ask people to turn off as many exterior lights as possible during peak mating months.  Artificial lights have eradicated large populations of lightning bugs in East Tennessee and across the developed world.
“Light pollution is a real problem.  We already know there are fewer lightning bugs.  That’s being noted worldwide,” said Lynn Faust.  “The lightning bugs, they evolved and adapted to a dark world.  All of these shining unshielded lights at night are very detrimental to lightning bugs finding love, finding a mate.  I want people to minimize their use of outdoor lights, especially during peak mating seasons.” …Read more from WBIR.com