{"id":3674,"date":"2023-04-14T06:55:01","date_gmt":"2023-04-14T06:55:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thepoetryofscience.peachpuff-wolverine-566518.hostingersite.com\/?p=3674"},"modified":"2023-04-14T06:55:01","modified_gmt":"2023-04-14T06:55:01","slug":"artificial-bites-at-night","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/3674\/artificial-bites-at-night\/","title":{"rendered":"Artificial Bites at Night"},"content":{"rendered":"

They rise from the dark,
\na cloud of wings
\na swarm of hunger
\na thirst
\nfor us.
\nThey hover
\ndive
\npierce the skin
\nand drink their fill,
\nleaving only
\ntheir blotted note of blood \u2013
\na memory of pain.
\nThey fall to the dark,
\na winter\u2019s sleep
\nagainst the bitter chill
\nof silent nights
\nand frozen flesh.
\nBut city lights betray
\ntheir calm,
\nbeguiling a return
\nto fly
\nand feast
\nand die.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The Northern house mosquito (image credit: Alvesgaspar via Wikimedia Commons).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This poem is inspired by recent research<\/a>, which has found that light pollution may extend the mosquito biting season.<\/p>\n

The Northern house mosquito is responsible for spreading the West Nile virus. To survive the winter, it goes into a kind of \u2018sleep mode\u2019 known as diapause. Recent research shows that light pollution, like bright city lights at night, can affect the mosquito’s ability to start this dormancy period. However, scientists haven’t fully explored how light pollution affects the mosquito’s daily activities and energy storage during both dormancy and active times.<\/p>\n

In this new study researchers compared the daily activity of mosquitoes raised in conditions that encourage dormancy (short days) and conditions that prevent dormancy (long days), with and without artificial light at night. They aimed to better understand how daily activity, dormancy, and light pollution are connected. They found that exposure to artificial light at night changed several aspects related to dormancy, such as slightly increasing activity levels in short-day mosquitoes and preventing some of them from storing enough fat. These findings suggest that light pollution might lower insect survival by messing with their energy storage and could also affect other aspects related to dormancy. This could potentially make the mosquito biting season longer and make it harder for those living in urban environments to survive the winter.<\/p>\n