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Why flying insects gather at artificial light

View ORCID ProfileSamuel T Fabian, View ORCID ProfileYash Sondhi, View ORCID ProfilePablo Allen, View ORCID ProfileJamie Theobald, View ORCID ProfileHuai-Ti Lin
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.04.11.536486
Samuel T Fabian
1Department of Bioengineering, Imperial College London, SW7 2AZ, United Kingdom
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  • For correspondence: s.fabian@imperial.ac.uk yashsondhi@gmail.com
Yash Sondhi
2Department of Biology, Florida International University, Miami FL 33174 USA
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  • For correspondence: s.fabian@imperial.ac.uk yashsondhi@gmail.com
Pablo Allen
3Council on International Educational Exchange, Monteverde Apto 43-5655, Costa Rica
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Jamie Theobald
2Department of Biology, Florida International University, Miami FL 33174 USA
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Huai-Ti Lin
1Department of Bioengineering, Imperial College London, SW7 2AZ, United Kingdom
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Abstract

For millennia, humans have watched nocturnal insects flying erratically around fires and lamps. Explanations have included theories of “lunar navigation” and “escape to light”. However, without three-dimensional flight data to test them rigorously, this odd behaviour has remained unexplained. We employed high-resolution motion capture in the laboratory and stereo-videography in the field to reconstruct the 3D kinematics of insect flights around artificial lights. Contrary to the expectation of attraction, insects do not steer directly toward the light. Instead, insects turn their dorsum toward the light, generating flight bouts perpendicular to the source. Under natural sky light, tilting the dorsum towards the brightest visual hemisphere helps maintain proper flight attitude and control. Near artificial sources, however, this highly conserved dorsal-light-response can produce continuous steering around the light and trap an insect. Our guidance model demonstrates that this dorsal tilting is sufficient to create the seemingly erratic flight paths of insects near lights and is the most plausible model for why flying insects gather at artificial lights.

Competing Interest Statement

The authors have declared no competing interest.

Footnotes

  • ↵* co-first

  • ↵+ co-last

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The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. All rights reserved. No reuse allowed without permission.
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Posted April 12, 2023.
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Why flying insects gather at artificial light
Samuel T Fabian, Yash Sondhi, Pablo Allen, Jamie Theobald, Huai-Ti Lin
bioRxiv 2023.04.11.536486; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.04.11.536486
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Why flying insects gather at artificial light
Samuel T Fabian, Yash Sondhi, Pablo Allen, Jamie Theobald, Huai-Ti Lin
bioRxiv 2023.04.11.536486; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.04.11.536486

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