Light pollution enhances ground‐level exposure to airborne toxic chemicals for nocturnally migrating passerines

Sorte, Frank A. La; Lepczyk, Christopher A.; Aronson, Myla F. J.

doi:10.1111/gcb.16443

Cited by 7 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 125 publications

(149 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Our assessment of seasonal association by NMP bird species with ground-level PM 2.5 concentrations and ALAN levels within the Western Hemisphere suggests that the disorienting influence of ALAN does not enhance PM 2.5 exposure. These findings neither follow our predictions nor follow the findings from a similar study that assessed ground-level exposure to airborne toxic chemicals within the contiguous US (La Sorte et al, 2023). Our findings, however, do point to elevated PM 2.5 exposure during the nonbreeding season for all NMP species.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 99%

“…The spatial occurrence of PM 2.5 and ALAN have been found to be positively correlated within the migration flyways of many of the world's nocturnally migrating bird species (La Sorte, Aronson, et al, 2022). There is also evidence that the occurrence of ALAN is positively correlated with the occurrence of ground-level airborne toxic chemicals within the contiguous US (479 chemicals originating from 15,743 releasing facilities) and NMP species are being exposed to higher concentrations of airborne toxic chemicals during stopover (La Sorte et al, 2023). Taken together, these findings suggest that NMP species may be exposed to higher ground-level PM 2.5 concentrations during stopover through the disorienting influence of ALAN.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Biomass burning in the Neotropics is exposing migrating birds to elevated fine particulate matter concentrations

La Sorte,

Zuckerberg,

Lepczyk

et al. 2023

Global Ecol Biogeogr

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

AimA unique risk faced by nocturnally migrating birds is the disorienting influence of artificial light at night (ALAN). ALAN originates from anthropogenic activities that can generate other forms of environmental pollution, including the emission of fine particulate matter (PM2.5). PM2.5 concentrations can display strong seasonal variation whose origin can be natural or anthropogenic. How this variation affects seasonal associations with ALAN and PM2.5 for nocturnally migrating bird populations has not been explored.LocationWestern Hemisphere.Time Period2021Major Taxa StudiedNocturnally migrating passerine (NMP) bird species.MethodsWe combined monthly estimates of PM2.5 and ALAN with weekly estimates of relative abundance for 164 NMP species derived using observations from eBird. We identified groups of species with similar associations with monthly PM2.5. We summarized their shared environmental, geographical, and ecological attributes.ResultsPM2.5 was lowest in North America, especially at higher latitudes during the boreal winter. PM2.5 was highest in the Amazon Basin, especially during the dry season (August–October). ALAN was highest within eastern North America, especially during the boreal winter. For NMP species, PM2.5 associations reached their lowest levels during the breeding season (<10 μg/m3) and highest levels during the nonbreeding season, especially for long‐distance migrants that winter in Central and South America (~20 μg/m3). Species that migrate through Central America in the spring encountered similarly high PM2.5 concentrations. ALAN associations reached their highest levels for species that migrate (~12 nW/cm2/sr) or spend the nonbreeding season (~15 nW/cm2/sr) in eastern North America.Main ConclusionsWe did not find evidence that the disorienting influence of ALAN enhances PM2.5 exposure during stopover in the spring and autumn for NMP species. Rather, our findings suggest biomass burning in the Neotropics is exposing NMP species to consistently elevated PM2.5 concentrations for an extended period of their annual life cycles.

show abstract

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biomass burning in the Neotropics is exposing migrating birds to elevated fine particulate matter concentrations

La Sorte,

Zuckerberg,

Lepczyk

et al. 2023

Global Ecol Biogeogr

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…2022). This may cause birds to steer towards anthropogenically modified landscapes where they are vulnerable to light disorientation effects, collisions with man-made objects, and air pollution (La Sorte et al . 2022b, a).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…During overcast conditions, some birds may also use artificial light to navigate (Weisshaupt et al 2022). This may cause birds to steer towards anthropogenically modified landscapes where they are vulnerable to light disorientation effects, collisions with man-made objects, and air pollution (La Sorte et al 2022b, a). For many of these species, dark-connected skies along their migration routes may be an important resource for successful navigation (Korpach et al 2022).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Migration and the excess exposure of birds to human density in North America

Jackson

Dakin

2022

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Migratory species must cross a range of landscapes that are increasingly modified by humans. A key question is how migrating populations are responding to human-induced environmental change. Here, we model the spring migration dynamics of 63 bird species in North America to quantify their exposure to human population density. We find that most bird species have a negative navigational bias, suggesting that they attempt to avoid human-dense areas during migration, and yet they experience far greater human density during migration as compared to breeding. Species that experience excess human density during migration share several key traits: they tend to be nocturnal migrants, they start migrating through North America earlier in the year, and they tend to migrate longer distances. These findings underscore that birds are especially vulnerable to threats associated with human disturbance during migration, with predictable exposures that are often elevated by 2- to 3-fold during migration.

show abstract

“…The ParkServe data are available from and the bird occurrence data are available from . Data available from the Dryad Digital Repository: [80].…”

Section: Data Accessibilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Collections of small urban parks consistently support higher species richness but not higher phylogenetic or functional diversity

La Sorte,

Clark,

Lepczyk

et al. 2023

Proc. R. Soc. B.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

When prioritizing regions for conservation protection, decisions are often based on the principle that a single large reserve should support more species than several small reserves of the same total area (SLOSS). This principle remains a central paradigm in conservation planning despite conflicting empirical evidence and methodological concerns. In urban areas where small parks tend to dominate and policies to promote biodiversity are becoming increasingly popular, determining the most appropriate prioritization method is critical. Here, we document the role of SLOSS in defining the seasonal diversity of birds in 475 parks in 21 US cities. Collections of small parks were consistently associated with higher species richness, spatial turnover and rarity. Collections of both small and large parks were associated with higher phylogenetic and functional diversity whose patterns varied across seasons and cities. Thus, collections of small parks are a reliable source of species richness driven by higher spatial turnover and rarity, whereas collections of both small and large parks contain the potential to support higher phylogenetic and functional diversity. The presence of strong intra-annual and geographical variation emphasizes the need for regional prioritization strategies, where multiple diversity metrics are examined across parks and seasons.

show abstract

Light pollution enhances ground‐level exposure to airborne toxic chemicals for nocturnally migrating passerines

Cited by 7 publications

References 125 publications

Biomass burning in the Neotropics is exposing migrating birds to elevated fine particulate matter concentrations

Biomass burning in the Neotropics is exposing migrating birds to elevated fine particulate matter concentrations

Migration and the excess exposure of birds to human density in North America

Collections of small urban parks consistently support higher species richness but not higher phylogenetic or functional diversity

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About