Use of lamplit roads by foraging bats in southern England

Blake, Dawn Michelle; Hutson, A. M.; Racey, P. A.; Rydell, Jens; Speakman, John R.

doi:10.1111/j.1469-7998.1994.tb04859.x

Cited by 101 publications

(100 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…In Britain, mean bat activity, likely to be mainly common pipistrelles Pipistrellus pipistrellus, is usually equal to or lower along roads lit by LPS lights than in dark sections, whereas bat activity is higher under HPMV than LPS lights or sections with no light ( Fig. 7.3; Blake et al 1994). Rydell and Racey (1995) …”

Section: Observational Studies On Bats At Street Lightsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This flight-to-light behaviour strongly depends on spectral output of the lighting: white HPMV lamps have a high UV proportion of their spectrum, and so four times as many moths are captured at HPMV lights compared to yellow/orange HPS lights (Eisenbeis 2006). Warm-white and cool-white LED lights induce less flight-to-light behaviour than HPS lights (Huemer et al 2010;Eisenbeis and Eick 2011), and the virtually monochromatic deep-orange LPS lights are least attractive to insects (Rydell 1992;Blake et al 1994;Eisenbeis 2006;Frank 2006).…”

Section: Interference Of Light Pollution With Nocturnal Navigationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Bat activity and foraging efficiency at street lights are mainly determined by the number and size of prey insects available, both of which are strongly affected by the spectral characteristics of the light (Blake et al 1994). Thus, the type of light indirectly influences bat activity.…”

Section: Observational Studies On Bats At Street Lightsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Dark Matters: The Effects of Artificial Lighting on Bats

Rowse

Lewanzik

Stone

et al. 2015

Bats in the Anthropocene: Conservation of Bats in a Changing World

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While artificial lighting is a major component of global change, its biological impacts have only recently been recognised. Artificial lighting attracts and repels animals in taxon-specific ways and affects physiological processes. Being nocturnal, bats are likely to be strongly affected by artificial lighting. Moreover, many species of bats are insectivorous, and insects are also strongly influenced by lighting. Lighting technologies are changing rapidly, with the use of light-emitting diode (LED) lamps increasing. Impacts on bats and their prey depend on the light spectra produced by street lights; ultraviolet (UV) wavelengths attract more insects and consequently insectivorous bats. Bat responses to lighting are species-specific and reflect differences in flight morphology and performance; fast-flying aerial hawking species frequently feed around street lights, whereas relatively slowflying bats that forage in more confined spaces are often light-averse. Both highpressure sodium and LED lights reduce commuting activity by clutter-tolerant bats of the genera Myotis and Rhinolophus, and these bats still avoided LED lights when dimmed. Light-induced reductions in the activity of frugivorous bats may affect ecosystem services by reducing dispersal of the seeds of pioneer plants and hence reforestation. Rapid changes in street lighting offer the potential to explore

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Section: Observational Studies On Bats At Street Lightsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Interference Of Light Pollution With Nocturnal Navigationmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Dark Matters: The Effects of Artificial Lighting on Bats

Rowse

Lewanzik

Stone

et al. 2015

Bats in the Anthropocene: Conservation of Bats in a Changing World

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“…However, light pollution is an overlooked disruptor of natural habitats that also perturbs individual physiological processes that rely on precise light information [2]. Artificial illumination at night impacts animal populations by disrupting orientation [3], reproduction [4], and by changing predation and competition pressures [5]. The repercussions of these behavioural and physiological changes in natural systems remain largely unknown and constitute a new and relevant focus for ecological research [6].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stressful colours: corticosterone concentrations in a free-living songbird vary with the spectral composition of experimental illumination

et al. 2015

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Organisms have evolved under natural daily light/dark cycles for millions of years. These cycles have been disturbed as night-time darkness is increasingly replaced by artificial illumination. Investigating the physiological consequences of free-living organisms in artificially lit environments is crucial to determine whether nocturnal lighting disrupts circadian rhythms, changes behaviour, reduces fitness and ultimately affects population numbers. We make use of a unique, large-scale network of replicated field sites which were experimentally illuminated at night using lampposts emanating either red, green, white or no light to test effect on stress hormone concentrations (corticosterone) in a songbird, the great tit (Parus major). Adults nesting in white-light transects had higher corticosterone concentrations than in the other treatments. We also found a significant interaction between distance to the closest lamppost and treatment type: individuals in red light had higher corticosterone levels when they nested closer to the lamppost than individuals nesting farther away, a decline not observed in the green or dark treatment. Individuals with high corticosterone levels had fewer fledglings, irrespective of treatment. These results show that artificial light can induce changes in individual hormonal phenotype. As these effects vary considerably with light spectrum, it opens the possibility to mitigate these effects by selecting street lighting of specific spectra.

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“…The eyes of some bats in the chiropteran suborder Yangochiroptera (formerly Microchiroptera) appear most sensitive to light intensities comparable to those available during crepuscular periods (Müller et al 2009), and the adaptive advantages to seeing UV may include orientation by post-sunset glow, stars, and polarized light patterns in the sky (Childs & Buchler 1981, Buchler & Childs 1982, Greif et al 2014. Insects, particularly moths, are also known to aggregate at lights rich in short-wavelengths (van Langevelde et al 2011), and these aggregations may in turn attract foraging insectivorous bats (Blake et al 1994, Rydell & Racey 1995, Minnaar et al 2014, Mathews et al 2015.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dim ultraviolet light as a means of deterring activity by the Hawaiian hoary bat Lasiurus cinereus semotus

Gorresen¹,

Cryan²,

Dalton³

et al. 2015

Endang. Species. Res.

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Widespread bat fatalities at industrial wind turbines are a conservation issue with the potential to inhibit efficient use of an abundant source of energy. Bat fatalities can be reduced by altering turbine operations, but such curtailment decreases turbine efficiency. If additional ways of reducing bat fatalities at wind turbines were available such tradeoffs might not be needed. Based on the facts that bats perceive distant objects primarily through vision and can see in very dim lighting conditions, and the possibility that bats might interact with turbines after approaching them as they would trees, we propose a novel method of reducing bat activity at wind turbines: illumination of the structure with dim light. As a first step toward assessing this approach, we illuminated trees with dim flickering ultraviolet (UV) light in areas frequented by Hawaiian hoary bats Lasiurus cinereus semotus, an endangered subspecies affected by wind turbines. We used a repeated-measures design to quantify bat activity near trees with acoustic detectors and thermal video cameras in the presence and absence of UV illumination, while concurrently monitoring insect numbers. Results indicate that dim UV reduces bat activity despite an increase in insect numbers. Experimental treatment did not completely inhibit bat activity near trees, nor did all measures of bat activity show statistically significant differences due to high variance in bat activity among sites. However, the observed decreases in bat activity with dim UV illumination justify further testing of this method as a means to reduce bat fatalities at wind turbines.

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Use of lamplit roads by foraging bats in southern England

Cited by 101 publications

References 15 publications

Dark Matters: The Effects of Artificial Lighting on Bats

Dark Matters: The Effects of Artificial Lighting on Bats

Stressful colours: corticosterone concentrations in a free-living songbird vary with the spectral composition of experimental illumination

Dim ultraviolet light as a means of deterring activity by the Hawaiian hoary bat Lasiurus cinereus semotus

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