| Title | Study Shows That Artificial Lights Deter Nocturnal Pollinators | |
| Date | Sunday August 13 2017, @04:47AM | |
| Author | Fnord666 | |
| Topic | ||
| from the shining-light-on-pollination dept. | ||
The Atlantic writes:
Insects help to keep the world green, by spreading the pollen of 88 percent of flowering plants. Those species account for 30 percent of crop production, with a total value of $361 billion—so a world full of buzzing insect wings is also one of full human stomachs. But pollinators are in trouble. Despite the recent good news that honeybee populations have bounced back slightly in the last year, the general trend is still a downward one in Europe and North America. A third of bee and butterfly species are in decline, beset by parasitic mites, destructive diseases, toxic pesticides, and changing climate. And recently, scientists have started considering another culprit—light pollution.
[...] "This is a very important study, which clearly demonstrates that artificial light at night is a threat to pollination," says Franz Hölker from the University of Hamburg.
Journal Reference: Eva Knop, Leana Zoller, Remo Ryser, Christopher Gerpe, Maurin Hörler & Colin Fontaine, Artificial light at night as a new threat to pollination, Nature 548, 206–209 (10 August 2017), doi:10.1038/nature23288
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