9 replies to this topic

[Phil Cowell]

Interesting article says LP makes leaves to tough for insects to eat.

https://phys.org/new...hreatening.html

 

[EGregerson]

Bugs me too

[bobzeq25]

Interesting article says LP makes leaves to tough for insects to eat.
https://phys.org/new...hreatening.html

Unsurprising.

Will it have any impact on the battle for dark skies? No. Who cares about bugs? <smile>

[Jim Waters]

LP impacts all living things...!

[TOMDEY]

Looks like a conscientious study with credible findings. I studied insects for the Dept. of Agr. back around 1970 in the Jungles of Panama for about 20 months. My specialty was "Insect Vision~. Seriously, Light Pollution is devastating to a broad spectrum of fauna and flora --- including us and many species that we rely on for our own long-term survivability. For some reason, governments, corporations, academia, and even environmentalists are profoundly ~meh~ regarding light pollution in general, and it's impact on life forms in particular. I also consulted to KPNO on LP and designed (good efficient minimalist) low pressure sodium street lights for ITT and GE. I discovered (much to my dismay) that the IES (Illuminating Engineering Society) gave lip service to pollution... but actually encouraged more and more lighting... in actual practice. The majority of their members work for the lighting industries. Funny how that stuff works. SNAFU, as always. They talk a good game but opt for $$$ as always.

 

"Eco-friendly LED bulbs used in streetlamps along motorways produce more light pollution and kill off insects, study shows

Sodium lights are increasingly being replaced by LEDs for roadside streetlights
But LEDs are more harmful for insects than these more traditional sodium bulbs
Experts surveyed roadside moth caterpillar populations in the south of England
They found LED lights kill nocturnal moth caterpillar populations by 50 per cent." ~

Attached Thumbnails

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[havasman]

Written by a Swedish researcher who's studied bats extensively, The Darkness Manifesto contains many, many examples of light pollution's negative impacts on different species. Much of the information is anecdotal but much, even the anecdotal, is supported by research and/or the author's observations.

 

I can't find my copy just now but I'll tell you it is not a "page turner" but it becomes a bit repetitive in style with so many short chapters. Books with manifesto in the title seem to be less than riveting reads...

[luxo II]

Interesting article says LP makes leaves to tough for insects to eat.

https://phys.org/new...hreatening.html

There's much worse to come. While Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring" was about the effects of early insecticides (DDT etc) we're still causing major damage to insect and bird populations.

 

Between land-clearing, residential housing and agriculture, humanity is still hell-bent on killing insect "pests" without understanding the consequences. In addition it turns out a lot of them also depends on real darkness at night; in various ways light pollution is destroying their habitat too.

 

A lot of agriculture - including important crops of grain, fruit and vegetables - depend on the local insects and birds to pollenate flowers - without this they cannot produce seeds for the next generation.

 

In my country the loss of insects and birds is being noticed nationwide. For example flies - which used to be a major nuisance across the country - have been all but gone for the past 5 years, thanks to dung-beetles which were introduced to bury the flies' main food source - animal poo. For decades CSIRO thought dung beetles were doing a heroic job, but only now do we know it has serious consequences. The bogong moth, a migratory insect - 10 years ago every winter would see millions flopping all over Sydney - now all but extinct. Honeybees and native bees are also at serious risk here. And insects are major source of food for small birds, whose populations have also plummeted compared to what they were 40 years ago. So the changes have effect, up the food chain. Ultimately, to us.

 

If the insect population crashes the consequences follow quickly, a crash in the bee population 10 years ago has already demonstrated this - we have whole areas once dominated by orchards producing stone fruit, apples & pears where the orchards are decimated, as a result of there being no more bees. 

 

Famine, disease and wars over who-has-what will finally cull humanity. Endless growth is not possible - the planet and its resources are finite. But try getting this across to politicians who will not accept science sometimes imposes a hard limit that cannot be compromised.

Edited by luxo II, 21 August 2024 - 09:47 PM.

[aatt]

You are right unfortunately. People don’t get how important bugs really are. Without them, we are goners.

[BoldAxis1967]

Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring" is more relevant than ever.  When Silent Spring was published the world population was about 3.5 billion; now it is about 8 billion.  Since the 1980s there seems to be in the USA and in most countries little regard for our planet's ecology.  We are on a runaway train, with no brakes.  The crash may be sooner than we think.

 

If only we had listened to "Edith Keeler". 

 

L.

[PEterW]

For the latest bad news on impacts the IDA have an annually update “state of science” report… https://darksky.org/...e-science-2024/ At least we’re doing more work to add to the body of knowledge we have…. One hopes that eventually we’ll change…. Like lead petrol, CFC, DDT….

Peter