A group of researchers with leaders from the Department of Bioengineering, Imperial College London, solved the mystery of why flying insects collect around artificial lights, whether fires, candles, or various technology electric lamps. Old, unproven ideas include theories of “lunar navigation” and “escape to the light.”
These researchers conducted high-resolution motion capture in the laboratory and stereo-videography in the field to reconstruct the 3D kinematics of insect flights around artificial lights. Contrary to the expectation of attraction, insects do not steer directly toward the light. Instead, insects turn their backs to the light, with the evolutionary expectation that light is “up” and relative darkness is “down.” This evolutionary method for determining up and down works extremely well in the wilderness, where the sky is almost always brighter than the ground during the day or night. Unfortunately, artificial light confuses many flying insects into turning their backs to the artificial light, often resulting in orbits around the light, effectively trapping the insects around artificial lights.
The researchers found that as many insects pass by the artificial light, they literally flip over to keep their backs to the light, at the moment the light begins to not be at their backs.
The complete research article is published here.
All Images: Nature.com. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-44785-3
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