Summary
Artificial light at night (ALAN) has been rapidly increasing over the past century, causing widespread environmental change. This ALAN can interfere with biological and ecological systems by masking natural light rhythms that regulate daily behaviours and physiology for many organisms. While research in this field is growing, the focus has primarily been on terrestrial systems whilst the impacts of ALAN on marine environments, and in particular on coral reef systems, are still relatively unexplored. To date, the only research on the impacts of ALAN on coral reefs examines the effects of light exposure at the organism level. How these changes in individual fitness and behaviour scale up to influence population and community level dynamics is still entirely unknown. This project, therefore, aims to explore how ALAN can influence the structure and function of near-shore coral reef communities. Using a combination of manipulative field experiments, and innovative acoustic methods, this project will investigate how ALAN modifies coral reef communities through 1) influencing settlement and post-settlement survival of recruiting larval fish, and 2) changing biological rhythms of the reef community. Furthermore, this project will 3) assess the recovery potential of coral reef communities following removal of ALAN. As we currently know very little about how ALAN affects marine organisms, understanding the extent and impacts of light pollution on marine ecosystems have been identified as key ecological research gaps that urgently need attention. The findings of this research will contribute to our understanding of coral reef community dynamics, and advance the larger field of global change ecology. Furthermore, the novel use of underwater soundscapes to quantify community change on coral reefs exposed to ALAN will provide support for the use of this tool as a rapid, efficient and cost-effective method of monitoring responses of marine communities to environmental change.
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More information & hyperlinks
| Web resources: | https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101024424 |
| Start date: | 01-09-2022 |
| End date: | 31-08-2024 |
| Total budget - Public funding: | 224 933,76 Euro - 224 933,00 Euro |
Cordis data
Original description
Artificial light at night (ALAN) has been rapidly increasing over the past century, causing widespread environmental change. This ALAN can interfere with biological and ecological systems by masking natural light rhythms that regulate daily behaviours and physiology for many organisms. While research in this field is growing, the focus has primarily been on terrestrial systems whilst the impacts of ALAN on marine environments, and in particular on coral reef systems, are still relatively unexplored. To date, the only research on the impacts of ALAN on coral reefs examines the effects of light exposure at the organism level. How these changes in individual fitness and behaviour scale up to influence population and community level dynamics is still entirely unknown. This project, therefore, aims to explore how ALAN can influence the structure and function of near-shore coral reef communities. Using a combination of manipulative field experiments, and innovative acoustic methods, this project will investigate how ALAN modifies coral reef communities through 1) influencing settlement and post-settlement survival of recruiting larval fish, and 2) changing biological rhythms of the reef community. Furthermore, this project will 3) assess the recovery potential of coral reef communities following removal of ALAN. As we currently know very little about how ALAN affects marine organisms, understanding the extent and impacts of light pollution on marine ecosystems have been identified as key ecological research gaps that urgently need attention. The findings of this research will contribute to our understanding of coral reef community dynamics, and advance the larger field of global change ecology. Furthermore, the novel use of underwater soundscapes to quantify community change on coral reefs exposed to ALAN will provide support for the use of this tool as a rapid, efficient and cost-effective method of monitoring responses of marine communities to environmental change.Status
TERMINATEDCall topic
MSCA-IF-2020Update Date
28-04-2024
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