From the University of Exeter , some buggy science. Next thing you know, PETA will be campaigning to have us shut off street lighting to “save the insects”. I’m surprised it has taken them this long to figure out that bugs like street lights. Perhaps like moths drawn to a flame, these scientists were drawn to a grant to study this. The results are another “could may, might” effect on the entire food chain. Something MUST be done. /sarc
Street lighting is transforming communities of insects and other invertebrates, according to research by the University of Exeter. Published today (23 May 2012) in the journal Biology Letters, the study shows for the first time that the balance of different species living together is being radically altered as a result of light pollution in our towns and cities.
Believed to be increasing by six per cent a year globally, artificial lighting is already known to affect individual organisms, but this is the first time that its impact on whole communities has been investigated.
This study shows that groups of invertebrates living near to artificial lights include more predators and scavengers. This could be impacting on the survival rates of different species, having a knock-on effect on birds and mammals that rely on these species for food. The effects could be affecting entire ecosystems and even humans.
The research team based their study in the market town of Helston in West Cornwall. They placed pitfall traps directly under and between street lamps that were 35 metres apart for a number of days and nights. This allowed them to compare, not only results for day and night, but also differences between areas under and away from street lights.
They collected 1,194 individuals covering 60 species. They discovered that total numbers were more abundant under street lights, where they also found more predatory and scavenging species, such as ground beetles and harvestmen. This was the case during the day, as well as at night, suggesting that the effect on communities is ongoing.
Lead author Dr Tom Davies of the Environment and Sustainability Institute at the University of Exeter’s Cornwall Campus said: “Our study shows that light pollution could be having a dramatic effect on wildlife in our towns and cities. We need to be aware of how the increase in artificial lighting is impacting on the delicate ecosystems on which we all rely. Our research shows, for the first time, the changes that light pollution is making to entire communities of invertebrates. We now need to examine what impact this is having on other communities and how this may be affecting important ecosystem services and whether we should change the way we light urban spaces.”
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It’s even worse than we thought!
Electric lights used to attract and kill moths the way candles do. Now the irrational have mandated CFL’s, and horny moths seeking mates no longer burn to death. 10 per household per year* times 115 million households* times .1 gram* per moth = 115 tonnes per year of extra moths mating and breeding ten thousand more each.
* Numbers Source:
1) I made it up
2) US census, rounded
3) Googled Website
4)Different Googled website.
@PRD
Is it the absence of a UV content in their spectrum that is so disinteresting? Lots of insects can see ultraviolet light. The LED’s are just three monochromatic colours, all visible to us, right?
Anthony, I’m sure that your remark about shutting off street lighting to “save the insects” was “tongue in cheek”.
However, in my home town of Tewkesbury, (UK), the authorities already DO turn off street lights early in some areas to protect the local insect life.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/wildlife/6692922/Glow-worm-friendly-cycle-path.html
Enjoy!
GE and the congress will see opportunity here to invent and allow only an ecosystem delicate balancing bug friendly low emission light bulb that no one wants or can afford.
For the first time in the history of man, except in N Korea and Mt Everest man has non-combustible light on demand in homes and the street for convenience, safety and security, he has drained the wetlands in Europe AKA swamps and that has been proven to be good for the health and progress of mankind.
Malaria’s decline in the United States and Europe in the late 1800s was due mainly to draining swamps and removing mill ponds. Anyone reading tombstones in early European and American graveyards can see the damage of swamps on humans, especially children 5 or younger. Removing disease and bug infested swamps has been called a bad thing by those who love such things. And now the light could be harmful to bugs and entire ecosystems.
We have seen dramatic effect on wildlife in towns and cities with the anti-hunting protection of the fox in the UK and bears in the US. Never mind these creatures in towns and cities could be harmful to humans.
Does anyone ever wonder why flying insects don’t head for the sun the biggest light of all?
What about save the worms? What about buildings and roads and the effects they are having on worms? Worms are the most significant and successful land animal on earth. They comprise some 90% of the total mass of land animals. Everything else pales in comparison.
Humans have gone from using 4% of the land surface 150 years ago, to using 40% today. Of that a significant fraction is pavement and concrete. What effect is this having on the soil below? Preventing water, air and sunlight from reaching the soil and thus having a significant effect on the ecosystem of the most important land animal on earth.
Tarmac roads need to be replaced with sustainable dirt roads in keeping with UN policy on sustainable development. Pavement and concrete levels must be immediately rolled back to 1990 levels, with a further 20% reduction by 2020 and a 50% reduction by 2050. This policy needs to be backed up by force if necessary using the full might of the UN. Selective bombing will be used as necessary to ensure all development is sustainable.
Reportedly the government of Oz is well aware of the problem. With help from NASA and the EU they are planning to implement the worlds first Tarmac Exchange. Large portions of Ozzie Tarmac will be torn up (no one will much notice the difference) and shipped to the Maldives and other island nations as part of “Operation King Canute”, paid for by a Tarmac Tax.
Every citizen in Oz will receive a Tarmac Rebate to offset the costs, to ensure that Tarmac Polluters pay their fair share. Those companies that are emitting the highest levels of Tarmac will pay the highest tax and thus save the most important land animal in existence.
And IPCC said: Let there be darkness!
All the insect community needs is (rimshot), a community organizer!!!
