Insects

Most people are familiar with the saying, "Like a moth to the flame." Artificial lighting is extremely detrimental to many insect populations, acting like a vacuum that they cannot escape. Even one artificial light source can disrupt normal flight activity, long distance migrations, or even attract insects that don't normally move from their habitat. Once the insects are effectively trapped by the light, they can be killed directly by lamp's heat, they may circle the light until caught by predators, or they may stop to rest on the ground under the light, where they are also preyed upon. Distant sky glow may also disrupt their migrations, but no data are available about this potential effect. Light traps are very likely changing the diversity of insects; for instance, in one study, scientists collected 50,000 moths in a single night. If a particular species does not reproduce rapidly enough to make up for the loss at the lights, it may disappear from the community. For insects that are important as pollinators, or predators of nuisance insects, their loss is detrimental to human communities as well.