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Ecological Consequences of Artificial Night LightingAuthor(s) ALBERT M MANVILLESource The Condor 109(1)226-227 2007Published By Cooper Ornithological SocietyDOI httpdxdoiorg1016500010-5422(2007)109[226ECOANL]20CO2URL httpwwwbiooneorgdoifull1016500010-5422282007291095B2263AECOANL5D20CO3B2
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Ecological Consequences of Artificial Night Light-ingmdashCatherine Rich and Travis Longcore [editors]2006 Island Press Washington DC 458 pp ISBN1-55963-129-5 (paper) 1-55963-128-7 (cloth) $2995(paper) $6500 (cloth)
Humans especially those of us living in developedcountries tend to take for granted artificial nightlighting be it street building park spot vanitypilot-warning recreational safety or other lightingFurthermore one can only be struck by the rapidincrease in artificial night lighting documented bynighttime satellite photographs of planet Earth overthe past three or so decades Most obvious today arethe beams and halos of light radiating frompopulation centers in North and South AmericaEurope Russia Southeast and East Asia and coastalareas in Australia Las Vegas Nevada is a lsquolsquoshiningrsquorsquo
example of our opulence and blatant wastefulnessWhat may not be so obvious to the casual observeror for that matter to the scientific community are theimpacts of artificial night lighting on myriad speciesof fish wildlife and plants With the publication ofEcological Consequences of Artificial Night Lightingthat has all changed
Organisms evolved and adapted to prendashindustrialrevolution patterns of predictable periods of light anddarkness that varied seasonally in temperate andarctic latitudes With an increasing human popula-tion refinements in power transmission grids andelectrical distribution capacitiesmdashespecially inwealthy developed countriesmdashand our unfortunatehabit of being incredibly energy inefficient we nowuse artificial night light for many purposes Notunexpectedly as the use of artificial lights explodedlsquolsquohigh profilersquorsquo examples of affected species surfacedmost notably sea turtle hatchlings and migratorysongbirds This book was developed to provide state-of-the-art reviews and cutting-edge scientific infor-mation to address the problem of lsquolsquoecological lightpollutionrsquorsquo which is now being documented asa disruptor of ecosystems (Longcore and Rich2004) with particular reference to the impacts onthe flora and fauna within affected systems The textalso provides management recommendations anddiscusses our knowledge or lack thereof of theimpacts of artificial night lighting on plants andanimals As a federal wildlife biologist involved in theconservation and management of migratory birdsthe material provides memdashand hopefully manyothersmdashwith important tools to help understandthe ecological impacts of artificial lighting and tohelp best manage lights for the protection of allaffected species
For anyone interested in or involved with artificiallighting research or policy-making this book isa must-read Whether yoursquore a researcher lookingto perform follow-up studies a state provincialfederal or international official trying to addressspecific management challenges dealing with lightingan industry representative trying to discern lightingimpacts of your companyrsquos actions a conservationistlooking to address lighting impacts or an interestedstakeholder simply trying to get informed about theissue this volume is clearly priority reading
The book is well organized well referenced andeasy to read The volume is divided into six partseach with multiple chapters 17 in all Some of thechapters are tastefully introduced with vignettes (egby Alexander von Humboldt and Henry DavidThoreau) or with personal experiences (eg by BerndHeinrich and Carl Safina) The book is organizedinto taxonomic groupings with chapters providingreviews of impacts on mammals birds reptiles andamphibians fishes invertebrates and plants Taxo-nomic groupings are further partitioned into suites ofspecies including land mammals landbirds seabirdsand a chapter specifically on the European Black-tailed Godwit (Limosa limosa) sea turtles geckosanoles anurans and salamanders fish insectsmoths and fireflies zooplankton and stream macro-invertebrates and plants Most chapters providea detailed reference list with citations Virtually all
226 BOOK REVIEWS
chapters contain helpful graphs charts diagramsand photographs that help validate the case studiesdocumenting lighting impacts The final chapter byCatherine Rich and Travis Longcore synthesizes thecurrent state of knowledge about lighting impactsdocumented and suspected ecological consequencesand provides suggestions for future research andmanagement
