Dead cicadas put nitrogen into streams

About 7 billion cicadas have crawled from their holes in southwest Ohio.
OXFORD, Ohio (AP) -- Miami University researchers have started investigating the impact of dead cicadas on aquatic life.
Zoology professor Mike Vanni said the insects -- once they stop buzzing -- can produce as much nitrogen in a waterway as all the leaves that fall in autumn.
The $50,000 project, funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation, seeks to determine how that nitrogen affects creatures in southwest Ohio's rivers, streams and ponds.
"When the cicadas fall in, it's the middle of summer when water temperatures are warm and there's more activity in the streams," Vanni said.
"We don't really know how much the cicadas matter. We just want to see how the input of cicadas changes the dynamics of these ecosystems."
Periodical cicadas appear in 13- and 17-year cycles.
This year's were Brood X, the 17-year variety.
About 7 billion cicadas have crawled out of the ground across southwest Ohio, and most should be dead by the end of June, researcher Gene Kritsky said.
Researchers already know dead cicadas are good for the soil. They are high in nitrogen and potassium, two important ingredients in most lawn fertilizers.
"If you want to control the smell, just rake them away from the base of trees, spread them out over the yard, mulch them up with a lawnmower," Kritsky said.