Towards Insect-Friendly Road Lighting—A Transdisciplinary Multi-Stakeholder Approach Involving Citizen Scientists

Abstract

(1) The project “Tatort Streetlight” implements an insect-friendly road light design in a four year before–after, control–impact (BACI) approach involving citizen scientists. It will broaden the stakeholder interests from solely anthropogenic perspectives to include the welfare of insects and ecosystems. Motivated by the detrimental impacts of road lighting systems on insects, the project aims to find solutions to reduce the insect attraction and habitat fragmentation resulting from roadway illumination. (2) The citizen science approach invites stakeholders to take part and join forces for the development of a sustainable and environmentally friendly road lighting solution. Here, we describe the project strategy, stakeholder participation and motivation, and how the effects of the alternative road luminaire and lighting design can be evaluated. (3) The study compares the changes in (a) insect behavior, (b) night sky brightness, and (c) stakeholder participation and awareness. For this purpose, different experimental areas and stakeholders in four communities in Germany are identified. (4) The project transfers knowledge of adverse effects of improperly managed road illumination and interacts with various stakeholders to develop a new road lighting system that will consider the well-being of street users, local residents, and insects.

The potential of citizen science to transform science: Lessons for a sustainable future

“…Citizen Science projects addressing pollution have been shown to be highly transdisciplinary and have created new research fields (Passani, Janssen, & Forino, 2021). For instance, Tatort Streetlight, brings together ecology and entomology, as well as community members, and industry partners in lighting design and engineering in a citizen science project that has the potential to help bend the curve of insect decline through providing evidence on the impact of implementing new, insect‐friendly street lighting designs (Schroer et al., 2021). The project engages a network of citizen scientists and people interested in researching how to protect the insect fauna from light pollution.…”

Light pollution of freshwater ecosystems: principles, ecological impacts and remedies

“…Second, in addition to reducing luminous flux, which can be finely adjusted with LED luminaires, radiation geometry should direct light effectively and exclusively to those areas that are to be lit. The goal is to prevent light from impinging on water surfaces or other sensitive habitats, and from being emitted, directly or indirectly, either upward or horizontally to produce skyglow [ 124 ]. Thirdly, measures to safeguard freshwater biodiversity must encompass adjacent terrestrial ecosystems, because most aquatic insects and various aquatic vertebrate species complete part of their life cycle on land.…”

Impacts of Traffic Infrastructure on Urban Bird Communities: A Review

“…ALAN also affects birds in cities and their suburbs indirectly. Although providing locally, and in the shortterm, higher invertebrate food resources for some species by attracting insects at lighting structures, the long-term decrease in insect abundance in cities caused by ALAN impacts birds negatively [47].…”

“…The value of this type of data collection for biodiversity conservation was shown in a study conducted in different towns and villages in Germany. The study compared different street lighting types and their impacts on insect abundance and diversity to ultimately provide useful recommendations for insect-friendly street lighting, while respecting the safety and function for human mobility [47].…”

“…Furthermore, the same structures would decrease habitat fragmentation, as wooded/vegetated streets function as corridors for birds [23], bats [91], and other animals [63]. ( 6) How traffic infrastructures could be illuminated in a "bio-friendly" way and reduce the light pollution of the surroundings has been shown in a study that investigated the effects of different street lights on local insect abundance and richness [47]. Protecting the local insect community would also provide better resource conditions for birds.…”