2023-04-30 08:49:19
Scientists from theimperial college london have discovered that insects do not face the light because they are attracted by the luminosity. They claim that the light interferes with the part of insects’ brains that helps them fly.
Until now, insects were thought to use moonlight to see where they were going. and that they were attracted to artificial lights because they thought it was the moon. However, this does not explain why insects that fly only during the day behave in this way.
The results of a study by researchers at Imperial College suggest that “artificial lights might simply trap passing insects, rather than attracting them directly from further away.”
How did researchers discover that insect brains are confused by light?
The researchers filmed a series of insects at night, using a high-speed camera to follow their movements around the lights.
While filming, they noticed three things:
- When the insects fly over the lamps, they often turn around, causing them to fall through the air;
- When they pass under the lights, they start to loop and if the angle is too steep, they also fall;
- Approaching the lights from the side, they begin to surround them.
Interesting facts regarding insects:
- Fruit flies were the first living beings to be sent into space;
- About a third of insects are carnivorous, that is, they eat meat rather than plants, and many of them hunt;
- Some moths can change appearance to look like less tasty insects to avoid being eaten.
In the three behaviors recorded by the scientists, one thing was common to all: the insects always had their backs to the lights. This is why researchers believe that artificial lights trigger what is called backlight reaction, which is basically a quick way for bugs to tell which side up is, because even at night the brightest half of their field of vision is probably facing up, and that may be the reason why artificial lights may confuse insects.
How did Imperial scientists test their insect and light theory?
To test their theory, the scientists used a computer simulation to predict what would happen to virtual insects if their response to dorsal light was disrupted. In this simulation, all the virtual insects behaved exactly the same as the insects recorded by the camera.
The study focused only on insects interacting with light at a distance of a few meters. It is therefore not possible to say with certainty that there is no attraction to long-distance light, although we don’t think that’s the case.
The study confirms the attraction of insects to artificial lights at a short distance, but we cannot say that the same is not true when the distance is greater.
Artificial lights can be very harmful to insects and some believe they contribute to declining populations of certain species; scientists therefore hope that their research can help solve this problem.
If you want to keep insects and mosquitoes away at night, there’s only one thing left to do: turn off your lights!
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