Like a Magnet to a Flame
The other week I was down by the Bangor waterfront and was walking around the funky retractable docks they have set out for boats. Along each corner of the gangplanks were caged bulbs, that they apparently leave on all night long. This obviously led to a slew of entrepreneurial spiders setting up shop, so as to snag bugs lured in by the lights (as one often sees around, oh... my porch?)
Before too long, I got to wondering if anyone has tried to scope out what effects the industrial age (or more importantly, the "Us keeping artificial lights on all night long" age) has had on spiders. I mean, before we started setting up little lights all over the place, with things that'd keep photophillic bugs from just taking a kamikaze dive, spiders must have been hard-pressed to snag things after dark; most light-attracted bugs would just make a bee-line (well, a moth-line) for the moon, the reflection of the moon on water, or the rare forest fire, none of which are really things a spider can set up webbing around (unless they're from Leng).
I'd think a century or so of shielded gaslights, lights behind glass windows, and bulb-type lights would be enough time for some sort of change, however minor, to start to crop up, in population-count or behavior, at least.
Before too long, I got to wondering if anyone has tried to scope out what effects the industrial age (or more importantly, the "Us keeping artificial lights on all night long" age) has had on spiders. I mean, before we started setting up little lights all over the place, with things that'd keep photophillic bugs from just taking a kamikaze dive, spiders must have been hard-pressed to snag things after dark; most light-attracted bugs would just make a bee-line (well, a moth-line) for the moon, the reflection of the moon on water, or the rare forest fire, none of which are really things a spider can set up webbing around (unless they're from Leng).
I'd think a century or so of shielded gaslights, lights behind glass windows, and bulb-type lights would be enough time for some sort of change, however minor, to start to crop up, in population-count or behavior, at least.