Nocturnal insects like moths are essential for pollination, providing resilience to the diurnal pollination networks. Moths use both vision and mechanosensation to locate the nectary opening in the flowers with their proboscis. However, increased light levels due to artificial light at night (ALAN) pose a serious threat to nocturnal insects. Here, we examined how light levels influence the efficacy by which the crepuscular hawkmoth Manduca sexta locates the nectary. We used three-dimensional-printed artificial flowers fitted with motion sensors in the nectary and machine vision to track the motion of hovering moths under two light levels: 0.1 lux (moonlight) and 50 lux (dawn/dusk). We found that moths in higher light conditions took significantly longer to find the nectary, even with repeated visits to the same flower. In addition to taking longer, moths in higher light conditions hovered further from the flower during feeding. Increased light levels adversely affect learning and motor control in these animals.

飞蛾等夜行性昆虫对授粉至关重要，为昼夜授粉网络提供弹性。飞蛾使用视觉和机械感觉来用它们的长鼻定位花中的蜜腺开口。然而，由于夜间人造光 (ALAN) 导致的光照水平增加对夜间活动的昆虫构成了严重威胁。在这里，我们研究了光照水平如何影响黄昏天蛾Manduca sexta的功效定位蜜腺。我们使用在蜜腺和机器视觉中配备运动传感器的 3D 打印人造花来跟踪盘旋飞蛾在两种光照水平下的运动：0.1 勒克斯（月光）和 50 勒克斯（黎明/黄昏）。我们发现，即使重复访问同一朵花，在较高光照条件下的飞蛾也需要更长的时间才能找到蜜腺。除了需要更长的时间之外，在较高光照条件下的飞蛾在进食期间会在离花更远的地方盘旋。增加光照水平会对这些动物的学习和运动控制产生不利影响。