Chapter 4 by Sidney Gauthreaux and CarrollBelser on the effects of artificial night lighting onmigrating birds is an intriguing and informative readfor anyone particularly interested in and concernedabout this issue This chapter includes the publicationof original research by the authors on tall lightedcommunication towers in Georgia and South Car-olina Their study and replicated research atcommunication towers in Michigan is helping theUS Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) determinebest management lighting practices for tall lightedstructures For example the USFWS estimates thatlighting from communication towers attracts migrat-ing birds killing at least 4ndash5 million birds per year inthe United States (Manville 2005) In Chapter 5William Montevecchi examines the influences ofartificial light on marine birds and provides a succinctreview of direct and indirect influences of lightingincluding suggestions for deterrence avoidance andmitigation Chapter 6 by Johannes de MolenaarMaria Sanders and Dick Jonkers reviews the impactsof road lighting on grassland birds including theEuropean Black-tailed Godwit This chapter alsoincludes original research conducted by the authorsconcluding small but statistically significant impactsof road lighting on godwits The study ultimatelyprovided guidance for road lighting policy imple-mented by the Netherlands government
In Part I Chapter 2 by Paul Beier on terrestrialmammals and Chapter 3 by Jens Rydell on bats areboth likely of interest to readers of The Condor Thesechapters review such issues as the anatomy andphysiology of mammalian vision the influence of
moonlight mammalian circadian rhythms foragingdisruption and the increased risk of predationdisruption of biological clocks street lighting andmammalian road kills street lighting and insect preyattraction disruption of dispersal and research needs
Catherine Rich and Travis Longcore both ofwhom I have had the opportunity to work with havean incredible passion for conservation illustrated bytheir concerted efforts to integrate cutting-edgescience into this book The book represents theculmination of a 2002 conference on the overall topicof artificial night lighting as well as other chapterswritten later by other experts This book providesanyone interested in the impacts of artificial nightlighting with a wide variety of critical scientificknowledge current research efforts and discoveriesdata gaps mitigation tools and management recom-mendations It should be a primary source for anyonedealing with work related to lights and their impactson living organisms Itrsquos on my primary sourcereading listmdashALBERT M MANVILLE II Di-vision of Migratory Bird Management US Fish andWildlife Service 4401 N Fairfax Dr MBSP-4107Arlington VA 22203 E-mail Albert_Manvillefwsgov
LITERATURE CITED
LONGCORE T AND C RICH 2004 Ecological lightpollution Frontiers in Ecology and the Envi-ronment 2191ndash198
MANVILLE A M II 2005 Bird strikes andelectrocutions at power lines communicationtowers and wind turbines state of the art andstate of the sciencemdashnext steps toward mitiga-tion p 1051ndash1064 In C J Ralph and T D Rich[EDS] Bird conservation implementation in theAmericas proceedings of the 3rd internationalPartners in Flight conference 2002 USDAForest Service General Technical Report GTR-PSW-191
BOOK REVIEWS 227
Ecological Consequences of Artificial Night Light-ingmdashCatherine Rich and Travis Longcore [editors]2006 Island Press Washington DC 458 pp ISBN1-55963-129-5 (paper) 1-55963-128-7 (cloth) $2995(paper) $6500 (cloth)
Humans especially those of us living in developedcountries tend to take for granted artificial nightlighting be it street building park spot vanitypilot-warning recreational safety or other lightingFurthermore one can only be struck by the rapidincrease in artificial night lighting documented bynighttime satellite photographs of planet Earth overthe past three or so decades Most obvious today arethe beams and halos of light radiating frompopulation centers in North and South AmericaEurope Russia Southeast and East Asia and coastalareas in Australia Las Vegas Nevada is a lsquolsquoshiningrsquorsquo
example of our opulence and blatant wastefulnessWhat may not be so obvious to the casual observeror for that matter to the scientific community are theimpacts of artificial night lighting on myriad speciesof fish wildlife and plants With the publication ofEcological Consequences of Artificial Night Lightingthat has all changed
