Have you ever wondered why insects seem to be hopelessly drawn to lights at night, performing a mesmerizing dance around our porch lamps and streetlights? This millennia-old mystery has finally found a new explanation, and it’s not what we’ve always assumed.
In the depths of the Costa Rican cloud forest, a team of scientists led by Yash Sondhi, a recent Ph.D. graduate from Florida International University, embarked on a nocturnal adventure. The research team, which included specialists from the Imperial College London and the Council on International Educational Exchange in Monteverde, Costa Rica, used a motion capture arena to track the 3D flight paths of insects.With high-speed cameras and cutting-edge technology, they observed a myriad of insects – from moths with eye-like spots on their wings to shiny armored beetles – as they swarmed around a light source. What they discovered was a behavior that had never been documented before: in flight, insects consistently kept their backs to the artificial light.They found that all species observed flipped upside down when exposed to light, a behavior consistent with their findings in the wild.
As Sondhi explains, ‘Maybe when people notice it, like around their porchlights or a streetlamp, it looks like they are flying straight at it, but that’s not the case.’ The truth is, these insects have evolved over millions of years to navigate by using the brightest thing they know – the sky. But in our artificially lit world, they mistake these small light sources for their celestial guide.This phenomenon, now published in the journal Nature Communications, sheds light on a behavior that has puzzled humans for ages.
Insects are masters of flight, often performing aerial feats that rival human pilots. However, their gravity sensing can become unreliable during rapid acceleration, making the sky an essential reference point for maintaining control. Artificial lights disrupt this system, leading to disoriented and often exhausted insects.
The study, supported by National Geographic funding, also suggests that the direction and type of light play a significant role in this disruption. Upward-facing or unshielded bulbs are particularly harmful. The team’s findings point to the potential benefits of shrouding or shielding lights to mitigate negative impacts on insect populations.
But the mystery doesn’t end here. The question of why insects are attracted to light over great distances remains unanswered. Sondhi’s determination and collaboration with the right team led to this groundbreaking discovery, emphasizing the importance of persistence in scientific inquiry.
As we continue to explore the effects of our illuminated nights on the insect world, this study serves as a crucial step in understanding and ultimately protecting these vital creatures. It’s a reminder that sometimes, the answers to age-old questions can be found by looking at the world from a different angle – or in this case, with the back turned to the light.
The research was funded in part by the European Research Council, the National Science Foundation, the Florida International University graduate school, the Susan Levine Foundation, the National Geographic Society, the American Philosophical Society, and the Tinker Foundation.
Related posts:
Millennia-old mystery about insects and light at night gets new explanation
Millennia-old mystery about insects and light at night gets a new explanation
Scientists think they’ve finally solved the millennia-old mystery of why bugs flock to your porch light
