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Science nowadays tends toward answering some rather esoteric questions, and explaining what the question is to a nonscientist, and why it’s considered important, can take quite a bit of effort. So it was a nice surprise to bump into the study described here on why flying insects are attracted to artificial lights. Almost everyone is familiar with the phenomenon, where moths or other nocturnal insects fly in circles crazily around an outdoor lamp or flame. Surely at least a few of us have wondered why they do that.
Well, now we know. Using high-speed photography, scientists determined that insects fly around artificial light sources with their backs to the light. Why would they do that? Under natural circumstances, either during the day or during the night, the region of an insect’s environment with the most light is the sky. Therefore, keeping their backs to the light will keep them oriented as they would normally need to be, with their feet pointing toward the ground and their wings above them.
Artificial lights completely disorient insects. As they continually attempt to keep the light source at their back, they fly in wild circles around it. This flight pattern keeps the insects from performing the sorts of behaviors they need to in order to survive and reproduce. Indeed, there has been speculation that the presence of artificial lighting has reduced the populations of some insects worldwide.
Enjoy this video on the subject,
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