Special Lamp
Machines & Processing
Design
Smart Home
The widespread replacement of conventional bulbs in street lighting by energy-saving light-emitting diodes (LEDs) has considerable influence on bats as urban nocturnal hunters. Opportunistic bats lose hunting opportunities whereas light sensitive species benefit. This was shown in a recent study by Christian Voigt and Daniel Lewanzik from the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (IZW).
Conventional high pressure mercury bulbs have a broad spectrum of wavelengths, including those in the ultraviolet range. As a consequence, insects are magically attracted to street lighting and indirect light spilling out from houses. Moths, mosquitoes, beetles and other insects are drawn to the light because of the so-called vacuum cleaner effect. They circle around lamps and often become victims of insect-eating predators. For instance, some light-tolerant bat species frequently forage on insect aggregations at lights; for them street lamps are a lit “buffet”. Yet, the new LEDs that are used in street lamps do not emit UV light. Thus, insects ignore them and do not buzz around the lamps anymore. The scientists from IZW therefore studied how the increasing use of LED light bulbs may influence the activity of urban bats.
Working Days 8:30am-5:30pm(GTM+8)
Discover the latest trends of lighting industry