1
|
Fristrup K, Miller ZD, Newton J, Buckley S, Cole H, Linares C, Donners M, Taff BD, Beeco JA, Barber J, Newman P. National Park visitors perceive benefits for themselves and wildlife under blended red-white outdoor lighting. Sci Rep 2024; 14:21791. [PMID: 39294210 PMCID: PMC11410814 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-71868-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/21/2023] [Accepted: 09/02/2024] [Indexed: 09/20/2024] Open
Abstract
Visitors to Colter Bay Village in Grand Teton National Park were surveyed to elicit their evaluations of experimental outdoor lighting conditions. Luminaires capable of dimming and switching between two LED modules (white, blended red-white) were installed in street and parking areas. The blended red-white lamps consisted of 30 narrowband LED with a peak wavelength 623 nm and two 3000 K white LEDs. Similar "red" lamps were previously shown to reduce impacts to bats and insects. The white and red lamps were closely matched for luminance. Measured horizontal illuminance at survey locations had an interquartile range from 0.63 to 3.82 lx. The red lamps produced lower perceived brightness (VB2(λ)), even after reflection off asphalt, yet survey participants expressed higher ratings for visual comfort and safety under red lighting. Surveys conducted earlier in the evening, with higher levels of predicted solar and measured horizontal illuminance, rated higher on visual comfort and safety, though these correlations were not as strong as the effect of lamp color. Streetlight ratings and support for lighting that protected natural resources were not contingent upon age or gender. Survey participants assessed red lighting as more protective of the environment. These results demonstrate that outdoor lighting designed to reduce ecological impacts can yield superior nocturnal experience for pedestrians.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Kurt Fristrup
- Division of Natural Sounds and Night Skies, National Park Service, 1201 Oakridge Drive, Suite 100, Fort Collins, CO, 80525, USA.
| | - Zachary D Miller
- Bureau of Land Management, National Operations Center, Denver, CO, USA
| | - Jennifer Newton
- National Park Service, Grand Teton National Park, Moose, WY, USA
| | - Stephanie Buckley
- South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks, 4130 Adventure Trail, Rapid City, SD, USA
| | - Hunter Cole
- Department of Biological Science, Boise State University, Boise, ID, USA
| | - Carlos Linares
- Department of Biological Science, Boise State University, Boise, ID, USA
| | | | - B Derrick Taff
- Department of Recreation, Park, and Tourism Management, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA
| | - J Adam Beeco
- Division of Natural Sounds and Night Skies, National Park Service, 1201 Oakridge Drive, Suite 100, Fort Collins, CO, 80525, USA
| | - Jesse Barber
- American Museum of Natural History, New York City, NY, USA
| | - Peter Newman
- Rubenstein School of the Environment and Natural Resources, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT, USA
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Hufkens K, Meier CM, Evens R, Paredes JA, Karaardiç H, Vercauteren S, Van Gysel A, Fox JW, Pacheco CM, da Silva LP, Fernandes S, Henriques P, Elias G, Costa LT, Poot M, Kearsley L. Evaluating the effects of moonlight on the vertical flight profiles of three western palaearctic swifts. Proc Biol Sci 2023; 290:20230957. [PMID: 37909073 PMCID: PMC10618867 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2023.0957] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/26/2023] [Accepted: 10/09/2023] [Indexed: 11/02/2023] Open
Abstract
Recent studies have suggested the presence of moonlight mediated behaviour in avian aerial insectivores, such as swifts. Here, we use the combined analysis of state-of-the-art activity logger data across three swift species, the common, pallid and alpine swifts, to quantify flight height and activity in responses to moonlight-driven crepuscular and nocturnal light conditions. Our results show a significant response in flight heights to moonlight illuminance for common and pallid swifts, i.e. when moon illuminance increased flight height also increased, while a moonlight-driven response is absent in alpine swifts. We show a weak relationship between night-time illuminance-driven responses and twilight ascending behaviour, suggesting a decoupling of both crepuscular and night-time behaviour. We suggest that swifts optimize their flight behaviour to adapt to favourable night-time light conditions, driven by light-responsive and size-dependent vertical insect stratification and weather conditions.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Koen Hufkens
