IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v13y2021i11p5991-d562495.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Ecological Impact of Artificial Light at Night: Effective Strategies and Measures to Deal with Protected Species and Habitats

Author

Listed:
  • Annika K. Jägerbrand

    (Calluna AB, Hästholmsvägen 28, SE-131 30 Nacka, Sweden
    Department of Environmental and Biosciences, Rydberg Laboratory of Applied Science (RLAS), School of Business, Engineering and Science, Halmstad University, P.O. Box 823, SE-301 18 Halmstad, Sweden)

  • Constantinos A. Bouroussis

    (Lighting Laboratory, School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, National Technical University of Athens, 15780 Zografou, Greece)

Abstract

When conserving or protecting rare or endangered species, current general guidelines for reducing light pollution might not suffice to ensure long-term threatened species’ survival. Many protected areas are exposed to artificial light at levels with the potential to induce ecological impacts with unknown implications for the ecosystems they are designated to protect. Consequently, it is recommended that precautionary methods for the avoidance and mitigation of light pollution in protected areas be integrated into their management plans. This paper’s aims are to present an overview of best practices in precautionary methods to avoid and mitigate light pollution in protected areas and to identify and discuss what ecosystems should be considered light-sensitive and how to prioritise species and habitats that need protection from artificial light, including examples of legislation covering ecological light pollution in the European Union and in Sweden. The important aspects to include when considering light pollution at a landscape level are listed, and a proposal for prioritisation among species and habitats is suggested. Sensitive and conservation areas and important habitats for particularly vulnerable species could be prioritised for measures to minimise artificial lighting’s negative effects on biodiversity. This may be done by classifying protected natural environments into different zones and applying more constrained principles to limit lighting. The light pollution sensitivity of various environments and ecosystems suggests that different mitigation strategies and adaptations should be used depending on landscape characteristics, species sensitivity and other factors that may determine whether artificial light may be detrimental. Issues of the currently used measurement methods for artificial light at night are reviewed. We also propose and discuss the principles and benefits of using standardized measurement methods and appropriate instrumentation for field measurements of artificial light concerning the environmental impact of light pollution.

