Some very interesting new research studies ‘sheds new light’ on collecting insect population data:
https://nautil.us/how-darkness-can-illuminate-the-insect-apocalypse-22577/
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and a silent appeal for dark skies at night. Bring back our stars (as we do when Cape Town has loadshedding at night)
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I’m curious to know if this relates to orbweavers constructing their webs near light sources. Has their behaviour changed within the last 2 centuries?
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Good question. I have two spiders next to porch lights that I turn on for moth-watching. One has a web in the eaves (very productive spot for her) and the other is a Kukulcania arizonica that hides in a stucco crevice. There’s also a small western black widow web on the floor of my porch area.
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They seem to waste no time building webs along my string lights whenever I’m camping, too.
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It might be also that insects have started to avoid lights, but the decline is there. The “Krefeld study” found a decline of more than 75% of flying insects over 27 years. Flying insects were caught in malaise traps, which do not have light. https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0185809
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