Light at night in swamps. Glowing in the dark

Abstract

"Swamp night lights"—a variety of natūrai glowing non-living and living things existing in swamps in the dark. The project consists from two parts: introductory lecture "Light at night in swamps" vvhich will be followed by a workshop "Glowing in the dark". The aim of the project is to present natūrai light sources of biological kind, vvhich may be found in swamps in the dark, to inspire listeners to explore nature at night too. In ancient folklore usually these lights were related to the revelation of mystical world. As scientific methods were improved, these mysteries were disclosed. During the lecture "Light at night in swamps": sources of natūrai light: swamp gasformation (phosphine, diphosphane or methane oxidation), terrestrial bioluminescence and biofluorescence will be discussed. Ancient beliefs about mystical lights in swamps will be overlooked shortly. Most people have heard or seen fire-flies emitting green light when they mate. Another rather popular bioluminescent phenomenon to see is "firefox" —green light produced by fungi. Experience on growing some bioluminescent fungi and their behaviour in laboratory conditions at Vytautas Magnus University (Lithuania) will be shared. Not many know about a huge variety of glowing living things, which potentially may be found in swamps: earthvvorms, snails, centipedes, millipedes, mosses and so on. Time and climatic conditions for finding the glowing phenomenon in swamps are very important. Sending signals, which human eye does not see, except using ultraviolet or sometimes blue light, is another trick that plants and insects do in swamps and everywhere in their habitats. Therefore UV flashlights will be used for demonstration of this bioflorescence phenomenon. Latest appliance of bioluminescence and bioflorescence in science and new technologies will be reviewed shortly: glowing streettrees, glowing buildings, bio-fluorescent tattoos at night is not a dream,[...]