© Simone De Peak/Getty ImagesThousands of moths swarm around floodlights. Artificial light at night can affect every aspect of insects’ lives, the researchers said.
Artificial light at night can affect every aspect of insects' lives, the researchers said, from luring moths to their deaths around bulbs, to spotlighting insect prey for rats and toads, to obscuring the mating signals of fireflies.
"We strongly believe artificial light at night - in combination with habitat loss, chemical pollution, invasive species, and climate change - is driving insect declines," the scientists concluded after assessing more than 150 studies. "We posit here that artificial light at night is another important - but often overlooked - bringer of the insect apocalypse."
However, unlike other drivers of decline, light pollution was relatively easy to prevent, the team said, by switching off unnecessary lights and using proper shades. "Doing so could greatly reduce insect losses immediately," they said.
Brett Seymoure, a behavioural ecologist at Washington University in St Louis and senior author of the review, said: "Artificial light at night is human-caused lighting - ranging from streetlights to gas flares from oil extraction. It can affect insects in pretty much every imaginable part of their lives."
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