- BlueGreen Labs (bv), Kloetstraat 48, 9120 Melsele, Belgium
| | | | - Ruben Evens
- Department of Biology, Behavioural Ecology and Ecophysiology Group, University of Antwerp, Wilrijk, Belgium
| | - Josefa Arán Paredes
- Institute of Geography, University of Bern, Hallestrasse 12, 3012 Bern, Switzerland
- Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research, University of Bern, Falkenplatz 16, 3012 Bern, Switzerland
| | - Hakan Karaardiç
- Education Faculty, Math and Science Education Department, Alanya Alaaddin Keykubat University, Alanya, Turkey
| | | | | | | | - Carlos Miguel Pacheco
- Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos (CIBIO), InBIO Laboratório Associado, Universidade do Porto, 4485-661 Vairão, Portugal
| | - Luis P. da Silva
- Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos (CIBIO), InBIO Laboratório Associado, Universidade do Porto, 4485-661 Vairão, Portugal
- BIOPOLIS Program in Genomics, Biodiversity and Land Planning, CIBIO, 4485-661 Vairão, Portugal
| | - Sandra Fernandes
- Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, Universidade do Porto, 4099-002 Porto, Portugal
| | | | - Gonçalo Elias
- 44 Rua de São Pedro, Castelo de Vide 7320-163, Portugal
| | - Luís T. Costa
- Nature Returns, Av D Sebastião 101, 2825-408 Costa da Caparica, Portugal
| | - Martin Poot
- Martin Poot Ecology, Culemborg, The Netherlands
| | - Lyndon Kearsley
- BlueGreen Labs (bv), Kloetstraat 48, 9120 Melsele, Belgium
- Belgian Ornithological Research Association, Steenweg Hulst-Lessen 29, 9140 Temse, Belgium
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Śmielak MK. Biologically meaningful moonlight measures and their application in ecological research. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 2023. [DOI: 10.1007/s00265-022-03287-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/12/2023]
Abstract
Abstract
Light availability is one of the key drivers of animal activity, and moonlight is the brightest source of natural light at night. Moon phase is commonly used but, while convenient, it can be a poor proxy for lunar illumination on the ground. While the moon phase remains effectively constant within a night, actual moonlight intensity is affected by multiple factors such as disc brightness, position of the moon, distance to the moon, angle of incidence, and cloud cover. A moonlight illumination model is presented for any given time and location, which is significantly better at predicting lunar illumination than moon phase. The model explains up to 92.2% of the variation in illumination levels with a residual standard error of 1.4%, compared to 60% explained by moon phase with a residual standard error of 22.6%. Importantly, the model not only predicts changes in mean illumination between nights but also within each night, providing greater temporal resolution of illumination estimates. An R package moonlit facilitating moonlight illumination modelling is also presented. Using a case study, it is shown that modelled moonlight intensity can be a better predictor of animal activity than moon phase. More importantly, complex patterns of activity are shown where animals focus their activity around certain illumination levels. This relationship could not be identified using moon phase alone. The model can be universally applied to a wide range of ecological and behavioural research, including existing datasets, allowing a better understanding of lunar illumination as an ecological resource.
Significance statement
Moon phase is often used to represent lunar illumination as an environmental niche, but it is a poor proxy for actual moonlight intensity on the ground. A model is therefore proposed to estimate lunar illumination for any given place and time. The model is shown to provide a significantly better prediction of empirically measured lunar illumination than moon phase. Importantly, it also has much higher temporal resolutions, allowing to not only detect selectiveness for light levels between nights but also within each night, which is not achievable with moon phase alone. This offers unprecedented opportunities to study complex activity patterns of nocturnal species using any time-stamped data (GPS trackers, camera traps, song meters, etc.). It can also be applied to historical datasets, as well as facilitate future research planning in a wide range of ecological and behavioural studies.
