'Switch off that porch light': study reveals light pollution in cities has urban birds tossing and t
New research suggests urban light is disrupting bird sleep regardless of what colour it is.
By Australian Geographic • July 24, 2020 • Reading Time: 2 Minutes
While magpies were more disturbed by white light than amber lights, the pigeons were disturbed by both, suggesting effects differed between the species. Image credit: Shutterstock
A NEW STUDY examining the impacts of light pollution on urban birdlife has revealed that garden lights have birds tossing and turning in their sleep.
Scientists from La Trobe University, who published their findings in Current Biology today, observed how the sleeping patterns of magpies and pigeons were affected by artificial white light and amber light, which is said to be more sleep-friendly.
Using small sensors to measure magpie and pigeon brain activity, they found that, regardless of the colour of the light, if the intensity was equal to a street light, the length, structure and intensity of sleep was disrupted.
. . .
“Both magpies and pigeons average 10 hours of sleep per night. We found that magpies lost more NREM sleep under white light than amber light. By comparison, pigeons lost around 4 hours of sleep under both white and amber light,” says La Trobe University sleep expert Dr John Lesku, adding that neither species fully recovered sleep lost to white or amber light exposure.
More:
https://www.australiangeographic.com.au/news/2020/07/switch-off-that-porch-light-study-reveals-light-pollution-in-cities-has-urban-birds-tossing-and-turning/
