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Horváth, G., Kriska, G., Malik, P., & Robertson, B. (2009). Polarized light pollution: a new kind of ecological photopollution. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 7(6), 317–325.
Abstract: The alteration of natural cycles of light and dark by artificial light sources has deleterious impacts on animals and ecosystems. Many animals can also exploit a unique characteristic of light – its direction of polarization –as a source of information. We introduce the term “polarized light pollution†(PLP) to focus attention on the ecological consequences of light that has been polarized through interaction with human-made objects. Unnatural polarized light sources can trigger maladaptive behaviors in polarization-sensitive taxa and alter ecological interactions. PLP is an increasingly common byproduct of human technology, and mitigating its effects through selective use of building materials is a realistic solution. Our understanding of how most species use polarization vision is limited, but the capacity of PLP to drastically increase mortality and reproductive failure in animal populations suggests that PLP should become a focus for conservation biologists and resource managers alike.
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Kyba, C. C. M., Ruhtz, T., Fischer, J., & Hölker, F. (2011). Lunar skylight polarization signal polluted by urban lighting. J. Geophys. Res., 116(D24).
Abstract: On clear moonlit nights, a band of highly polarized light stretches across the sky at a 90 degree angle from the moon, and it was recently demonstrated that nocturnal organisms are able to navigate based on it. Urban skyglow is believed to be almost unpolarized, and is therefore expected to dilute this unique partially linearly polarized signal. We found that urban skyglow has a greater than expected degree of linear polarization (p = 8.6 ± 0.3%), and confirmed that its presence diminishes the natural lunar polarization signal. We also observed that the degree of linear polarization can be reduced as the moon rises, due to the misalignment between the polarization angles of the skyglow and scattered moonlight. Under near ideal observing conditions, we found that the lunar polarization signal was clearly visible (p = 29.2 ± 0.8%) at a site with minimal light pollution 28 km from Berlin's center, but was reduced (p = 11.3 ± 0.3%) within the city itself. Daytime measurements indicate that without skyglow pwould likely be in excess of 50%. These results indicate that nocturnal animal navigation systems based on perceiving polarized scattered moonlight likely fail to operate properly in highly light-polluted areas, and that future light pollution models must take polarization into account.
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Robertson, B. A., Keddy-Hector, I. A., Shrestha, S. D., Silverberg, L. Y., Woolner, C. E., Hetterich, I., et al. (2018). Susceptibility to ecological traps is similar among closely related taxa but sensitive to spatial isolation. Animal Behaviour, 135, 77–84.
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