UK Light Pollution 'Causing Spring to Come a Week Earlier'
Report is the first to examine the impact of artificial night-lighting on the seasonal behaviour of plants on a national scale
Anna Menin | June 29, 2016
Light pollution is causing spring to come at least a week earlier in the UK, a new study has revealed.
The report, published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, found that budburst in trees occurs up to 7.5 days earlier in brighter areas, with later-budding species being more affected.
The link between light pollution and changes in animal behaviour has been well documented, but this is the first time its impact specifically on plant phenology has been examined on a national scale.
The paper’s authors believe that this early budburst is likely to have a knock-on effect on the life cycles of insects and birds that live in sync with the trees.
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| "Map of North America’s artificial sky brightness, in twofold increasing steps, as a ratio to the natural sky brightness." Source: http://today.uconn.edu/2016/06/new-atlas-shows-extent-of-light-pollution-what-does-it-mean-for-our-health/ |
<more at https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/jun/29/uk-light-pollution-causing-spring-to-come-a-week-earlier; related articles and links: http://sciencebulletin.org/archives/2705.html (Night-time light pollution causes spring to come early. June 29, 2016) and http://today.uconn.edu/2016/06/new-atlas-shows-extent-of-light-pollution-what-does-it-mean-for-our-health/ (New Atlas Shows Extent of Light Pollution – What Does it Mean for our Health? June 15, 2016)>
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