Organisms evolved and adapted to prendashindustrialrevolution patterns of predictable periods of light anddarkness that varied seasonally in temperate andarctic latitudes With an increasing human popula-tion refinements in power transmission grids andelectrical distribution capacitiesmdashespecially inwealthy developed countriesmdashand our unfortunatehabit of being incredibly energy inefficient we nowuse artificial night light for many purposes Notunexpectedly as the use of artificial lights explodedlsquolsquohigh profilersquorsquo examples of affected species surfacedmost notably sea turtle hatchlings and migratorysongbirds This book was developed to provide state-of-the-art reviews and cutting-edge scientific infor-mation to address the problem of lsquolsquoecological lightpollutionrsquorsquo which is now being documented asa disruptor of ecosystems (Longcore and Rich2004) with particular reference to the impacts onthe flora and fauna within affected systems The textalso provides management recommendations anddiscusses our knowledge or lack thereof of theimpacts of artificial night lighting on plants andanimals As a federal wildlife biologist involved in theconservation and management of migratory birdsthe material provides memdashand hopefully manyothersmdashwith important tools to help understandthe ecological impacts of artificial lighting and tohelp best manage lights for the protection of allaffected species
For anyone interested in or involved with artificiallighting research or policy-making this book isa must-read Whether yoursquore a researcher lookingto perform follow-up studies a state provincialfederal or international official trying to addressspecific management challenges dealing with lightingan industry representative trying to discern lightingimpacts of your companyrsquos actions a conservationistlooking to address lighting impacts or an interestedstakeholder simply trying to get informed about theissue this volume is clearly priority reading
The book is well organized well referenced andeasy to read The volume is divided into six partseach with multiple chapters 17 in all Some of thechapters are tastefully introduced with vignettes (egby Alexander von Humboldt and Henry DavidThoreau) or with personal experiences (eg by BerndHeinrich and Carl Safina) The book is organizedinto taxonomic groupings with chapters providingreviews of impacts on mammals birds reptiles andamphibians fishes invertebrates and plants Taxo-nomic groupings are further partitioned into suites ofspecies including land mammals landbirds seabirdsand a chapter specifically on the European Black-tailed Godwit (Limosa limosa) sea turtles geckosanoles anurans and salamanders fish insectsmoths and fireflies zooplankton and stream macro-invertebrates and plants Most chapters providea detailed reference list with citations Virtually all
226 BOOK REVIEWS
chapters contain helpful graphs charts diagramsand photographs that help validate the case studiesdocumenting lighting impacts The final chapter byCatherine Rich and Travis Longcore synthesizes thecurrent state of knowledge about lighting impactsdocumented and suspected ecological consequencesand provides suggestions for future research andmanagement
Chapter 4 by Sidney Gauthreaux and CarrollBelser on the effects of artificial night lighting onmigrating birds is an intriguing and informative readfor anyone particularly interested in and concernedabout this issue This chapter includes the publicationof original research by the authors on tall lightedcommunication towers in Georgia and South Car-olina Their study and replicated research atcommunication towers in Michigan is helping theUS Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) determinebest management lighting practices for tall lightedstructures For example the USFWS estimates thatlighting from communication towers attracts migrat-ing birds killing at least 4ndash5 million birds per year inthe United States (Manville 2005) In Chapter 5William Montevecchi examines the influences ofartificial light on marine birds and provides a succinctreview of direct and indirect influences of lightingincluding suggestions for deterrence avoidance andmitigation Chapter 6 by Johannes de MolenaarMaria Sanders and Dick Jonkers reviews the impactsof road lighting on grassland birds including theEuropean Black-tailed Godwit This chapter alsoincludes original research conducted by the authorsconcluding small but statistically significant impactsof road lighting on godwits The study ultimatelyprovided guidance for road lighting policy imple-mented by the Netherlands government
In Part I Chapter 2 by Paul Beier on terrestrialmammals and Chapter 3 by Jens Rydell on bats areboth likely of interest to readers of The Condor Thesechapters review such issues as the anatomy andphysiology of mammalian vision the influence of
moonlight mammalian circadian rhythms foragingdisruption and the increased risk of predationdisruption of biological clocks street lighting andmammalian road kills street lighting and insect preyattraction disruption of dispersal and research needs
