The Ecological Impacts of Light Pollution at Night-time a Mechanistic Appraisal

Mohd Khairul Amri, Kamarudin and Roslan, Umar and Abdullahi, MG (2016) The Ecological Impacts of Light Pollution at Night-time a Mechanistic Appraisal. International Journal of Environment, Agriculture and Biotechnology, 1 (1). pp. 40-44. ISSN 2456-1878

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Abstract

Artificial light at night and its negative consequences are of great interest in the fields of Ecology, Human Geography Astronomy, and Human Health. Most of the studies to date concentrated on the influences of light pollution has on our ability to view the night sky, on biodiversity, and ecosystems. Though, in recent years, with the use of new technologies sensors, which provide accurate information for determining of night lights at the area, most consideration were given for estimating artificial light at night within the urban areas. In this study, urban night lights within the cities of Nigeria was evaluated by monitoring data from the ground measurements using Sky Quality Meter (SQMLU- DL) devices. Besides, the SQM was used at the zenith (upward direction) for maximum evaluating of artificial light at the sites. Differences in night sky brightness were found between the observation sites with the brightest values measured in the upward direction (20.14 to 22.00 magsqm arcsec−2) as the SQM measurements were influenced by surface albedo, this was due to the reflection of solar radiation during the day by the earth’s surface; and the other sources that exposed direct lights from buildings and car lamps, while in some locations the upwards direction represented skyglow. Cluster analysis result has shown that some places are more ecological friendly especially for migrating birds and other nocturnal animals. GIS software was used to group the data according to the data obtained during the monitoring. The result showed tha, the area with a dark color in the map indicated the darkest region of the study area and the bright areas on GIS map image were associated with areas of high use of artificial light and high albedo. This study provides a clear view for the assessing the sky condition and can serve as a tool for locating the suitable place for a zoological garden and even for optical astronomy in the study area.

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