Ecologists shed new light on effects of light
pollution on wildlife
November 2012. Light pollution is often associated with negative effects on
wildlife. Now, ecologists have found that by mimicking a perpetual full moon,
the gas flares and electrical lighting along Scotland's Forth estuary are
helping shorebirds stock up on more food during the winter to fuel their spring
migration. The research is the first to use night-time light data from US
military satellites to study animal behaviour.
Coasts and estuaries are most heavily developed
Coasts and estuaries are among the most rapidly developing areas on Earth.
Night-time satellite images of the planet show that except Antarctica,
continents are ringed with halos of brightly-lit human development. But coasts
are also key wildlife sites. Every year, millions of waterbirds arrive from the
Arctic to overwinter on UK coasts, yet scientists remain largely in the dark
about how these birds respond to the bright lights of coastal cities and
industry.
To shed light on the issue, Dr Ross Dwyer and colleagues
from the University of Exeter investigated how artificial light affected
feeding habits of the common redshank in the Forth estuary, one of Scotland's
most industrialised coasts. As well as major industry such as Grangemouth oil
refinery and Longannet power station, whose lights and gas flares illuminate
the intertidal areas at night, the estuary's pristine salt marsh and mudflats
are home to hundreds of thousands of migrating birds each winter.
