this post was submitted on 17 Feb 2024
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breaking news: light pollution is purgatory for bugs (www.nature.com)
submitted 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) by ThisIsAManWhoKnowsHowToGling@lemmy.dbzer0.com to c/science@beehaw.org
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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/14539490

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.

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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[โ€“] ThisIsAManWhoKnowsHowToGling@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 9 months ago (1 children)

To be fair, they are stuck for as long as they want to go straight. At any point they can decide to turn in some other direction that might take them away from the light, at which point they escape the light trap. However, they are burning calories while circling the light that they could be using for pollination

[โ€“] millie@beehaw.org 3 points 9 months ago

I mean, if you were trying to escape a mind-trap, wouldn't you be inclined to try to move straight away from it? Unless they somehow manage to figure out a better escape trajectory, it seems natural that trying to escape would make it worse.

It's like a biological finger trap set for species that aren't particularly renown for their problem solving.