Knowledge exchange to improve research and management of the impacts of artificial light at night

Mayer‐Pinto, Mariana; Dafforn, Katherine A.; Fobert, Emily K.

doi:10.1111/aec.12948

Cited by 4 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 13 publications

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“…If that is not possible, there are clear and straightforward principles that reduce light spill into surrounding areas, including reducing the spatial and temporal occurrence of ALAN, limiting its intensity, and reducing the use of shorter-wavelength lighting (Longcore et al 2018;Commonwealth of Australia 2023). These options for mitigating the impacts of ALAN also require further investigation (Gaston et al 2015;Davies & Smyth 2018;Mayer-Pinto et al 2020;Hölker et al 2021). For example, transitioning from HPS to LED lighting has also enabled the dimming of Auckland's public streetlights for much of the night, and this may have contributed to fewer reported environmental impacts compared with cities experiencing similar transitions elsewhere (McNaughton et al, 2022).…”

Section: Future Research Directions On the Ecological Impacts Of Alan...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Lighting trends reveal state of the dark sky cloak: light at night and its ecological impacts in Aotearoa New Zealand

Cieraad,

Farnworth

2023

NZJE

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Artificial light at night (ALAN) exposes many organisms to increased night-time radiance and disrupts natural cycles that have cued the physiology and ecology of plants and animals throughout their evolutionary history. Here, we use satellite data to quantify spatiotemporal trends of ALAN in Aotearoa New Zealand between 2012-2021 and review the literature of the ecological impacts of ALAN. Our results show that the night-time light environment is changing rapidly in Aotearoa New Zealand: while the vast majority (95.2%) of the country had no direct emissions of ALAN, the lit surface area increased by 37.4% (from 3.0% to 4.2%) between 2012 and 2021. A total of 4694 km 2 of the country experienced increased brightness (median increase of 87%) over the decade. In contrast, 886 km 2 became less bright (median decrease 33%), mainly in urban centres where absolute brightness remains high. Our estimated increases in ALAN extent and brightness are underestimates as satellite imagery does not capture sky glow, nor the full extent of the light spectrum emitted by increasingly common light emitting diodes. Impacts of ALAN on the flora and fauna of Aotearoa New Zealand were identified from 39 pieces of literature, with most focussing on behavioural responses in avifauna, mammals, and insects. ALAN is an understudied environmental pollutant, as > 31% of the records described general observations rather than experimental or observational studies and literature describing impacts on groups including herpetofauna and marine mammals was absent, as were studies quantifying impacts on population size, species interactions, or ecosystem functions. At ALAN's current rate of increase, Aotearoa New Zealand is in danger of losing its cloak of darkness, resulting in increased negative environmental impacts. Greater awareness and targeted ecological research are proposed to stimulate change towards minimising ALAN and mitigating the impacts of light emitted into the nocturnal environment. Additional information and declarationsAuthor contributions: EC conceived the idea and conducted the data analysis. EC and BF developed the idea and wrote the manuscript. Data and code availability:The night-time satellite data used in this paper is freely available online, as described in the Methods section. Code is available from the authors upon request.Ethics: The research did not require ethics approval, as it uses existing data and literature.

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Section: Future Research Directions On the Ecological Impacts Of Alan...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Lighting trends reveal state of the dark sky cloak: light at night and its ecological impacts in Aotearoa New Zealand

Cieraad,

Farnworth

2023

NZJE

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Estimating the loss and fragmentation of dark environments in mammal ranges from light pollution

Ditmer

Stoner

Carter

2021

Biological Conservation

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Assessing the Vulnerabilities of Vertebrate Species to Light and Noise Pollution: Expert Surveys Illuminate the Impacts on Specialist Species

Ditmer

Francis

Barber

et al. 2021

Integrative and Comparative Biology

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Synopsis Global expansion of lighting and noise pollution alters how animals receive and interpret environmental cues. However, we lack a cross-taxon understanding of how animal traits influence species vulnerability to this growing phenomenon. This knowledge is needed to improve the design and implementation of policies that mitigate or reduce sensory pollutants. We present results from an expert knowledge survey that quantified the relative influence of 21 ecological, anatomical, and physiological traits on the vulnerability of terrestrial vertebrates to elevated levels of anthropogenic lighting and noise. We aimed not only to quantify the importance of threats and the relative influence of traits as viewed by sensory and wildlife experts, but to examine knowledge gaps based on the variation in responses. Identifying traits that had less consensus can guide future research for strengthening ecologists’ and conservation biologists’ understanding of sensory abilities. Our findings, based on 280 responses of expert opinion, highlight the increasing recognition among experts that sensory pollutants are important to consider in management and conservation decisions. Participant responses show mounting threats to species with narrow niches; especially habitat specialists, nocturnal species, and those with the greatest ability to differentiate environmental visual and auditory cues. Our results call attention to the threat specialist species face and provide a generalizable understanding of which species require additional considerations when developing conservation policies and mitigation strategies in a world altered by expanding sensory pollutant footprints. We provide a step-by-step example for translating these results to on-the-ground conservation planning using two species as case studies.

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Knowledge exchange to improve research and management of the impacts of artificial light at night

Cited by 4 publications

References 13 publications

Lighting trends reveal state of the dark sky cloak: light at night and its ecological impacts in Aotearoa New Zealand

Lighting trends reveal state of the dark sky cloak: light at night and its ecological impacts in Aotearoa New Zealand

Estimating the loss and fragmentation of dark environments in mammal ranges from light pollution

Assessing the Vulnerabilities of Vertebrate Species to Light and Noise Pollution: Expert Surveys Illuminate the Impacts on Specialist Species

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