Collapse
|
4
|
Tidau S, Whittle J, Jenkins SR, Davies TW. Artificial light at night reverses monthly foraging pattern under simulated moonlight. Biol Lett 2022; 18:20220110. [PMID: 35892207 PMCID: PMC9326264 DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2022.0110] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/10/2023] Open
Abstract
Mounting evidence shows that artificial light at night (ALAN) alters biological processes across levels of organization, from cells to communities. Yet, the combined impacts of ALAN and natural sources of night-time illumination remain little explored. This is in part due the lack of accurate simulations of the complex changes moonlight intensity, timing and spectra throughout a single night and lunar cycles in laboratory experiments. We custom-built a novel system to simulate natural patterns of moonlight to test how different ALAN intensities affect predator–prey relationships over the full lunar cycle. Exposure to high intensity ALAN (10 and 50 lx) reversed the natural lunar-guided foraging pattern by the gastropod mesopredator Nucella lapillus on its prey Semibalanus balanoides. Foraging decreased during brighter moonlight in naturally lit conditions. When exposed to high intensity ALAN, foraging increased with brighter moonlight. Low intensity ALAN (0.1 and 0.5 lx) had no impact on foraging. Our results show that ALAN alters the foraging pattern guided by changes in moonlight brightness. ALAN impacts on ecosystems can depend on lunar light cycles. Accurate simulations of night-time light cycle will warrant more realistic insights into ALAN impacts and also facilitate advances in fundamental night-time ecology and chronobiology.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Svenja Tidau
- School of Biological and Marine Sciences, University of Plymouth, Plymouth PL4 8AA, UK.,School of Ocean Sciences, University of Bangor, Menai Bridge LL59 5AB, UK
| | - Jack Whittle
- School of Ocean Sciences, University of Bangor, Menai Bridge LL59 5AB, UK
| | - Stuart R Jenkins
- School of Ocean Sciences, University of Bangor, Menai Bridge LL59 5AB, UK
| | - Thomas W Davies
- School of Biological and Marine Sciences, University of Plymouth, Plymouth PL4 8AA, UK
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
More than noise: light, moon phase, and singing behavior in a passerine. Urban Ecosyst 2021. [DOI: 10.1007/s11252-021-01142-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
|
6
|
Appel G, López‐Baucells A, Rocha R, Meyer CFJ, Bobrowiec PED. Habitat disturbance trumps moonlight effects on the activity of tropical insectivorous bats. Anim Conserv 2021. [DOI: 10.1111/acv.12706] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- G. Appel
- Programa de Pós‐graduação em Ecologia Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia Manaus Brazil
- Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragments Project Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia Manaus Brazil
| | - A. López‐Baucells
- Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragments Project Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia Manaus Brazil
- BiBio (Biodiversity and Bioindicators Research Group) Natural Sciences Museum of Granollers Granollers Spain
- Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes University of Lisbon Lisbon Portugal
| | - R. Rocha
- Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragments Project Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia Manaus Brazil
- Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes University of Lisbon Lisbon Portugal
- CIBIO‐InBIO, Research Center in Biodiversity and Genetic Resources University of Porto Vairão Portugal
- CIBIO‐InBIO, Research Center in Biodiversity and Genetic Resources Institute of Agronomy, University of Lisbon Lisbon Portugal
| | - C. F. J. Meyer
- Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragments Project Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia Manaus Brazil
- School of Science, Engineering and Environment University of Salford Salford UK
| | - P. E. D. Bobrowiec
- Programa de Pós‐graduação em Ecologia Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia Manaus Brazil
- Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragments Project Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia Manaus Brazil
| |
Collapse
|
7
|
Gomes DGE, Appel G, Barber JR. Time of night and moonlight structure vertical space use by insectivorous bats in a Neotropical rainforest: an acoustic monitoring study. PeerJ 2021; 8:e10591. [PMID: 33384906 PMCID: PMC7751414 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.10591] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/09/2020] [Accepted: 11/26/2020] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Previous research has shown diverse vertical space use by various taxa, highlighting the importance of forest vertical structure. Yet, we know little about vertical space use of tropical forests, and we often fail to explore how this three-dimensional space use changes over time. Methods Here we use canopy tower systems in French Guiana and passive acoustic monitoring to measure Neotropical bat activity above and below the forest canopy throughout nine nights. We use a Bayesian generalized linear mixed effect model and kernel density estimates to demonstrate patterns in space-use over time. Results We found that different bats use both canopy and understory space differently and that these patterns change throughout the night. Overall, bats were more active above the canopy (including Cormura brevirostris, Molossus molossus, Peropteryx kappleri and Peropteryx macrotis), but multiple species or acoustic complexes (when species identification was impossible) were more active in the understory (such as Centronycteris maximiliani, Myotis riparius, Pteronotus alitonus and Pteronotus rubiginosus). We also found that most bats showed temporally-changing preferences in hourly activity. Some species were less active (e.g., P. kappleri and P. macrotis), whereas others were more active (Pteronotus gymnonotus, C. brevirostris, and M. molossus) on nights with higher moon illuminance. Discussion Here we show that Neotropical bats use habitat above the forest canopy and within the forest understory differently throughout the night. While bats generally were more active above the forest canopy, we show that individual groups of bats use space differently over the course of a night, and some prefer the understory. This work highlights the need to consider diel cycles in studies of space use, as animals use different habitats during different periods of the day.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Dylan G E Gomes
- Department of Biological Sciences, Boise State University, Boise, ID, USA
| | - Giulliana Appel
- Programa de Pós-graduação em Ecologia, Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia, Manaus, Brazil
| | - Jesse R Barber
- Department of Biological Sciences, Boise State University, Boise, ID, USA
| |
Collapse
|
8
|
Reply to: Lunar illuminated fraction is a poor proxy for moonlight exposure. Nat Ecol Evol 2020; 4:320-321. [PMID: 32015522 DOI: 10.1038/s41559-020-1097-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/02/2019] [Accepted: 01/03/2020] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
|