The Strange Lab at Insect Night Walk

Earlier this month, the annual Insect Night walk was held. This event is always a highlight of EGSA’s year, with grad students from across the Columbus and Wooster campuses getting together to engage the public. Planned by Lucy Guarneri, this year’s nightwalk took place in the Chadwick Arboretum learning gardens, and was a great success. There were a variety of activities for kids and adults alike, including insect related crafts, the BugMobile, a blacklight to attract night insects, and the Strange Lab’s “pet a bee” table. This table, run by Brooke, was originally conceptualized by lab graduate Illiana Moore, and involves taking advantage of bees’ cold blooded physiology to let people get much closer than they might otherwise feel comfortable. A quick stint in a cooler is enough to send the bees to sleep, allowing folks to touch and hold the sleeping bees.

Dante was stationed nearby at one of the blacklight traps. These consist of a UV light pointed at a white bedsheet, and are effective and easy ways to observe those nocturnal insects that would otherwise be hidden up in the trees. While the phenomenon of insects being attracted to light has been known for centuries, the reason behind this has only recently been revealed. Entomologists from London, Florida, and Costa Rica used high speed cameras to observe insect’s interactions with light, and found that they were keeping the light to their back. It turns out insects use light as a reference point for what is “up”. This means that when they encounter a strong artificial light source they’ll get “trapped” by it, always trying to orient their back to face the light. This is why you’ll see insects flying in circles around your porch light, or in our case, sitting around on a bedsheet.

Missed this years nightwalk? Never fear, as the annual event will return next summer. However if you can’t wait that long you can try making your own light trap at home. All it requires is a white sheet and a light source, although blacklights will work best. While blacklights can sometimes be hard to track down, at this time of year any reputable Spirit Halloween will have some in stock. Setting up away from other bright lights will bring in the most insects. Just wait till nightfall and set your light facing the sheet, which can be suspended vertically or laid flat on the ground, and wait for the bugs to start flying in.