Abstract
The rapid growth in electric light usage across the globe has led to increasing presence of artificial light in natural and semi-natural ecosystems at night. This occurs both due to direct illumination and skyglow - scattered light in the atmosphere. There is increasing concern about the effects of artificial light on biological processes, biodiversity and the functioning of ecosystems. We combine intercalibrated Defense Meteorological Satellite Program’s Operational Linescan System (DMSP/OLS) images of stable night-time lights for the period 1992 to 2012 with a remotely sensed landcover product (GLC2000) to assess recent changes in exposure to artificial light at night in 43 global ecosystem types. We find that Mediterranean-climate ecosystems have experienced the greatest increases in exposure, followed by temperate ecosystems. Boreal, Arctic and montane systems experienced the lowest increases. In tropical and subtropical regions, the greatest increases are in mangroves and subtropical needleleaf and mixed forests, and in arid regions increases are mainly in forest and agricultural areas. The global ecosystems experiencing the greatest increase in exposure to artificial light are already localized and fragmented, and often of particular conservation importance due to high levels of diversity, endemism and rarity. Night time remote sensing can play a key role in identifying the extent to which natural ecosystems are exposed to light pollution.
Highlights
The past century has witnessed rapid growth in the proportion of the globe that is subject to artificial light at night [1]
We show that all global terrestrial ecosystem types experience some degree of exposure to artificial light, and that this exposure is increasing
Mediterranean and temperate ecosystems, subtropical needleaf and mixed forest, and mangroves are exposed to increasing levels of artificial light, as are forests in arid zones and natural vegetation wherever it occurs in close proximity to agricultural land
Summary
The past century has witnessed rapid growth in the proportion of the globe that is subject to artificial light at night [1]. An unintended repercussion of this process has been the illumination of natural and semi-natural ecosystems, both through direct illumination of the environment surrounding light sources and scattered light in the atmosphere, or skyglow, which may extend the ecological effects of light pollution many tens to hundreds of kilometres beyond urban areas [2]. Artificial light alters the natural daily, monthly and seasonal rhythms of light and dark under which species have evolved and obscures the view of the night sky that animals may use as cues for navigation; it can disrupt natural circadian rhythms, alter the activity patterns of diurnal and nocturnal animals, interfere with movement and migration in many species, and alter the timing of key events such as flowering, budburst and reproduction. While several studies have considered the regional changes in artificial light [10,11,12], it is not clearly known which types of natural ecosystem have the greatest exposure globally to the spread of artificial light
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