[This article is part of the “Capraia Night Sky Symposium, reloaded” series – check this introduction to learn more]

D. Depellegrin (1) , M. Drius (1) , S. Menegon (1),
G. Farella (1) , L. Zaggia (1) , F. Falchi (2) , A. Pugnetti (1) ,
L. Bongiorni (1)

(1) Institute of Marine Sciences, National Research Council
(ISMAR-CNR), Arsenale – Tesa 104, Castello 2737/F,
30122, Venice, Italy
(2) ISTIL – Light Pollution Science and Technology Institute,
Via Roma, 13, 36016, Thiene, Italy

daniel.depellegrin@ve.ismar.cnr.it, lucia.bongiorni@ismar.cnr.it

ABSTRACT
Artificial light at night (ALAN) from coastal urban areas represents
a direct threat to marine organisms as it can affect their natural
behaviour, migration and reproduction, and it may interfere
with community interactions such as competition or predation.
Despite increasing research activities on assessing ecological
consequences of ALAN, the overall effects of this threat on marine
ecosystems remain largely unknown. Besides, ALAN can interact
with other human stressors contributing to multiple impacts on
marine ecosystems. In order to adequately assess the cumulative
effects of human stressors to marine biota, it is therefore essential
to integrate ALAN into decision support systems including impact
assessment models.

An advanced model for coastal light pollution
assessment, based on expert elicitation and on a spatially detailed
artificial night sky brightness dataset, is presented and tested for
coastal areas of the Italian Adriatic Sea. Effects on marine organisms
(e.g. turtles) are mapped and discussed for their ecological
relevance, importance within multiple environmental impacts, as
well as for their significance for coastal management and planning.

KEYWORDS: light pollution, coastal ecosystems, cumulative impacts, modelling,
Adriatic sea

Italian translation by Lucia Bongiorni

Image source: Wikipedia (Adriatic Sea)

After the international symposium on the protection and promotion of the night sky held on Capraia Island, Tuscany, Italy on Sep. 13-14 2018 (see report), with the BuioMetria Partecipativa project we decided to republish an “augmented” version of the symposium proceedings.

From the pibinko.org blog we will issue the abstract of each presentation, together with its Italian translation. For authors who are not Italian or English mother tongue, where possible we will also provide the translation of the abstract in their mother tongue, as an additional outreach exercise.

The symposium presentations were 28. We will make the abstracts available more or less daily, with the cpns2018 tag, together with some photo coverage taken during the mission to Capraia.

The original version of the book of abstracts can be downloaded from the  symposium website.

The order of the presentations from the blog will not follow the actual symposium schedule, and we start with Andrea Eugenio Gini from  Lucca, Italy,  and his overview on The ALAN phenomenon in the broader frame of urban evolutionary ecology

With this series of articles we hope that interested followers will get to know a bit more in depth the experiences shared during the symposium, and will obtain a broader view concerning artificial light at night, especially from the standpoint of ecology and natural resource management.

For more information: bmp@pibinko.org

A. Gini (1,2), M. A. L. Zuffi (2)

(1) Via A. Gramsci 191, 55100 Lucca (Lucca), Italy – andreaeugenio.gini@gmail.com

(2) Museo di Storia Naturale, Università di Pisa, via Roma 79, 56011 Calci (Pisa) – Italy – marco.zuffi@unipi.it

Abstract

Artificial light at night (ALAN) is a threat to ecosystem, which due to
urbanization it is increasing globally. This review is part of a wider
project proposal of evolutionary ecology in urban and peri-urban
populations of the Italian fauna. Here we provide an overview of
the effects of light pollution on a plethora of organisms, as well as
of ecosystem functions. Cloud cover can increase the area where
light irradiance arrives, potentially affecting peri-urban habitats
like wetlands. Polluted aerosols and the different thermal regimes
of cities can increase the phenomenon of cloud cover, directly
amplifying ALAN.
Light alters both physiology functions like metabolism, circadian
rhythms and behaviours like activity and interactions. This
alteration in a wetland area can potentially affect the entire
ecology of zooplankton, aquatic insects, urodeles, and anurans.
Another common effect of ALAN is the attraction of nocturnal
insects, especially moths. They can provide a window to small-
scale evolutionary and trophic alteration studies, because they
affect the diet of their predators and the delicate equilibrium of
the ecosystem. Lastly, an augmented presence of light can alter
the effects of communication signals, or create new ones. Visual
communication mediated by colours, shapes, and signals is very
common between animals, especially for courtship. Light can
dimmer the contrast between the environment and an organism,
blinding the communication, but can also exacerbate a shape or a
reflectance colour in camouflaged animals.
All of these phenomena participate with many others in the
differentiation of the urban environment, and they are all necessary
to enlighten how the evolution acts in their ecology.

KEYWORDS: ALAN, urban ecology, evolution, natural selection, adaptation,
environment.