Davies, T. W., Bennie, J., & Gaston, K. J. (2012). Street lighting changes the composition of invertebrate communities. Biology Letters, 8(5), 764–767.
Abstract: Artificial lighting has been used to illuminate the nocturnal environment for centuries and continues to expand with urbanization and economic development. Yet, the potential ecological impact of the resultant light pollution has only recently emerged as a major cause for concern. While investigations have demonstrated that artificial lighting can influence organism behaviour, reproductive success and survivorship, none have addressed whether it is altering the composition of communities. We show, for the first time, that invertebrate community composition is affected by proximity to street lighting independently of the time of day. Five major invertebrate groups contributed to compositional differences, resulting in an increase in the number of predatory and scavenging individuals in brightly lit communities. Our results indicate that street lighting changes the environment at higher levels of biological organization than previously recognized, raising the potential that it can alter the structure and function of ecosystems.
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Stone, E. M., Jones, G., & Harris, S. (2012). Conserving energy at a cost to biodiversity? Impacts of LED lighting on bats. Global Change Biology, 18(8), 2458–2465.
Abstract: Artificial lighting is a key biodiversity threat and produces 1900 million tonnes of CO 2 emissions globally, more than three times that produced by aviation. The need to meet climate change targets has led to a global increase in energy-efficient light sources such as high-brightness light-emitting diodes (LEDs). Despite the energetic benefits of LEDs, their ecological impacts have not been tested. Using an experimental approach, we show that LED street lights caused a reduction in activity of slow-flying bats ( Rhinolophus hipposideros and Myotis spp.). Both R. hipposideros and Myotis spp. activities were significantly reduced even during low light levels of 3.6 lux. There was no effect of LED lighting on the relatively fast-flying Pipistrellus pipistrellus, Pipistrellus pygmaeus and Nyctalus/Eptesicus spp. We provide the first evidence of the effects of LED lights on bats. Despite having considerable energy-saving benefits, LED lights can potentially fragment commuting routes for bats with associated negative conservation consequences. Our results add to the growing evidence of negative impacts of lighting on a wide range of taxa. We highlight the complexities involved in simultaneously meeting targets for reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and biodiversity loss. New lighting strategies should integrate climate change targets with the cultural, social and ecological impacts of emerging lighting technologies.
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Wakefield, A., Stone, E. L., Jones, G., & Harris, S. (2015). Light-emitting diode street lights reduce last-ditch evasive manoeuvres by moths to bat echolocation calls. Roy. Soc. Open Sci., 2(8).
Abstract: The light-emitting diode (LED) street light market is expanding globally, and it is important to understand how LED lights affect wildlife populations. We compared evasive flight responses of moths to bat echolocation calls experimentally under LED-lit and -unlit conditions. Significantly, fewer moths performed ‘powerdive’ flight manoeuvres in response to bat calls (feeding buzz sequences from Nyctalus spp.) under an LED street light than in the dark. LED street lights reduce the anti-predator behaviour of moths, shifting the balance in favour of their predators, aerial hawking bats.
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