任何一位露营者都知道，飞蛾以及其他的飞虫喜欢追寻明亮的灯光。它们似乎总是迷恋走廊灯、前照灯或者营地篝火，即使这会导致它们最终走向死亡。当然，这和飞蛾具有的正趋光性有关。然而，如今一项最新的研究表明，即使是爬虫动物也会被光亮所吸引。
当研究人员把英国赫尔斯顿市的草地翻了个底朝天后，他们发现，诸如蚂蚁、甲虫和盲蜘蛛一类的爬虫动物，更有可能在路灯发出的光亮最强的地方聚集。这可以让寻找食物变得更为简单，研究人员推测。
同时，这种效果看起来似乎具有永久性：即使是在白天，这些迈着“碎步”的爬虫们也会在光亮的场所附近徘徊。5月23日，研究团队在英国皇家学会期刊《生物学快报》（Biology Letters）上在线发表了该成果。
这提示人们，人造光源（如图中所示的两种情况）可能会对自然生态系统产生持久的影响，改变着生活在某一社区的物种们居住和捕食的地方，同时有可能对当地的食物网进行重新排序。
这样来说，灯光的威力的确无比强大。（生物谷Bioon.com）
doi:10.1098/rsbl.2012.0216
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Street lighting changes the composition of invertebrate communities
Thomas W. Davies*, Jonathan Bennie and Kevin J. Gaston
Artificial lighting has been used to illuminate the nocturnal environment for centuries and continues to expand with urbanization and economic development. Yet, the potential ecological impact of the resultant light pollution has only recently emerged as a major cause for concern. While investigations have demonstrated that artificial lighting can influence organism behaviour, reproductive success and survivorship, none have addressed whether it is altering the composition of communities. We show, for the first time, that invertebrate community composition is affected by proximity to street lighting independently of the time of day. Five major invertebrate groups contributed to compositional differences, resulting in an increase in the number of predatory and scavenging individuals in brightly lit communities. Our results indicate that street lighting changes the environment at higher levels of biological organization than previously recognized, raising the potential that it can alter the structure and function of ecosystems.
