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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. (www.nature.com)
submitted 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) by ThisIsAManWhoKnowsHowToGling@lemmy.dbzer0.com to c/science@lemmy.world
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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/14539407

breaking news: light pollution sends bugs to hell

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.

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[-] Ephera@lemmy.ml 4 points 9 months ago

I mean, even if they did truly just set off in a random direction, they would still probably do so in hopes of finding food, water, mating opportunities etc..
Circling lamps isn't going to aid their chance of survival, and we do already have a pretty big problem of insects dying from climate change and pesticides.

this post was submitted on 17 Feb 2024
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