New students on campus will not see much of the cicadas, whose peak was from May to mid-June, but they may notice the aftereffects of Brood X.
Soil is aerated by cicadas tunneling to the surface after 17 years underground. The shells and dead bodies of cicadas also provide carbon and nitrogen, which are good for the soil, according to AU biology professor Karen Bushaw-Newton.
The cicadas also provide a readily available food source for a variety of animals including birds, snakes, lizards and small mammals. This could potentially lead to larger populations of these species in the future. If food is plentiful, the species have more time to devote to reproduction, Bushaw-Newton said.
"Anyone can observe the fact that the birds are really having fun with this," she said.
To measure the effects on local wildlife, she said, clutch sizes for a year's time after Brood X would have to be compared with other years as well as with other brood years.
Biology professor Chris Tudge also noticed birds "having fun" with cicadas.
"Small birds like house sparrows are normally seed feeders, but they have been attacking these cicadas with gusto, kind of like sparrows playing at being eagles," he said. "I have seen small sparrows chasing down, pouncing on and pecking the eyes out of living cicadas. All very gruesome, and yet interesting."
Tudge expects that many birds will take advantage of the "bumper supply" of protein-rich insects to nest early and raise bigger or multiple broods.
"Many nesting birds require additional food sources when they breed," he said. "Cicadas are unpredictable as a food source and they swamp the environment and their predators. Any animals that can quickly take advantage of the emergence will probably benefit."
Real data concerning increases in brood sizes will probably come out in the future in published research, Tudge said.
