A groundbreaking study, led by Dr. Mark Wong of The University of Western Australia, has provided the first global picture of insect activity patterns across the fundamental day–night cycle.
“Through our extensive research, we’ve finally been able to provide a definitive answer to the age-old question of whether there are more insects out at night than during the day,” said Dr. Wong. “Our global analysis not only shows that insect activity rises by a third (31.4%) during the night on average, but crucially reveals key ecological factors driving patterns in insect activity across the Earth.”
The activity patterns of insects across the day–night cycle are a surprisingly understudied area in ecology, as such patterns cannot be detected by common methods used for sampling insects. For example, sweep netting captures inactive insects, while light traps do not work as well during the day as they do during the night.
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