%0 Journal Article
%T Light-Trap Catch of the Harmful Moths Depending of Moonlight in North Carolina and Nebraska States of USA
%A L¨¢szl¨® Nowinszky
%A J¨¢nos Pusk¨¢s
%J ISRN Zoology
%D 2012
%R 10.5402/2012/238591
%X The present study discusses the light trapping of harmful insects depending on the moonlight, its polarized percentage, and the moon phases. The trapping data were taken from light traps of North Carolina and Nebraska States of USA. We examined five species. The maximum individual number of species was collected at new moon or near the first quarter and last quarter. The farmers can use our results to forecast their plant protecting works. 1. Introduction The light trap is the most commonly used sampling device to study the daily activity of nocturnal insects. However, the effectiveness of light trapping as an insect sampling method was influenced by many environmental factors. Great many studies in professional literature are devoted to the role of the moon in modifying light-trapping catch. The conclusions are contradictory and up to this day good many questions have remained unqualified. Some authors report an inability to detect a clear decrease in the efficiency of the light trap as a consequence of the effect of moonlight. Williams [1] recognized that at the time of a full moon far fewer insects caught the light traps than at the time of a new moon. According to Williams [1], Williams et al. [2], and El-Ziady [3], the reasons for a smaller catch at a full moon might be as follows.(a) Moonlight reduces the activity of insects and so the active population accessible for the light trap is smaller.(b) The light of the lamp collects moths from a smaller area in a moonlit environment. In recent decades no scientist could give a provable answer to this question; in fact, most have not even tried. Based on latter concept, several researchers calculated collection distances for different light-trap types under the variation of lunar cycle (Dufay [4], Bowden [5], and Nowinszky [6]). Bowden and Morris [7] made some corrections for daily catches by an index calculated from the changes of collecting distance during lunation. The following authors explain the lower catches recorded when there is a full moon in terms of a shorter collecting distance: Vaishampayan and Shrivastava [8], Vaishampayan and Verma [9], Nag and Nath [10] also suggest that the lower catches of light traps when there is a Full Moon may be due to the stronger and brighter light of the Moon and a smaller collecting area, which are clearly physical phenomena. Gy£¿rfi [11] attributes the much smaller numbers of insects caught by light traps at full moon to decreased activity. Nemec [12] is of the view that moths are inactive at full moon. Based on the results of their studies, Baker and Sadovy
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/isrn.zoology/2012/238591/