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The dark side of light: how artificial lighting is harming the natural world

The world is lit at night like never before, and ecologists are assessing the damage.
  1. Aisling Irwin

    1. Science journalist based in Oxford, UK.

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A mesocosm experiment of box lights at night

In mini-ecosystems in the Netherlands, researchers test the effects of artificial light. Credit: Kamiel Spoelstra/NIOO-KNAW

It’s a summer night near a forest lake in Germany and something unnatural is going on. Beyond the dark waters lapping at the shores, a faint glow emanates from rings of light hovering above the surface. Nearby, bobbing red torchlights — the least-disruptive part of the visible spectrum — betray the presence of scientists on the shoreline. They are testing what happens when they rob the lake creatures of their night.

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Nature 553, 268-270 (2018)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-018-00665-7

Updates & Corrections

  • Correction 29 January 2018: An earlier version of this story erroneously stated that differing levels of skyglow had no effect on algae. It also cited the wrong journal in reference 9.

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