Catherine Rich and Travis Longcore both ofwhom I have had the opportunity to work with havean incredible passion for conservation illustrated bytheir concerted efforts to integrate cutting-edgescience into this book The book represents theculmination of a 2002 conference on the overall topicof artificial night lighting as well as other chapterswritten later by other experts This book providesanyone interested in the impacts of artificial nightlighting with a wide variety of critical scientificknowledge current research efforts and discoveriesdata gaps mitigation tools and management recom-mendations It should be a primary source for anyonedealing with work related to lights and their impactson living organisms Itrsquos on my primary sourcereading listmdashALBERT M MANVILLE II Di-vision of Migratory Bird Management US Fish andWildlife Service 4401 N Fairfax Dr MBSP-4107Arlington VA 22203 E-mail Albert_Manvillefwsgov
LITERATURE CITED
LONGCORE T AND C RICH 2004 Ecological lightpollution Frontiers in Ecology and the Envi-ronment 2191ndash198
MANVILLE A M II 2005 Bird strikes andelectrocutions at power lines communicationtowers and wind turbines state of the art andstate of the sciencemdashnext steps toward mitiga-tion p 1051ndash1064 In C J Ralph and T D Rich[EDS] Bird conservation implementation in theAmericas proceedings of the 3rd internationalPartners in Flight conference 2002 USDAForest Service General Technical Report GTR-PSW-191
BOOK REVIEWS 227
chapters contain helpful graphs charts diagramsand photographs that help validate the case studiesdocumenting lighting impacts The final chapter byCatherine Rich and Travis Longcore synthesizes thecurrent state of knowledge about lighting impactsdocumented and suspected ecological consequencesand provides suggestions for future research andmanagement
Chapter 4 by Sidney Gauthreaux and CarrollBelser on the effects of artificial night lighting onmigrating birds is an intriguing and informative readfor anyone particularly interested in and concernedabout this issue This chapter includes the publicationof original research by the authors on tall lightedcommunication towers in Georgia and South Car-olina Their study and replicated research atcommunication towers in Michigan is helping theUS Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) determinebest management lighting practices for tall lightedstructures For example the USFWS estimates thatlighting from communication towers attracts migrat-ing birds killing at least 4ndash5 million birds per year inthe United States (Manville 2005) In Chapter 5William Montevecchi examines the influences ofartificial light on marine birds and provides a succinctreview of direct and indirect influences of lightingincluding suggestions for deterrence avoidance andmitigation Chapter 6 by Johannes de MolenaarMaria Sanders and Dick Jonkers reviews the impactsof road lighting on grassland birds including theEuropean Black-tailed Godwit This chapter alsoincludes original research conducted by the authorsconcluding small but statistically significant impactsof road lighting on godwits The study ultimatelyprovided guidance for road lighting policy imple-mented by the Netherlands government
In Part I Chapter 2 by Paul Beier on terrestrialmammals and Chapter 3 by Jens Rydell on bats areboth likely of interest to readers of The Condor Thesechapters review such issues as the anatomy andphysiology of mammalian vision the influence of
moonlight mammalian circadian rhythms foragingdisruption and the increased risk of predationdisruption of biological clocks street lighting andmammalian road kills street lighting and insect preyattraction disruption of dispersal and research needs
Catherine Rich and Travis Longcore both ofwhom I have had the opportunity to work with havean incredible passion for conservation illustrated bytheir concerted efforts to integrate cutting-edgescience into this book The book represents theculmination of a 2002 conference on the overall topicof artificial night lighting as well as other chapterswritten later by other experts This book providesanyone interested in the impacts of artificial nightlighting with a wide variety of critical scientificknowledge current research efforts and discoveriesdata gaps mitigation tools and management recom-mendations It should be a primary source for anyonedealing with work related to lights and their impactson living organisms Itrsquos on my primary sourcereading listmdashALBERT M MANVILLE II Di-vision of Migratory Bird Management US Fish andWildlife Service 4401 N Fairfax Dr MBSP-4107Arlington VA 22203 E-mail Albert_Manvillefwsgov
LITERATURE CITED
LONGCORE T AND C RICH 2004 Ecological lightpollution Frontiers in Ecology and the Envi-ronment 2191ndash198
MANVILLE A M II 2005 Bird strikes andelectrocutions at power lines communicationtowers and wind turbines state of the art andstate of the sciencemdashnext steps toward mitiga-tion p 1051ndash1064 In C J Ralph and T D Rich[EDS] Bird conservation implementation in theAmericas proceedings of the 3rd internationalPartners in Flight conference 2002 USDAForest Service General Technical Report GTR-PSW-191
BOOK REVIEWS 227