The swallows have returned to the old Spanish mission at San Juan Capistrano every March 19th for centuries. This happened to be my birthday, so a few years back i visited to savor the moment. Television news crews set up at the mission, ready for “live coverage” of the return. By the evening news there were NO SWALLOWS at the mission. Turned out that the then new, Mission Viejo Mall had converted the birds. The mall’s parking lot lighting allowed the swallows to catch bumper crops of flying insects in the cool of the night, along with new easy nesting sites. There is no longer is “special interest” news coverage of the “Swallows Return to the Mall”.
The bats love it. The area around street lights becomes the bats’ happy hunting ground.
ferd, stop giving them ideas. To us it sounds crazy. Unfortunately, you might flip a switch in the wrong mind.
If bugs can accommodate street lighting, they can easily accommodate a bit of global warming (or global cooling, or climate change, or climate disruption, or weather weirding, or…)
Greg:
At May 23, 2012 at 5:02 am you ask;
Yes, these went to Helston which is a small town ~10 miles up the road from me here in Cornwall. Apart from the nearby Culdrose naval airbase, Helston is very rural.
They could have done the study in Exeter where they are based.
They must have had a nice holiday, but I would have done the job at Helston with much lower travel costs. Or, if they had chosen Exeter, then TonyB could have done it for them during his frequent visits to study ancient climate records in the library at Exeter Cathedral.
Of course, in reality their doing the research at Helston shows they are at the bottom of the AGW-funding food chain. Helston is a nice holiday spot but not as good as Rio, Copenhagen, etc.
Richard
What, you’ve never heard of Silent Spring? {/sarc}
The entire question could be solved by compulsory replacement of light bulbs by dark bulbs. A dark bulb would not emit harmful radiation, for it does not emit any radiation whatsoever. Is not it ingenious? It does not even consume electricity, so no connection to the network is needed either (great savings!). However, in exchange for these benefits one has to present the bills of dark bulbs purchased to the tax authority at the end of the fiscal year, and if the money spent on those marvelous earth-savers is less than the prescribed quota, the missing sum plus an appropriate fine should be transferred to the state’s account. These measures would surely put an end to any light pollution.
However, as some R+D is still needed to develop advanced dark bulbs, twice the amount of money collected this way is to be spent on grants, incentives and bank guarantees going to cutting edge enterprises.
/sarc off
I know it is stereotyping, but whenever I see anything from an organization or department with “Sustainability” in the title, I assume the output is worthless.
In this case the problem aligns perfectly with the desired result: just enforce use of renewable power for streetlights and the lights will be dark most of the time. Bugs will be happy. People will be bumping into things, like streetlight poles and muggers.
Not really a problem because in the US hardly anybody walks anywhere more than a block away. This will just cause people to get in their cars and drive 1 block or less instead of walking so they can see where they are going and not run into muggers.
So on a more thorough examination, turning off the streetlights doesn’t make sense as the increased CO2 emissions from more automobile use will outweigh the decrease due to renewable energy use.
I shouldn’t have to, but “/sarc” in case anyone was in doubt.
The concept of light pollution has been around for a while, and it is a real concern. One thing to point out is that it is light which is doing more than what is actually needed, meaning it is wasteful, in addition to whatever damage it may be causing the ecosystem. We humans are not exempt from the harmful effects either. Fortunately, there are relatively easy, and not very costly ways of dealing with it.
“could be having a dramatic effect on wildlife in our towns and cities”
Yeah, the herd of elk at the corner of Sunset and Vine.
I find light pollution pretty objectionable, but it’s for astronomical rather than entomological reasons. Bet there are more astronomical objects you can’t see because of it than species of insect you won’t see.
3% of earth’s land surface is covered with urban areas leaving 97% for the insects to do their thing free from streetlights. That of course ignores the problem of how to keep ’em down on the farm after they’ve seen Paris.
“This is the first time that its impact on whole communities has been investigated.” And for good reason, too. Previous generations knew it was a total waste of money to investigate the obvious and trivial.
DMatteson says:
May 23, 2012 at 5:08 am
Shouldn’t that be PETI (People for the Ethical Treatment of Insects)?
===============
But that would be descriminatory. What of the arachnids? It should remain PETA (Peeps for the Ethical Treatment of Arthropods).
While I don’t have any comment on the study, I remember moving to a town where you could see the Milky Way at night from my back yard, 10 years and several shopping centers later… gone.
http://www.darkskysociety.org
Lights at night attract bugs, and the bugs and small mammals that prey on them. The people who did this study , and the people who payed for it, and the people who published it, should all be ashamed of themselves for the wasted time, money and ink! This is the kind of stuff done in the 4th through 7th grade science classes.
Now, I do a lot of night fishing near bridges. And I’ve found that bait fish frequent the bridges where there are lights shining on the water. And I’ve found that is the place to fish at night for the predators that prey on those bait fish. In a nutshell, that’s my research and conclusion. All given to you fishermen out there for free.
Jay Davis
wow! More insects under street lights. Isn’t science wonderful.
(Are bugs are not attracted to lights lit by renewable energy?)
Not sure this would apply to the study, but:
The street light in front of my house was out for about 3 days, before I went out one morning to find my car window smashed and radar detector gone.
(the punks got the detector, but the wiring snapped where it enters the unit. Idiots.
Me for leaving the unit in plain sight, them for stealing a now useless item).