Why would you do that?
The second being to mitigate the accumulation of insects around my campsite.
While it is true that insect populations world wide have been impacted by the commercial deployment of pesticides by large agricultural operations, it is not true that populations outside that particular affect are negatively affected. Insects, as a fauna, have an extraordinarily effective reproductive cycle relative to the natural hazards they encounter every day.
The most recent article about excess honeybee populations was a good example of how honeybees that are outside of the risk zone are not in any danger of becoming extinct but can and do displace important local pollinators.
A non-persistent local light trap is the ideal mitigation strategy for insects in a particular regions because it leaves no lasting footprint, doesn't contaminate the food chain, and has zero net impact on the overall population density of the insects.
Essentially you are saying that bug zappers actually exasperate the problem they are trying to solve and it would be better to not use one?
I haven't figured out the sweetspot for attractant trap placement yet. It's not inside or attached to your camp or house.
But I know that cold, dry, nonstressed deaths for those that do intrude minimizes the ultimate number that invade via that route. Don't heat them, including by cleaning then up with a standard vacuum.
Interesting facts (according to me): their smell that attracts others is one of those like asparagus, that only some people seem to sense.
But to me smells like burning peanut butter toast crossed with a kaolin/ clay.
Also they hate vibrations/ noise and will aggressively attack and bite in retaliation.
You have a Yoko Ono infestation?
When you kill all those bugs in the first hour of the night, does that leave a noticeable excess-food signal in the region where the dead bugs use to be?
That suggests another interesting test which would be to use a bunch of rope lights to create a complete circle around your site to disrupt all bug flights going in or out of your area. Presumably it could create a higher density at the perimeter of disrupted bugs.
A bug Faraday cage. Neat. Though it could reduce the ambiance of camping by limiting the view of the stars.
If this was your house, maybe, okay. However, when you go camping, you are technically a guest in the bug's house.
But what about kudzo?
> Kudzu, a perennial vine native to Japan and China, was first introduced into the USA in 1876 and was actively promoted by the government as a “wonderplant", It expanded to cover over 1 million ha by 1946 and well over 2 million ha today. When Kudzu invades a forest, it prevents the growth of young hardwoods and kills off other plants. Kudzu causes damage to powerlines, and even overwhelms homes, Kudzu has invaded important protected areas, requiring significant investment of management resources, The management response to date outside the protected areas has been insufficient to deal with this very significant threat.
Sounds like an asshole to me.
Is the OP killing them because s/he has no other alternative to feed himself/herself, or is it because of the annoyance even though s/he is in their habitat?
But defining "the health" of an ecosystem is tricky. An invading invasive species is better adapted after all, and it is part of nature.
We need clearer understanding of what we mean by nature and what we are protecting.
* Are we just trying to hold on to some moment of time in a dynamic ecosystem? Maybe. Protecting the status quo might be practical in terms of human survival, but this doesn't feel like a moral invariant that some people hold it up to be.
* Are we protecting nature in proportion to its ability to feel pain? ... or sentience? ... over what perceptual time frame?
* Practically, so far, when enough people like or find value in certain aspects of nature, we may see some collective action.
As for me, I feel a deep connection with nature, and I recognize this most likely comes from us evolving alongside it. But I recognize my own bias; I care less about mosquitos than birds.
And as to "home territory", mosquitos don't seem to constrain themselves to their homes, whatever that might be. They multiply in little spots of water and go forth seeking blood. To oversimplify, I value human life more than mosquito life. Malaria is a terrible disease. Is this human-centric? Yeah. Do I want humans to continue to grow and destroy nature (whatever that means) as we have done so far? Not really, but I don't know how to practically slow population growth nor development in a way that people will go for. It is a collective will and action problem on a global scale.
Why would you do that ? I understand the science process but if you do this in an hardly reproductible environment (x setup in y location with z group of fauna), how can this confirm anything useful ?
> The second being to mitigate the accumulation of insects around my campsite.
Another reply recommend to use yellow light bulbs, that may also do the trick
Sorry, these light traps you’re using are a natural phenomena the bugs have evolved to be effective against with breeding? Can you elaborate on that line of training?
This has not being happening anymore for a 2 decades...