Manypeople have long believed that bright lights draw, or attract flying insects-组卷网

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Many people have long believed that bright lights draw, or attract flying insects. But that is not exactly what is going on, a new study suggests.

Researchers believe that artificial lights at night may cause problems with flying insects’ natural navigation systems. As a result, the creatures fly in confusion around porch lamps, street lights and other artificial lights. “Insects have a navigational problem,” said Tyson Hedrick of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. He added, “They’re accustomed to using light as a cue (提示) to know which way is up.”

Insects do not fly directly toward a light source, but actually “tilt their backs toward the light,” said Sam Fabian of Imperial College London. Fabian was a co-writer of the study that appeared recently in Nature Communications. This tilting action would make sense if the strongest light source was in the sky. But in the presence of artificial lights, the result is midair confusion.

For the study, researchers attached very small sensors to moths and dragonflies in a laboratory. They then filmed “motion-capture” video of flight — similar to how filmmakers attach sensors to actors to follow their movements. Researchers also used high-resolution cameras to film insects flying around lights at a field in Costa Rica. Such films permitted researchers to study in detail how dragonflies circle endlessly around light sources, positioning themselves with their backs facing the light. Researchers also documented that some insects fly upside down — and often crash land — in the presence of lights that shine straight upward like search lights. Insect flight was least disrupted by bright lights that shine straight downward, the researchers found.

“For millions of years, insects oriented themselves by sensing that the sky is light, the ground is dark — until people invented artificial lights”, said Avalon Owens of Harvard University.

【小题1】What can we learn from the study?

A．Insects have a navigational problem.

B．Artificial lights will make insects confused.

C．Not all insects do fly directly toward a light source.

D．Small sensors are used to film an insect documentary.

【小题2】Which of the following may Avalon Owens agree with?

A．Insects are unlikely to fly upside down.

B．Insects can position themselves facing the light.

C．Insects failed to orient themselves because of artificial lights.

D．Insect flight was interrupted by downward-shining bright lights.

【小题3】What attitude does the author take towards the study?

A．Ambiguous.