The Effects of Light Pollution on the Animal Kingdom

Everyone knows that any outdoor light is usually surrounded by an assortment of insects. No one really stops to think about the effect the lights have on these insects they just know that insects are attracted to light. The fact is that it is more than just an attraction, it is an obsession. Insects will fly around from light to light congregating with other insects and are eventually blinded, exhausted or overheated to death. Studies show that the average street lamp kills at least 150 insects each night it is lit. Multiply that by 365 and you get 54,750 insects killed by one lamp in a year. A city block has at least 4 usually more in the range of 8 street lamps. That means that one city block is knocking out 219,000 to 438,000 insects per year. Now picture how many street lamps reside in New York City, or the United States of America. The number of insects being killed by street lamps gets to an unfathomable number when you factor in all the street lamps in the world which probably in itself is in the millions. You are probably thinking the less bugs the better, but the birds, bats, reptiles and frogs have different thoughts on their minds.

Sparrows and a number of song birds rely on insects for protein. With the loss of billions of insects every year to light pollution, the hunt for food is becoming more difficult for these birds. Frogs, Lizards and bats also rely on insects for meals and shortages in food could be an issue in the near future. The abundance of artificial lighting is more directly related to the death of thousands of birds than their starvation due to lack of insects. Most birds embark on biannual journeys to warmer climates and back to their habitat of originality. In order to navigate this journey they use the magnetic force of earth with their internal compasses along with the constellations and the moon as an atlas. Usually these birds travel across massive areas of land and thousands of miles of ocean, using the reflection of the stars and moon to guide their way. In the past, this reflection created the brightest luminosity compared to the land and the birds would easily be able to find their way to their destination. Now the moonlight has some competition with the coastline lined with brightly lit cities creating a glow in the sky that is brighter than the natural illumination of the heavens.

According to the Fatal Light Awareness Program (FLAP), at least 100 million birds are killed annually by manmade structures. These deaths are a combination of disorientation due to artificial lighting, bright lights and towers with blinking beacons. A large majority of the deaths are caused from collisions with either other birds or buildings, towers and other manmade structures due to confusion from too many or too bright lights. A couple of significant mass killings of birds have occurred in the United States over the past fifty years. Cause of death: LIGHTS. On October 7, 1954, 50,000 birds followed a bright light beam lit by the Warner Robins Air Force Base in Georgia only to hit dead into the ground. More Recently in 1998, nearly 10,000 birds slammed into radio transmission towers in Kansas. Although these may have been freak accidents, it only proves the theory that the over usage of lights is killing our birds.

Most commonly associated with light pollution is the endangered sea turtles of Florida. Six species of turtles are known to live in the Atlantic and five of these are endangered. Sea turtle eggs are buried in the beach by their mothers and hidden for a period of time. When they hatch, the hatchlings are supposed to crawl towards the water by looking for the brightest horizon. Like the birds, this used to be the reflection of moonlight and stars on the water or the reflection of the sun on the water. However, in the past couple decades, Florida has urbanized their coastline with six distinct sky glows on the eastern coast. Instead of heading for the water, the hatchlings are disoriented and heading for the cities and die from either exhaustion, being hit by a car or other various deaths. The sea turtles of Florida are not expected to be in existence in fifty years

As you can see, light pollution is not just an inconvenience to those who are intrigued by the night sky, but also to those who believe that the animal kingdom is sacred. The animal kingdom is in danger of being eliminated because of humankind�s excessive need to light up our world. There is better use for our energy and money and certainly a better use for a dark night than a bright one. The benefits of dark-sky friendly lighting clearly outweigh the costs of light pollution, and the world should start paying attention how flipping the switch is affecting our earth.

Abstract In urban areas, animals are often faced with changes in the natural noise and light environment. Recent work showed that artificial night lighting can affect both circadian and circannual patterns of behavior. Males of several songbird species started their dawn singing earlier relative to sunrise when breeding near street lights, and male blue tits Cyanistes caeruleus in lighted territories were more successful at extra-pair mating. Female blue tits that bred near street lights also started egg laying earlier in the season. A PhD project is available to study effects of light pollution on seasonal and daily variation in the timing of singing. The project will focus on (a) fitness consequences of variation in the timing of singing, (b) the relationship between female fertility status and the timing of singing, and (c) the costs of early singing. The project requires intense fieldwork on a variety of songbirds; fieldwork can take place in several European countries, depending on the main focus of the project.
Keywords behavioral ecology, singing behavior, reproductive success, multiple paternity, songbird
Main advisor Bart Kempenaers, MPIO Seewiesen