Suggested Citation

  • Annika K. Jägerbrand & Constantinos A. Bouroussis, 2021. "Ecological Impact of Artificial Light at Night: Effective Strategies and Measures to Deal with Protected Species and Habitats," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-24, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:11:p:5991-:d:562495
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/11/5991/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/11/5991/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Maja Grubisic & Abraham Haim & Pramod Bhusal & Davide M. Dominoni & Katharina M. A. Gabriel & Andreas Jechow & Franziska Kupprat & Amit Lerner & Paul Marchant & William Riley & Katarina Stebelova & Ro, 2019. "Light Pollution, Circadian Photoreception, and Melatonin in Vertebrates," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(22), pages 1-51, November.
    2. Sibylle Schroer & Benedikt John Huggins & Clementine Azam & Franz Hölker, 2020. "Working with Inadequate Tools: Legislative Shortcomings in Protection against Ecological Effects of Artificial Light at Night," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(6), pages 1-38, March.
    3. Eva Knop & Leana Zoller & Remo Ryser & Christopher Gerpe & Maurin Hörler & Colin Fontaine, 2017. "Artificial light at night as a new threat to pollination," Nature, Nature, vol. 548(7666), pages 206-209, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Katarzyna Bobkowska & Pawel Burdziakowski & Jakub Szulwic & Karolina M. Zielinska-Dabkowska, 2021. "Seven Different Lighting Conditions in Photogrammetric Studies of a 3D Urban Mock-Up," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-27, November.
    2. Constantinos A. Bouroussis & Annika K. Jägerbrand, 2022. "Simulations and Analysis of the Optimum Uniformity for Pedestrian Road Lighting Focusing on Energy Performance and Spill Light in the Roadside Environment," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-21, April.
    3. Karolina M. Zielinska-Dabkowska & Katarzyna Szlachetko & Katarzyna Bobkowska, 2021. "An Impact Analysis of Artificial Light at Night (ALAN) on Bats. A Case Study of the Historic Monument and Natura 2000 Wisłoujście Fortress in Gdansk, Poland," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(21), pages 1-48, October.
    4. Karolina M. Zielinska-Dabkowska, 2022. "Healthier and Environmentally Responsible Sustainable Cities and Communities. A New Design Framework and Planning Approach for Urban Illumination," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-22, November.
    5. Barbara, Christian Enrico & D Adamo, Idiano & Gastaldi, Massimo & Nizami, Abdul Sattar, 2024. "Clean energy for a sustainable future: Analysis of a PV system and LED bulbs in a hotel," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 299(C).
    6. Massimiliano Masullo & Federico Cioffi & Jian Li & Luigi Maffei & Michelangelo Scorpio & Tina Iachini & Gennaro Ruggiero & Antonio Malferà & Francesco Ruotolo, 2022. "An Investigation of the Influence of the Night Lighting in a Urban Park on Individuals’ Emotions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-13, July.
    7. Ulrika Wänström Lindh & Annika K. Jägerbrand, 2021. "Perceived Lighting Uniformity on Pedestrian Roads: From an Architectural Perspective," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(12), pages 1-20, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Karolina M. Zielinska-Dabkowska & Katarzyna Szlachetko & Katarzyna Bobkowska, 2021. "An Impact Analysis of Artificial Light at Night (ALAN) on Bats. A Case Study of the Historic Monument and Natura 2000 Wisłoujście Fortress in Gdansk, Poland," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(21), pages 1-48, October.
    2. Alejandro Martínez-Martín & Adrián Bocho-Roas & Diego Carmona-Fernández & Manuel Calderón-Godoy & Miguel Ángel Jaramillo-Morán & Juan Félix González, 2023. "Influence of Illumination Parameters on Night Sky Observation in Rural Areas," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-23, June.
    3. Radoslava Kanianska & Jana Škvareninová & Stanislav Kaniansky, 2020. "Landscape Potential and Light Pollution as Key Factors for Astrotourism Development: A Case Study of a Slovak Upland Region," Land, MDPI, vol. 9(10), pages 1-16, October.
    4. Sibylle Schroer & Benedikt John Huggins & Clementine Azam & Franz Hölker, 2020. "Working with Inadequate Tools: Legislative Shortcomings in Protection against Ecological Effects of Artificial Light at Night," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(6), pages 1-38, March.
    5. Catherine Pérez Vega & Karolina M. Zielinska-Dabkowska & Franz Hölker, 2021. "Urban Lighting Research Transdisciplinary Framework—A Collaborative Process with Lighting Professionals," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(2), pages 1-18, January.
    6. David Baeza Moyano & Mónica San Juan Fernández & Roberto Alonso González Lezcano, 2020. "Towards a Sustainable Indoor Lighting Design: Effects of Artificial Light on the Emotional State of Adolescents in the Classroom," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(10), pages 1-27, May.
    7. Andy Deprato & Himasha Rao & Hannah Durrington & Robert Maidstone & Ana Adan & Jose Francisco Navarro & Anna Palomar-Cros & Barbara N. Harding & Prasun Haldar & Saibal Moitra & Tanusree Moitra & Lyle , 2022. "The Influence of Artificial Light at Night on Asthma and Allergy, Mental Health, and Cancer Outcomes: A Systematic Scoping Review Protocol," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(14), pages 1-10, July.
    8. Antonio Peña-García & Ferdinando Salata, 2020. "The Perspective of Total Lighting as a Key Factor to Increase the Sustainability of Strategic Activities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-8, April.
    9. Jens Schirmel, 2021. "COVID-19 Pandemic Turns Life-Science Students into “Citizen Scientists”: Data Indicate Multiple Negative Effects of Urbanization on Biota," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-16, March.
    10. Karolina M. Zielinska-Dabkowska, 2022. "Healthier and Environmentally Responsible Sustainable Cities and Communities. A New Design Framework and Planning Approach for Urban Illumination," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-22, November.
    11. Andreas Jechow, 2019. "Observing the Impact of WWF Earth Hour on Urban Light Pollution: A Case Study in Berlin 2018 Using Differential Photometry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-16, January.
    12. Annika K. Jägerbrand, 2020. "Synergies and Trade-Offs Between Sustainable Development and Energy Performance of Exterior Lighting," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-27, May.
    13. Roy H. A. van Grunsven & Julia Becker & Stephanie Peter & Stefan Heller & Franz Hölker, 2019. "Long-Term Comparison of Attraction of Flying Insects to Streetlights after the Transition from Traditional Light Sources to Light-Emitting Diodes in Urban and Peri-Urban Settings," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(22), pages 1-9, November.
    14. Steven M. Vamosi, 2023. "Species and Areas Under Protection: Challenges and Opportunities for the Canadian Northern Corridor," SPP Research Papers, The School of Public Policy, University of Calgary, vol. 16(18), June.
    15. Anna Beniermann & Martin Glos & Heike Schumacher & Ingo Fietze & Stephan Völker & Annette Upmeier zu Belzen, 2023. "‘Sleep Blindness’ in Science Education: How Sleep Health Literacy Can Serve as a Link between Health Education and Education for Sustainable Development," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(16), pages 1-22, August.
    16. Maja Grubisic & Abraham Haim & Pramod Bhusal & Davide M. Dominoni & Katharina M. A. Gabriel & Andreas Jechow & Franziska Kupprat & Amit Lerner & Paul Marchant & William Riley & Katarina Stebelova & Ro, 2019. "Light Pollution, Circadian Photoreception, and Melatonin in Vertebrates," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(22), pages 1-51, November.
    17. Benyan Jiang & Shan Li & Jianjun Li & Yuli Zhang & Zihao Zheng, 2022. "Spatio-Temporal Dynamics and Sensitive Distance Identification of Light Pollution in Protected Areas Based on Muti-Source Data: A Case Study of Guangdong Province, China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(19), pages 1-14, October.
    18. Karolina M. Zielińska-Dabkowska & Kyra Xavia & Katarzyna Bobkowska, 2020. "Assessment of Citizens’ Actions against Light Pollution with Guidelines for Future Initiatives," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(12), pages 1-32, June.
    19. Maria Vogiatzaki & Stelios Zerefos & Marzia Hoque Tania, 2020. "Enhancing City Sustainability through Smart Technologies: A Framework for Automatic Pre-Emptive Action to Promote Safety and Security Using Lighting and ICT-Based Surveillance," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(15), pages 1-20, July.
    20. Tanja M. Straka & Pia E. Lentini & Linda F. Lumsden & Sascha Buchholz & Brendan A. Wintle & Rodney van der Ree, 2020. "Clean and Green Urban Water Bodies Benefit Nocturnal Flying Insects and Their Predators, Insectivorous Bats," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-18, March.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:11:p:5991-:d:562495. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.