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Caterpillar populations decline 50 per cent in areas with streetlights

By Chris Stokel-Walker

25 August 2021

LED streetlight, England, UK — There are fewer caterpillars around brighter LED streetlights than older sodium lamps
Martyn Williams / Alamy

Areas with LED streetlights have up to 50 per cent fewer moth caterpillars living in the immediate vicinity of the light, potentially having huge impacts on an area’s wildlife ecosystem.

“We don’t think of light pollution as big a driver of biodiversity [loss] as climate change,” says at the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology. “But that doesn’t mean it’s not a significant factor.”

Prior research about the impact of artificial light has looked at adult insects like moths,…

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