Impacts of Rising Light Pollution on Pollinators and Indigenous Food Sovereignty
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Rapid increases in ground-based light pollution in recent decades and the accompanying rise in night sky brightness (NSB) have wide-ranging impacts on astronomical observations, cultural sky traditions, and the health of human beings and living ecosystems. Rising NSB affects the seasonal cycles of plants and the migration of birds, insects and animals. Here we focus on the migratory paths and populations of pollinators, and implications for the food sovereignty of Indigenous communities. These increasingly documented trends need targeted light pollution policies, as well as public engagement. Although current measures of light pollution and NSB are likely underestimated, successfully implemented solutions exist for this urgent yet solvable environmental crisis of our time.
Source: Research Notes of the AAS
Authors: Alejandra Meza, Aparna Venkatesan, John C. Barentine
Institution: University of San Francisco
Language: English
Subfield: Global and Planetary Change
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
SDG: Life on land
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W4410090142