Caterpillar populations decline 50 per cent in areas with streetlights

August 25, 2021 admin Comment(0)

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LED streetlight, England, UK — There are fewer caterpillars around brighter LED streetlights than older sodium lamps

Martyn Williams / Alamy

Areas with LED streetlights have up to 50 per cent fewer moth caterpillars living in the immediate vicinity of the light, potentially having huge impacts on an area’s wildlife ecosystem.

“We don’t think of light pollution as big a driver of biodiversity [loss] as climate change,” says Douglas Boyes at the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology. “But that doesn’t mean it’s not a significant factor.”

Prior research about the impact of artificial light has looked …

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