December 24, 2017 - By leahahawthorn - Of all the wonderful things you see during this time of year, the dazzling light displays seen through streets and neighborhoods are a favorite for most. If you’re mesmerized by the holiday lights and displays, you may also enjoy these strange phenomenons of glowing gifts that nature provides throughout the year. You may have heard of foxfire, fireflies, and dinoflagellates, some of our luminous life forms that are out of this world! Nature’s holiday lights may be difficult to spot, but naturally occur in forests, oceans, and skies across the globe.
Foxfire by Paul Williams/ Creative Commons
Foxfire is the name given to the more than 70 species of bioluminescent mushrooms known to exist. These bizarre specimens light up the night with a blue-green glow, possibly to attract night time insects or to deter looming predators. Their light is created by a combination of luciferase, an oxidative enzyme, reacting to luciferin, a light emitting compound. Foxfire can be found on decaying wood in forests throughout the world.
Fireflies at night by Windslash/ Creative Commons
Similar to foxfire, the all-familiar firefly, or lightning bug, mixes similar light emitting compounds along with ATP aka energy cells. The blinking patterns of light helps fireflies attract potential a mate and creates the stunning yellow, green, or pale red light displays we see on summer evenings.
The outstretched wing of a Northern saw-whet owl, as seen under blacklight. Info courtesy of the Ned Smith Center, Photo courtesy of SeabrookeLeckie/Creative Commons
Unlike most birds, owl feathers contain porphyrins, which fluoresce a brilliant, neon pink under ultraviolet light. Porphyrins degrade quickly from exposure to sunlight, so newly molted feathers will glow brightly and older feathers will appear dull. Using black light, researchers are able to read the age of the feathers and determine the age of the owl. Info courtesy of The Ned Smith Center.
Red Tide at night is bright blue, because the plankton that make it up bioluminesce when they’re agitated. This can be because of wave action, or fish swimming past. Photo by Kevin Baird/ Creative Commons
A fancy group of plankton called dinoflagellates can be found drifting along with the water’s currents in oceans and some freshwater habitats. When disturbed, some bioluminescent dinoflagellates emit flashes of blue-green light and turn dark waters into a radiant underwater galaxy. For example, crashing waves or splashing your hand through the water can trigger thousands of dinoflagellates to light up. The light show is a response to stress however, and acts as a way to disrupt and distract predators. You can see this phenomenon occur in every ocean, though their location can be hard to predict.
Aurora borealis at Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge. Photo courtesy of Bryan Worth.
Last but not least, the Aurora Borealis and Aurora Australis are one of the most profound light shows performed by Mother Nature. The northern and southern lights occur around both magnetic polls when electrically charged gaseous particles from the sun enter Earth’s atmosphere and collide with gasses like oxygen and nitrogen. Different colors in the night sky reflect the types of gasses present, for example oxygen can produce red or green displays, and nitrogen produces blue or purple.
Next time you’re needing some holiday magic, adventure out for a nighttime stroll and you may just catch a glimpse of a beautiful, luminous world.
Source: U.S. FWS
