Response of biting and non-biting insects to ultraviolet light in insect electrocutors.

Four Stinger ultraviolet insect electrocutors with attached collection buckets were hung to two wooded habitats, a lakeside house and a hilltop cabin at UMBS. Data were collected over a series of late spring nights. Of a total of 8309 insects killed, only 31 were potentially biting. Insects from 5 orders and 42 families were killed. We concluded that the biting insects, which composed 0.37% of the total insects killed, were not attracted in significant abundance, and that ultraviolet insect lights do not effectively reduce the numbers of biting insects. The chemical attractant 1-octen-3-ol, did not affect the capture of insects. The impact of the thousands of other insects killed on insect populations and on the surrounding ecosystem is unknown.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/54836/1/3277.pdfDescription of 3277.pdf : Access restricted to on-site users at the U-M Biological Station