WASHINGTON (AP) – Like moths to a flame, many scientists and poets have long assumed that flying insects are simply drawn inexorably to bright light.
But new research suggests that’s not necessarily what’s happening.
Rather than being attracted to light, the researchers found that artificial light at night actually disrupts the flying insects’ innate navigation systems, allowing them to fly confusedly around porch lamps, street lights, and other man-made signs. I think it’s sexual.
“Insects have problems with navigation,” says biologist Tyson Hedrick of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, who was not involved in the study. “They’re used to using light as a cue to know which way is up.”
Sam Fabian, an entomologist at Imperial College London and a co-author of the paper, says that instead of flying directly toward the light source, insects actually “lean toward the light.” said. The study was published on Tuesday Published in Nature Communications.
It makes sense if the strongest light source is in the sky. But with artificial light, the result is an airy mess rather than an attraction.
In the study, researchers attached tiny sensors to moths and dragonflies in the lab and recorded “motion capture” videos of their flights. This is similar to how filmmakers attach sensors to actors to track their movements.
They also used high-resolution cameras to photograph insects swirling around lights at the Costa Rican site.
This allowed them to study in detail how the dragonflies rotate infinitely around the light source and position themselves with their backs to the beam. They also noted that some insects would flip over and often crash-land in front of a light shining directly above them, such as a searchlight.
The researchers found that insect flight is least hindered by bright light shining straight down.
Avalon Owens, an entomologist at Harvard University who was not involved in the study, said that before humans invented artificial light, “for millions of years, insects used light in the sky to sense when the ground was dark to orient themselves.” “I have decided,” he says.
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