The impacts of new street light technologies: experimentally testing the effects on bats of changing from low-pressure sodium to white metal halide

Artificial light at night is a major feature of anthropogenic global change and is increasingly recognized as affecting biodiversity, often negatively. On a global scale, newer technology white lights are replacing orange sodium lights to reduce energy waste. In 2009, Cornwall County Council (UK) co...

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Published in:Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
Main Authors: Stone, Emma Louise, Wakefield, Andrew, Harris, Stephen, Jones, Gareth
Format: Text
Language:English
Published: The Royal Society 2015
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4375367/
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25780239
https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2014.0127
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spelling ftpubmed:oai:pubmedcentral.nih.gov:4375367 2023-05-15T17:59:54+02:00 The impacts of new street light technologies: experimentally testing the effects on bats of changing from low-pressure sodium to white metal halide Stone, Emma Louise Wakefield, Andrew Harris, Stephen Jones, Gareth 2015-05-05 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4375367/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25780239 https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2014.0127 en eng The Royal Society http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4375367/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25780239 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2014.0127 © 2015 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved. Articles Text 2015 ftpubmed https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2014.0127 2016-05-08T00:01:36Z Artificial light at night is a major feature of anthropogenic global change and is increasingly recognized as affecting biodiversity, often negatively. On a global scale, newer technology white lights are replacing orange sodium lights to reduce energy waste. In 2009, Cornwall County Council (UK) commenced replacement of existing low-pressure sodium (LPS) high intensity discharge (HID) street lights with new Phillips CosmoPolis white ceramic metal halide street lights to reduce energy wastage. This changeover provided a unique collaborative opportunity to implement a before-after-control-impact field experiment to investigate the ecological effects of newly installed broad spectrum light technologies. Activity of the bat species Pipistrellus pipistrellus, P. pygmaeus and Nyctalus/Eptesicus spp. was significantly higher at metal halide than LPS lights, as found in other studies of bat activity at old technology (i.e. mercury vapour) white light types. No significant difference was found in feeding attempts per bat pass between light types, though more passes overall were recorded at metal halide lights. Species-specific attraction of bats to the metal halide lights could have cascading effects at lower trophic levels. We highlight the need for further research on possible ecosystem-level effects of light technologies before they are installed on a wide scale. Text Pipistrellus pipistrellus PubMed Central (PMC) Cornwall ENVELOPE(-59.688,-59.688,-62.366,-62.366) Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 370 1667 20140127
institution Open Polar
collection PubMed Central (PMC)
op_collection_id ftpubmed
language English
topic Articles
spellingShingle Articles
Stone, Emma Louise
Wakefield, Andrew
Harris, Stephen
Jones, Gareth
The impacts of new street light technologies: experimentally testing the effects on bats of changing from low-pressure sodium to white metal halide
topic_facet Articles
description Artificial light at night is a major feature of anthropogenic global change and is increasingly recognized as affecting biodiversity, often negatively. On a global scale, newer technology white lights are replacing orange sodium lights to reduce energy waste. In 2009, Cornwall County Council (UK) commenced replacement of existing low-pressure sodium (LPS) high intensity discharge (HID) street lights with new Phillips CosmoPolis white ceramic metal halide street lights to reduce energy wastage. This changeover provided a unique collaborative opportunity to implement a before-after-control-impact field experiment to investigate the ecological effects of newly installed broad spectrum light technologies. Activity of the bat species Pipistrellus pipistrellus, P. pygmaeus and Nyctalus/Eptesicus spp. was significantly higher at metal halide than LPS lights, as found in other studies of bat activity at old technology (i.e. mercury vapour) white light types. No significant difference was found in feeding attempts per bat pass between light types, though more passes overall were recorded at metal halide lights. Species-specific attraction of bats to the metal halide lights could have cascading effects at lower trophic levels. We highlight the need for further research on possible ecosystem-level effects of light technologies before they are installed on a wide scale.
format Text
author Stone, Emma Louise
Wakefield, Andrew
Harris, Stephen
Jones, Gareth
author_facet Stone, Emma Louise
Wakefield, Andrew
Harris, Stephen
Jones, Gareth
author_sort Stone, Emma Louise
title The impacts of new street light technologies: experimentally testing the effects on bats of changing from low-pressure sodium to white metal halide
title_short The impacts of new street light technologies: experimentally testing the effects on bats of changing from low-pressure sodium to white metal halide
title_full The impacts of new street light technologies: experimentally testing the effects on bats of changing from low-pressure sodium to white metal halide
title_fullStr The impacts of new street light technologies: experimentally testing the effects on bats of changing from low-pressure sodium to white metal halide
title_full_unstemmed The impacts of new street light technologies: experimentally testing the effects on bats of changing from low-pressure sodium to white metal halide
title_sort impacts of new street light technologies: experimentally testing the effects on bats of changing from low-pressure sodium to white metal halide
publisher The Royal Society
publishDate 2015
url http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4375367/
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25780239
https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2014.0127
long_lat ENVELOPE(-59.688,-59.688,-62.366,-62.366)
geographic Cornwall
geographic_facet Cornwall
genre Pipistrellus pipistrellus
genre_facet Pipistrellus pipistrellus
op_relation http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4375367/
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25780239
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2014.0127
op_rights © 2015 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved.
op_doi https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2014.0127
container_title Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
container_volume 370
container_issue 1667
container_start_page 20140127
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