Insect populations are declining at an alarming rate, with potentially deep, harmful impacts on ecosystems, due to a range of factors including climate change and pesticides. Scientists have also postulated that street lighting may be harmful as well.
Reported by the BBC, a recent UK study discovered that street lighting disrupted the behavior of nocturnal moths, reducing caterpillar population by half.
“In a local setting we can now be quite confident that light pollution is important, but what’s less clear is if we’re looking at a whole landscape,” said lead researcher Douglas Boyes of the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology. “If insects are in trouble – as we believe they are, and have evidence to support that – perhaps we should be doing all we can to reduce these negative influences.”
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