Could LED street lights be causing major issues for caterpillars?
The light from LED street lights may not be the most caterpillar friendly, according to the latest research.
LED streetlights are very energy efficient. But the light they emit is even more damaging to insects than the sodium bulbs they replace. Apparently there were 41% fewer moth caterpillars to be found under a sodium bulb than in a previously unlit area. But under an LED light the reduction becomes 52%.
In grassy margins, sodium lights apparently had little impact upon caterpillars. Whereas LED ones are halving the caterpillar numbers.
Moths are important pollinators. And so the reduction in caterpillar numbers is likely to have a knock-on effect upon the many species that feed on them, including songbirds and hedgehogs.
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