Page 60 - BBC Wildlife Volume 36 #11

NEWS FEATURE

Right: a Dutch town is
trialling the replacement of
white street lights with red
ones. Above: The Netherlands
Institute of Ecology is testing
red street lights to see if they
better protect light-shy bats,
such as the Natterer’s.

lastic and air pollution have and European populations, live under
been making headlines, but light-polluted skies.
there’s mounting concern A report last year in the journal Global
about another insidious Change Biology warned that the impacts of
pollutant – light. Globally, sky glow on wildlife and ecosystems were
light pollution is growing on poorly understood. It was already known
P average by six per cent each that white, blue and green light were bad
year, with a rising proportion coming from for most bats – but it had also been widely
LEDs. Now, a new study suggests we should assumed that a switch to red light was a
reconsider how we illuminate the night if better solution, because many bats were,
we are to protect bats and other sensitive supposedly, not significantly affected by it.
creatures active after dark. Now it appears that’s not the case.
But just how bad is light pollution for
nocturnal animals? The Bat Conservation Migratory bats
Trust (BCT) has warned there are still big New research published in the journal
gaps in current knowledge and, following Ecology and Evolution reports a major issue
new research, is recommending more care which has been largely overlooked – bat
is taken over how we use artificial lighting. migration – and raises concerns about the
Bats are among the world’s most sensitive wider impacts of red lighting, too.
nocturnal mammals and have for several The authors found that some migratory
decades found themselves increasingly in British and mainland European bat species
the spotlight due to light pollution. A changed their behaviour due to red light,
world map of artificial ‘sky glow’ revealed and were adversely affected by green and
in 2016 that 80 per cent of the world’s white light. Their warning suggests that
people, including 99 per cent of the US red lighting may have serious unexplored

You don’t have to put o

Report by Alex Morss Light pollution is a growing problem. Now

there may not be any such thing as truly

60 BBC Wildlife November 2018