Science

13034 readers

8 users here now

Studies, research findings, and interesting tidbits from the ever-expanding scientific world.

Subcommunities on Beehaw:

Space

Be sure to also check out these other Fediverse science communities:

This community's icon was made by Aaron Schneider, under the CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.

founded 2 years ago

MODERATORS

alyaza@beehaw.org

Gaywallet@beehaw.org

remington@beehaw.org

breaking news: light pollution is purgatory for bugs (www.nature.com)

submitted 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) by ThisIsAManWhoKnowsHowToGling@lemmy.dbzer0.com to c/science@beehaw.org

9 comments fedilink hide all child comments

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/14539490

The bugs around the streetlight are being tricked to think they are going in a straight line. They are doing the aerial equivalent of an ant death spiral.

Preexisting research into bugs circling lights was mainly to see what properties of the lights attracted the bugs, which is how we know that certain LED lights can prevent the bugs from flying towards it.

This study, however, showed that the bugs aren't trying to get to the light at all. The light triggers their dorsal reflex, causing them to recalibrate their sense of direction to keep the light at a fixed angle from their perspective. The bugs think they are going in a straight line, forever, and they never get to where they are going.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] thebes@mastodon.social 0 points 9 months ago (1 children)

@ThisIsAManWhoKnowsHowToGling I wonder if that behavior selects for those which don't fly perpendicularly. Do we know if light pollution reduces significantly the insect population?

[–] ThisIsAManWhoKnowsHowToGling@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 9 months ago

The study also showed that certain species are more susceptible to different kinds of light. Some of them are more likely to orbit under the light, some of them are more likely to orbit above, etc