Lethal effects of short-wavelength visible light on insects

We investigated the lethal effects of visible light on insects by using light-emitting diodes (LEDs). The toxic effects of ultraviolet (UV) light, particularly shortwave (i.e., UVB and UVC) light, on organisms are well known. However, the effects of irradiation with visible light remain unclear, alt...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Hori, Masatoshi, Shibuya, Kazuki, Sato, Mitsunari, Saito, Yoshino
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Nature Publishing Group 2014
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4260232/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25488603
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep07383
_version_ 1782348148746747904
author Hori, Masatoshi
Shibuya, Kazuki
Sato, Mitsunari
Saito, Yoshino
author_facet Hori, Masatoshi
Shibuya, Kazuki
Sato, Mitsunari
Saito, Yoshino
author_sort Hori, Masatoshi
collection PubMed
description We investigated the lethal effects of visible light on insects by using light-emitting diodes (LEDs). The toxic effects of ultraviolet (UV) light, particularly shortwave (i.e., UVB and UVC) light, on organisms are well known. However, the effects of irradiation with visible light remain unclear, although shorter wavelengths are known to be more lethal. Irradiation with visible light is not thought to cause mortality in complex animals including insects. Here, however, we found that irradiation with short-wavelength visible (blue) light killed eggs, larvae, pupae, and adults of Drosophila melanogaster. Blue light was also lethal to mosquitoes and flour beetles, but the effective wavelength at which mortality occurred differed among the insect species. Our findings suggest that highly toxic wavelengths of visible light are species-specific in insects, and that shorter wavelengths are not always more toxic. For some animals, such as insects, blue light is more harmful than UV light.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-4260232
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2014
publisher Nature Publishing Group
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-42602322014-12-15 Lethal effects of short-wavelength visible light on insects Hori, Masatoshi Shibuya, Kazuki Sato, Mitsunari Saito, Yoshino Sci Rep Article We investigated the lethal effects of visible light on insects by using light-emitting diodes (LEDs). The toxic effects of ultraviolet (UV) light, particularly shortwave (i.e., UVB and UVC) light, on organisms are well known. However, the effects of irradiation with visible light remain unclear, although shorter wavelengths are known to be more lethal. Irradiation with visible light is not thought to cause mortality in complex animals including insects. Here, however, we found that irradiation with short-wavelength visible (blue) light killed eggs, larvae, pupae, and adults of Drosophila melanogaster. Blue light was also lethal to mosquitoes and flour beetles, but the effective wavelength at which mortality occurred differed among the insect species. Our findings suggest that highly toxic wavelengths of visible light are species-specific in insects, and that shorter wavelengths are not always more toxic. For some animals, such as insects, blue light is more harmful than UV light. Nature Publishing Group 2014-12-09 /pmc/articles/PMC4260232/ /pubmed/25488603 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep07383 Text en Copyright © 2014, Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder in order to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/
spellingShingle Article
Hori, Masatoshi
Shibuya, Kazuki
Sato, Mitsunari
Saito, Yoshino
Lethal effects of short-wavelength visible light on insects
title Lethal effects of short-wavelength visible light on insects
title_full Lethal effects of short-wavelength visible light on insects
title_fullStr Lethal effects of short-wavelength visible light on insects
title_full_unstemmed Lethal effects of short-wavelength visible light on insects
title_short Lethal effects of short-wavelength visible light on insects
title_sort lethal effects of short-wavelength visible light on insects
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4260232/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25488603
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep07383
work_keys_str_mv AT horimasatoshi lethaleffectsofshortwavelengthvisiblelightoninsects
AT shibuyakazuki lethaleffectsofshortwavelengthvisiblelightoninsects
AT satomitsunari lethaleffectsofshortwavelengthvisiblelightoninsects
AT saitoyoshino lethaleffectsofshortwavelengthvisiblelightoninsects