Barriers and benefits: implications of artificial night-lighting for the distribution of common bats in Britain and Ireland
Artificial lighting is a particular problem for animals active at night. Approximately 69% of mammal species are nocturnal, and one-third of these are bats. Due to their extensive movements—both on a nightly basis to exploit ephemeral food supplies, and during migration between roosts—bats have an u...
Published in: | Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |
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Online Access: | http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/78657/ http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/78657/1/20140124.full.pdf https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2014.0124 |
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ftunivsussex:oai:sro.sussex.ac.uk:78657 2023-07-30T04:06:22+02:00 Barriers and benefits: implications of artificial night-lighting for the distribution of common bats in Britain and Ireland Mathews, Fiona Roche, Niamh Aughney, Tina Jones, Nicholas Day, Julie Baker, James Langton, Steve 2015-05-05 application/pdf http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/78657/ http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/78657/1/20140124.full.pdf https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2014.0124 en eng The Royal Society http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/78657/1/20140124.full.pdf Mathews, Fiona, Roche, Niamh, Aughney, Tina, Jones, Nicholas, Day, Julie, Baker, James and Langton, Steve (2015) Barriers and benefits: implications of artificial night-lighting for the distribution of common bats in Britain and Ireland. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 370 (1667). 20140124 1-13. ISSN 0962-8436 Article PeerReviewed 2015 ftunivsussex https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2014.0124 2023-07-11T20:39:29Z Artificial lighting is a particular problem for animals active at night. Approximately 69% of mammal species are nocturnal, and one-third of these are bats. Due to their extensive movements—both on a nightly basis to exploit ephemeral food supplies, and during migration between roosts—bats have an unusually high probability of encountering artificial light in the landscape. This paper reviews the impacts of lighting on bats and their prey, exploring the direct and indirect consequences of lighting intensity and spectral composition. In addition, new data from large-scale surveys involving more than 265 000 bat calls at more than 600 locations in two countries are presented, showing that prevalent street-lighting types are not generally linked with increased activity of common and widespread bat species. Such bats, which are important to ecosystem function, are generally considered ‘light-attracted’ and likely to benefit from the insect congregations that form at lights. Leisler's bat (Nyctalus leisleri) may be an exception, being more frequent in lit than dark transects. For common pipistrelle bats (Pipistrellus pipistrellus), lighting is negatively associated with their distribution on a landscape scale, but there may be local increases in habitats with good tree cover. Research is now needed on the impacts of sky glow and glare for bat navigation, and to explore the implications of lighting for habitat matrix permeability. Article in Journal/Newspaper Pipistrellus pipistrellus University of Sussex: Sussex Research Online Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 370 1667 20140124 |
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University of Sussex: Sussex Research Online |
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ftunivsussex |
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English |
description |
Artificial lighting is a particular problem for animals active at night. Approximately 69% of mammal species are nocturnal, and one-third of these are bats. Due to their extensive movements—both on a nightly basis to exploit ephemeral food supplies, and during migration between roosts—bats have an unusually high probability of encountering artificial light in the landscape. This paper reviews the impacts of lighting on bats and their prey, exploring the direct and indirect consequences of lighting intensity and spectral composition. In addition, new data from large-scale surveys involving more than 265 000 bat calls at more than 600 locations in two countries are presented, showing that prevalent street-lighting types are not generally linked with increased activity of common and widespread bat species. Such bats, which are important to ecosystem function, are generally considered ‘light-attracted’ and likely to benefit from the insect congregations that form at lights. Leisler's bat (Nyctalus leisleri) may be an exception, being more frequent in lit than dark transects. For common pipistrelle bats (Pipistrellus pipistrellus), lighting is negatively associated with their distribution on a landscape scale, but there may be local increases in habitats with good tree cover. Research is now needed on the impacts of sky glow and glare for bat navigation, and to explore the implications of lighting for habitat matrix permeability. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Mathews, Fiona Roche, Niamh Aughney, Tina Jones, Nicholas Day, Julie Baker, James Langton, Steve |
spellingShingle |
Mathews, Fiona Roche, Niamh Aughney, Tina Jones, Nicholas Day, Julie Baker, James Langton, Steve Barriers and benefits: implications of artificial night-lighting for the distribution of common bats in Britain and Ireland |
author_facet |
Mathews, Fiona Roche, Niamh Aughney, Tina Jones, Nicholas Day, Julie Baker, James Langton, Steve |
author_sort |
Mathews, Fiona |
title |
Barriers and benefits: implications of artificial night-lighting for the distribution of common bats in Britain and Ireland |
title_short |
Barriers and benefits: implications of artificial night-lighting for the distribution of common bats in Britain and Ireland |
title_full |
Barriers and benefits: implications of artificial night-lighting for the distribution of common bats in Britain and Ireland |
title_fullStr |
Barriers and benefits: implications of artificial night-lighting for the distribution of common bats in Britain and Ireland |
title_full_unstemmed |
Barriers and benefits: implications of artificial night-lighting for the distribution of common bats in Britain and Ireland |
title_sort |
barriers and benefits: implications of artificial night-lighting for the distribution of common bats in britain and ireland |
publisher |
The Royal Society |
publishDate |
2015 |
url |
http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/78657/ http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/78657/1/20140124.full.pdf https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2014.0124 |
genre |
Pipistrellus pipistrellus |
genre_facet |
Pipistrellus pipistrellus |
op_relation |
http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/78657/1/20140124.full.pdf Mathews, Fiona, Roche, Niamh, Aughney, Tina, Jones, Nicholas, Day, Julie, Baker, James and Langton, Steve (2015) Barriers and benefits: implications of artificial night-lighting for the distribution of common bats in Britain and Ireland. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 370 (1667). 20140124 1-13. ISSN 0962-8436 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2014.0124 |
container_title |
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |
container_volume |
370 |
container_issue |
1667 |
container_start_page |
20140124 |
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1772818933791850496 |