19 / March / 2024 : 16-35
Why are insects attracted to artificial light ? Ecologists have found the answer
For most of Earth’s history, the sky was the
brightest source of light at night, so flying insects turned their bodies to
make their backs face skyward. But then, artificial light entered the picture.
“Insects have been flying around for 370 million years,” says study
entomologist at Imperial College London. “It’s just in the last 150 years that
it’s really gone wrong for them.”When insects fly, they do not differ the natural source of light from the artificial one. They try to fly higher to ‘navigate’, however they soon get “lost” and start to fly in circles around the light. This can cause a lot of damage for them, as under the light they become more visible for predators.
This is another example of a light pollution that we face in our planet. This phenomenon shows how even the tiniest creatures of the Earth can be damaged by the overuse of artificial light sources.
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