The study shows that levels of melatonin (a hormone that regulates sleep cycles) decreased when
"A lot of studies have looked at the effects of artificial nighttime lighting on specific species or communities," explainsProfessor Kevin Gaston from the Institute of the Environment at the University of Exeter."However, we combined the results and found that light pollution had the strongest impacthormone levels, the daily activity of animals, and the offspring of living species in general."
People may think it's all about the powerful light, but problems ariseFor example, in rodents, which mainly lead tonocturnal, the duration of activity is usually shortened by nighttime lighting.And in diurnal birds, artificial light has led to an increase in the duration of activity — their singing and foraging begin earlier.
Previous research has also shown thatnighttime lighting has a wide range of effects, from reduced insect pollination to earlier budding in spring. Like climate change, nighttime lighting seems to benefit certain species in some regions. Yet Professor Gaston emphasizes that the point of the study was to address the problem of light pollution and thus reduce lighting where possible.
Night lighting is humaninitiative and extremely damaging to the natural world. Historically, we haven't really worried about the impact of night lighting. Only now are we seeing its consequences. In fact, we need to treat light like any other pollutant. Obviously, we cannot turn off the lights all over the world, but we can reduce the use of light unnecessarily and unnecessarily.
ProfessorKevin Gaston
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