Ecological Consequences of Artificial Night Light-
ing.—Catherine Rich and Travis Longcore [editors].
2006. Island Press, Washington, DC. 458 pp.,. ISBN
1-55963-129-5 (paper), 1-55963-128-7 (cloth). $29.95
(paper), $65.00 (cloth).

Humans, especially those of us living in developed
countries, tend to take for granted artificial night
lighting, be it street, building, park, spot, vanity,
pilot-warning, recreational, safety, or other lighting.
Furthermore, one can only be struck by the rapid
increase in artificial night lighting documented by
nighttime satellite photographs of planet Earth over
the past three or so decades. Most obvious today are
the beams and halos of light radiating from
population centers in North and South America,
Europe, Russia, Southeast and East Asia, and coastal
areas in Australia. Las Vegas, Nevada, is a ‘‘shining’’

example of our opulence and blatant wastefulness.
What may not be so obvious to the casual observer,
or for that matter to the scientific community, are the
impacts of artificial night lighting on myriad species
of fish, wildlife, and plants. With the publication of
Ecological Consequences of Artificial Night Lighting,
that has all changed.

Organisms evolved and adapted to pre–industrial
revolution patterns of predictable periods of light and
darkness that varied seasonally in temperate and
arctic latitudes. With an increasing human popula-
tion, refinements in power transmission grids and
electrical distribution capacities—especially in
wealthy, developed countries—and our unfortunate
habit of being incredibly energy inefficient, we now
use artificial night light for many purposes. Not
unexpectedly, as the use of artificial lights exploded,
‘‘high profile’’ examples of affected species surfaced,
most notably sea turtle hatchlings and migratory
songbirds. This book was developed to provide state-
of-the-art reviews and cutting-edge scientific infor-
mation to address the problem of ‘‘ecological light
pollution,’’ which is now being documented as
a disruptor of ecosystems (Longcore and Rich
2004), with particular reference to the impacts on
the flora and fauna within affected systems. The text
also provides management recommendations and
discusses our knowledge, or lack thereof, of the
impacts of artificial night lighting on plants and
animals. As a federal wildlife biologist involved in the
conservation and management of migratory birds,
the material provides me—and hopefully many
others—with important tools to help understand
the ecological impacts of artificial lighting and to
help best manage lights for the protection of all
affected species.

For anyone interested in or involved with artificial
lighting research or policy-making, this book is
a must-read. Whether you’re a researcher looking
to perform follow-up studies, a state, provincial,
federal, or international official trying to address
specific management challenges dealing with lighting,
an industry representative trying to discern lighting
impacts of your company’s actions, a conservationist
looking to address lighting impacts, or an interested
stakeholder simply trying to get informed about the
issue, this volume is clearly priority reading.

The book is well organized, well referenced, and
easy to read. The volume is divided into six parts,
each with multiple chapters, 17 in all. Some of the
chapters are tastefully introduced with vignettes (e.g.,
by Alexander von Humboldt and Henry David
Thoreau) or with personal experiences (e.g., by Bernd
Heinrich and Carl Safina). The book is organized
into taxonomic groupings, with chapters providing
reviews of impacts on mammals, birds, reptiles and
amphibians, fishes, invertebrates, and plants. Taxo-
nomic groupings are further partitioned into suites of
species including land mammals; landbirds, seabirds,
and a chapter specifically on the European Black-
tailed Godwit (Limosa limosa); sea turtles, geckos,
anoles, anurans, and salamanders; fish; insects,
moths, and fireflies; zooplankton and stream macro-
invertebrates; and plants. Most chapters provide
a detailed reference list with citations. Virtually all

226 BOOK REVIEWS



chapters contain helpful graphs, charts, diagrams,
and photographs that help validate the case studies
documenting lighting impacts. The final chapter by
Catherine Rich and Travis Longcore synthesizes the
current state of knowledge about lighting impacts,
documented and suspected ecological consequences,
and provides suggestions for future research and
management.

Chapter 4 by Sidney Gauthreaux and Carroll
Belser on the effects of artificial night lighting on
migrating birds is an intriguing and informative read
for anyone particularly interested in and concerned
about this issue. This chapter includes the publication
of original research by the authors on tall, lighted
communication towers in Georgia and South Car-
olina. Their study, and replicated research at
communication towers in Michigan, is helping the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) determine
best management lighting practices for tall, lighted
structures. For example, the USFWS estimates that
lighting from communication towers attracts migrat-
ing birds, killing at least 4–5 million birds per year in
the United States (Manville 2005). In Chapter 5,
William Montevecchi examines the influences of
artificial light on marine birds and provides a succinct
review of direct and indirect influences of lighting,
including suggestions for deterrence, avoidance, and
mitigation. Chapter 6 by Johannes de Molenaar,
Maria Sanders, and Dick Jonkers reviews the impacts
of road lighting on grassland birds, including the
European Black-tailed Godwit. This chapter also
includes original research conducted by the authors,
concluding small but statistically significant impacts
of road lighting on godwits. The study ultimately
provided guidance for road lighting policy imple-
mented by the Netherlands government.

In Part I, Chapter 2 by Paul Beier on terrestrial
mammals and Chapter 3 by Jens Rydell on bats are
both likely of interest to readers of The Condor. These
chapters review such issues as the anatomy and
physiology of mammalian vision, the influence of

moonlight, mammalian circadian rhythms, foraging
disruption and the increased risk of predation,
disruption of biological clocks, street lighting and
mammalian road kills, street lighting and insect prey
attraction, disruption of dispersal, and research needs.

Catherine Rich and Travis Longcore, both of
whom I have had the opportunity to work with, have
an incredible passion for conservation, illustrated by
their concerted efforts to integrate cutting-edge
science into this book. The book represents the
culmination of a 2002 conference on the overall topic
of artificial night lighting, as well as other chapters
written later by other experts. This book provides
anyone interested in the impacts of artificial night
lighting with a wide variety of critical scientific
knowledge, current research efforts and discoveries,
data gaps, mitigation tools, and management recom-
mendations. It should be a primary source for anyone
dealing with work related to lights and their impacts
on living organisms. It’s on my primary source
reading list.—ALBERT M. MANVILLE II, Di-
vision of Migratory Bird Management, U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service, 4401 N. Fairfax Dr. MBSP-4107,
Arlington, VA 22203. E-mail: Albert_Manville@
fws.gov

LITERATURE CITED

LONGCORE, T., AND C. RICH. 2004. Ecological light
pollution. Frontiers in Ecology and the Envi-
ronment 2:191–198.

MANVILLE, A. M., II. 2005. Bird strikes and
electrocutions at power lines, communication
towers, and wind turbines: state of the art and
state of the science—next steps toward mitiga-
tion, p. 1051–1064. In C. J. Ralph and T. D. Rich
[EDS.], Bird conservation implementation in the
Americas: proceedings of the 3rd international
Partners in Flight conference 2002. USDA
Forest Service General Technical Report GTR-
PSW-191.

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