Shedding the Light on Natural Communications
Step outside in May and close your eyes. Your ears will ring with the calls of nature; bird song carrying through the trees, frogs calling around freshly melted waterways, the hum of insects in the air, all of them a sure sign that Spring has arrived. This myriad of sounds isn’t justnoise,itisthesoundofanimals communicating with one another. And I am sure we have all “heard” just how important communication is. Proper communication, one where the message is delivered and received, makes relationships healthier and workplaces more productive. This remains true for animal communication in the natural environment. However, recent studies have discovered that our increasing levels of light pollution may be unexpectedly altering the lines of communication in several native species.
A famous harbinger of Spring, the American Robin, is one such species. Beautiful orange breasted males can be heard at the crack of dawn singing away. This not only provides me with a melodic way to start my day, but also attracts females to him so that he might find a mate. The better you can sing, the more likely you are to find love in the robin world. Alas, studies have shown that with the introduction of light pollution, robins will start their songs during true night. As you can imagine, singing when you ought to be sleeping burns considerably more energy. It is also an advertisement to night-time predators of the robin’s location. Both are detrimental to the health of the robins.
Birds aren’t the only species relying on love songs as a form of communication. Male frogs also rely on their vocal abilities to find a date. The soothing ribbit of wood and boreal chorus frogs is a public broadcast of who is the most healthy and viable male for the females. However, studies done on multiple frog species around the globe have shown that overwhelmingly frogs do not take to the spotlight as well as Kermit; most frogs will sing less frequently and move more often. This means that the single frog ladies are going to have a very difficult time finding Mr. Right, once again lowering the chances of a successful breeding season.
Finally, not all communication is verbal. Alberta’s fireflies (yes, they do exist) are an excellent example of a species communicating with silent signals. The flash of their bioluminescent lights is used in their courtship and reproductive behaviour. Sadly, the second biggest threat to the world’s magical fireflies is light pollution, as fireflies will be confused and distracted by ambient artificial light and will not be able to find a mate as their signals are lost in the glow. Once again, light pollution is throwing the blinders on romance.
If we want to keep an environment where the lines of communication are open for all species, then it seems that we will need to shed our reliance on artificial light at night and instead replace it with healthy alternatives such as lights below 2700 kelvins, motion sensors or no lights at all when possible. Let’s dim the lights and keep the romance wild in nature.
By Laura Griffin
