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Bioreplicated coatings for photovoltaic solar panels nearly eliminate light pollution that harms polarotactic insects

Fritz, Benjamin ORCID iD icon 1; Horváth, Gábor; Hünig, Ruben; Pereszlényi, Ádám; Egri, Ádám; Guttmann, Markus 2; Schneider, Marc 2; Lemmer, Uli 1,2; Kriska, György; Gomard, Guillaume 1,2; Ostroverkhova, Oksana [Hrsg.]
1 Lichttechnisches Institut (LTI), Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT)
2 Institut für Mikrostrukturtechnik (IMT), Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT)

Abstract:

Many insect species rely on the polarization properties of object-reflected light for vital tasks like water or host detection. Unfortunately, typical glass-encapsulated photovoltaic modules, which are expected to cover increasingly large surfaces in the coming years, inadvertently attract various species of water-seeking aquatic insects by the horizontally polarized light they reflect. Such polarized light pollution can be extremely harmful to the entomofauna if polarotactic aquatic insects are trapped by this attractive light signal and perish before reproduction, or if they lay their eggs in unsuitable locations. Textured photovoltaic cover layers are usually engineered to maximize sunlight-harvesting, without taking into consideration their impact on polarized light pollution. The goal of the present study is therefore to experimentally and computationally assess the influence of the cover layer topography on polarized light pollution. By conducting field experiments with polarotactic horseflies (Diptera: Tabanidae) and a mayfly species (Ephemeroptera: Ephemera danica), we demonstrate that bioreplicated cover layers (here obtained by directly copying the surface microtexture of rose petals) were almost unattractive to these species, which is indicative of reduced polarized light pollution. ... mehr


Verlagsausgabe §
DOI: 10.5445/IR/1000127554
Veröffentlicht am 11.12.2020
Originalveröffentlichung
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0243296
Scopus
Zitationen: 4
Web of Science
Zitationen: 3
Dimensions
Zitationen: 7
Cover der Publikation
Zugehörige Institution(en) am KIT Institut für Mikrostrukturtechnik (IMT)
Lichttechnisches Institut (LTI)
Publikationstyp Zeitschriftenaufsatz
Publikationsjahr 2020
Sprache Englisch
Identifikator ISSN: 1932-6203
KITopen-ID: 1000127554
HGF-Programm 43.22.03 (POF III, LK 01) Printed Materials and Systems
Erschienen in PLOS ONE
Verlag Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Band 15
Heft 12
Seiten Art.-Nr. e0243296
Vorab online veröffentlicht am 03.12.2020
Schlagwörter Proposal-Nummern 2017-017-017771 (HE), 2020-024-028671 (HE)
Nachgewiesen in Scopus
Dimensions
Web of Science
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