Moths flock to streetlights, bewitched by their luminous brilliance. But bathing in brightness all night seems to have consequences for the grounded forms of these fliers. Illuminated stretches of English roads housed up to 52 percent fewer moth caterpillars than adjacent dark patches, researchers report August 25 in Science Advances. Streetlights could be contributing to declining insect populations in developed areas, the researchers say.
Artificial light is generally not good for nocturnal insects. Recent work hints the glow can mess with mating or disrupt pollination (SN: 5/13/15; SN: 8/2/17). But whether night lights contribute to population decline is understudied, says Douglas Boyes, an entomologist at the UK Centre for
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