How many bioluminescent insects would be needed to produce the same level of light pollution as London?

Authors

  • Sophie WILLETT University of Leicester

Keywords:

Biology, Physics, Light, Light pollution, Bioluminescence

Abstract

This paper determines how many light emitting Pyrophorus noctilucus would be required to produce the same level of light, and so the same amount of light pollution, as London. It was determined that if one P. noctilucos emitted 0.00153 lumens, it would take 2.940x1011 of them to produce the 449x106 lumen emitted by London. This number of bugs equates to an area of approximately 1.911x10m2 which is 8 times smaller than the size of London.

Author Biography

Sophie WILLETT, University of Leicester

Natural Sciences, Year 3

References

Crawford, D.L. (2000) Light Pollution, an environmental problem for astronomy and for mankind, Memorie della Società Astronomia Italiana, 71(1), pp. 11

Harvey, E.N. & Stevens, K.P. (1928) The Brightness of the light of the West Indian Elaterid beetle, Pyrophorus, The Journal of General Physiology, 12(2), pp. 269-272. DOI: 10.1085/jgp.12.2.269

Hillarys (2014) Light pollution and the UK’s changing skies. Available at: https://www.hillarys.co.uk/skyglow/ [Accessed 31st January 2018]

Kinsey (2018) Fire Beetle, The Firefly Forest: Discovering and enjoying nature Available at: https://fireflyforest.net/firefly/2006/06/06/fire-beetle/ [Accessed 31st January 2018]

Davies, Edmondson, Heinemeyer, Leake, Gaston (2011) Mapping an urban ecosystem service: quantifying above-ground carbon storage at a city-wide scale, Journal of Applied Ecology, 48(5), pp. 1125-1134

Encyclopedia Britannica (2018) Greater London | county, England, United Kingdom. Available at: https://www.britannica.com/place/Greater-London [Accessed 16th March 2018]

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Published

23.03.2018

How to Cite

WILLETT, S. (2018). How many bioluminescent insects would be needed to produce the same level of light pollution as London?. Journal of Interdisciplinary Science Topics, 7. Retrieved from https://journals.le.ac.uk/index.php/jist/article/view/2682

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Articles