Human-made light sources are altering
the natural light cycles impacting wildlife. Polarized light has been
found to trigger animal behaviors leading to injury and often death.
Gabor Horvath, Robertson and colleagues, in the latest issue of the journal Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, have unveiled this disturbing information.
Light
pollution can cause increased predation, migrating in the wrong
direction, choosing bad nest sites or mates, collisions with artificial
structures and reduced time available to spend looking for food. To
cite an example baby sea turtles use the direction of star and
moonlight reflected off the water surface to help them find the ocean
when they emerge from their beach nests. Under the influence of light
pollution particularly from urban sources, many turtles turn the wrong
way and migrate toward the brighter lights of buildings or streetlamps.
Polarized
light reflected from asphalt roads, windows and plastic sheets and oil
spills often mimics the surface of the water. Dragonflies laying its
eggs on a shiny black highway may become paralyzed by attraction to the
pavement after laying its eggs. This could cause populations to decline
and even extinction. One of the remedies suggested for asphalt is white
hatch mark. White hatch marks on roads can prevent insects from
mistaking them for bodies of water. The addition of white curtains to
shiny black buildings deters insects, bats and birds.
I found
this study very interesting and alarming. Robertson signs off saying.
"Aquatic insects are the foundation of the food web, and what's harmful
to them is harmful to entire ecosystems and the services they provide."
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