By Dan Klepal
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Biology professor and cicada researcher Dr. Gene Kritsky may work at the tiny College of Mount Saint Joseph in Delhi Township, but he has the largest group of lab assistants in the world - 1.8 million people in every cicada-filled corner of Greater Cincinnati.

SPECIAL SECTION

• Cicada watch 2004

An anonymous caller four years ago helped Kritsky become the first person in the world to predict the emergence of 17-year periodical cicadas four years early in 2000. He thinks a small number of cicadas emerge four years early as an evolutionary trait that helps ensure the survival of that brood.

"A woman left a message on my voice mail asking why hers was the only yard filled with cicadas," Kritsky remembered. "It seemed like such a strange thing that I checked it out ... and WOW.

"It was the first time an early emergence of a population came out in such numbers that they could mate and reproduce. I never actually spoke to the woman, but I wouldn't have made the discovery without her."

Community input vital

Kritsky said community involvement is crucial to his research. This year, as some 5 billion Brood X cicadas are emerging around the region, Kritsky hopes to create a detailed map of all cicada sites. He also will build on his 2000 early emergence research and hopes to find more evidence of Brood XIV cicadas - not expected for another four years - emerging early and blending in with the larger Brood X population.

He needs your help to accomplish all of that.

"If I got in a car every day (to map the emergence sites), that's all I'd do," Kritsky said. "So we survey the reports that come in and look for those in areas we didn't expect or that are out of the ordinary. Then we check out those."

Unwitting assistant

Chris Dickerson, a 24-year-old Mount Lookout resident, is one lab assistant who has already helped Kritsky - without even knowing it.

Dickerson found an adult cicada on his front steps Wednesday. He called his mother, who posted the sighting on www.cicadamania.org and the college's Web site.

"I was in second grade the last time they came, and I remember how much fun it was," Dickerson said. "I was a dorky bug-nut kid. So when I saw my first one this year, I got really excited and called my mom. I had no idea I was helping in any research."

Kritsky said he's received more than 500 e-mails with cicada sightings - and he wants more. He expects upwards of 2,000 e-mails before they die at the end of June.

Luckily, Kritsky doesn't have to check out each sighting right away, because cicadas leave behind evidence.

"I can see broken branches (where females lay their eggs), and the shells remain for weeks," Kritsky said.

To e-mail a cicada sighting to Kritsky, go to www.cicadamania.org, or www.msj.edu/cicada.

E-mail dklepal@enquirer.com