Development and Testing LIDAR to Study Insect Responses to Light and Noise

Views of nocturnal landscapes free from artificial light are important parts of visitor experience. Artificial light is known to affect the movements and behavior of flying insects, but this phenomenon has not been studied in remote locations that have historically been completely free from artificial light. Energy development in the Great Plains and Intermountain West is introducing bright lights into some of these remote areas. Many ongoing or planned developments are close enough to National Park units that they could affect the nocturnal flying insect fauna in the park, and all of the other species that are linked to those insects.