The researchers found birds in areas with more artificial lighting at night sang for a longer portion of each day.<\/p>\n
Study co-author Brent Pease, a researcher at Southern Illinois University, said that light pollution was a growing source of concern for both human and wildlife health.<\/p>\n
“While the outcomes of this pollution source on human health are widely studied, how it is affecting wildlife across the world is still a developing topic,” Dr Pease said.<\/p>\n
Light pollution is on the rise, with some estimates suggesting that the night sky is getting brighter by 10 per cent every year<\/a> in populated areas.<\/p>\n “Wildlife species evolved under reliable cycles of light and dark, and light pollution has altered those cues in a blink of an eye,” Dr Pease said.Citizen science sensors power birdsong analysis<\/p>\n The study drew on data from the BirdWeather project: a network of small sound recorders, used by volunteer citizen scientists from around the world including Australia.<\/p>\n The recorded audio is uploaded to the BirdNET database, which uses an algorithm to identify which birds are singing.<\/p>\n The researchers examined all data collected by BirdWeather-linked sensors between March 2023 and March 2024.<\/p>\n Brent Pease with a portable BirdWeather sensor, which collects a range of environmental and location data in addition to birdsong. (Supplied: Southern Illinois University Carbondale \/ Russell Bailey)<\/p>\n After refining and processing the data, they analysed 2.6 million morning calls and 1.8 million evening calls from 583 different bird species.<\/p>\n They found that areas with high levels of light pollution also had higher levels of morning and evening birdsong.<\/p>\n On average, birds sang for an extra 50 minutes per day in the brightest areas.<\/p>\n BirdWeather sensors can be ordered and set up by volunteers anywhere around the world. (Supplied: Brent Pease)<\/p>\n “We were surprised by the magnitude of birds’ responses,” Dr Pease said.<\/p>\n “While we expected some behavioural adjustment to the lights at night, we didn’t anticipate that it would be this impactful.”<\/p>\n The effects of light pollution varied dramatically depending on species.<\/p>\n The extra early morning magpie-lark<\/p>\n The Australian magpie-lark (Grallina cyanoleuca) appeared to be more affected by light pollution than average.<\/p>\n These little black and white birds are found in all mainland states of Australia and have a distinct “pee-o-wit” or “pee wee” call<\/a>.<\/p>\n Study co-author Neil Gilbert, a researcher at Oklahoma State University, said the data revealed magpie-larks began their morning calls nearly 40 minutes earlier than usual in bright areas.\u00a0<\/p>\n “But there was a lot of seasonal and spatial variation for the magpie-larks \u2014 there were some areas and times of year where there wasn’t an effect, and other times when the effect was stronger,” Dr Gilbert said.<\/p>\n Birdsong is often done to impress mates, and the researchers found light pollution had the strongest effects during breeding seasons.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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