No description available.

Background: With current environmental issues of light pollution as a point of departure, this thesis draws a link between Western society’s subjugation of darkness within personal and collective psyches, and the harmful impacts caused by the decline of Natural Darkness (ND) at night, via the use of artificial light. Purpose of Research: Global and societal issues related to light pollution, viewed through a Jungian ecopsychological framework, led to the exploration of reintegrating ND within the human psyche through outdoor, overnight therapeutic practices in wilderness settings. Methods Used: Semi-structured interviews were conducted via Zoom with eight participants who described their memories with ND during overnight therapeutic wilderness experiences. Findings: Participants assigned ND with characteristics including spaciousness, magical, enveloping, and being cocoon-like; and described experiences of reduced boundaries, increased fear, feelings of interconnection, as well as greater connection to the spiritual realm and to unprocessed psychological material. Conclusion: Findings suggest that, for this sample, ND provided conditions for rest, spiritual connection and the processing of psychological material. / Graduate

Light pollution is a problem that affects both living creatures as well as the perception of the night sky. As artificial lighting becomes more affordable and energy efficient, more and more lights are being used, further increasing the light pollution produced by us humans where cities with larger populations experience the largest amount of light pollution. There is however a knowledge gap in the field of light pollution regarding the possibility of a relationship between sky view factor and the brightness of the night sky. This study attempts to reduce that knowledge gap. By using cameras to take photos in different locations, the brightness of the night sky can be compared and together with the sky view factor of each location in can be determined if there exist such a relationship. Based on the results of this study, trends suggesting that this relationship exists emerges, however not to the extent that any definite conclusions can be drawn without further studies.

This diploma thesis deals with obtrusive light and its measurement, especially with the help of luminance analyzers. In particular, the necessary theoretical basis for the design of a measuring methodology for obtrusive light or veil brightness of the sky is laid here. This mainly includes the division of obtrusive light and its manifestations, a description of the effects of obtrusive light on the environment, selected organisms and the human body. Also described herein are the biological mechanisms of the human body that are affected by light as such. Attention is also paid to streetlights, its classification and methods of reducing obtrusive light, as well as methods of measuring brightness and brightness analyzers. Last but not least, the night sky is also measured using the LumiDISP luminance analyzer and subsequent data are evaluated using the proposed method.

Over the last 150 years the natural nighttime environment has been drastically altered by the proliferation of artificial light. The amount of artificial light at night is on the increase, and there is a current trend to replace older lighting with more energy efficient types such as light emitting diodes (LEDs) or ceramic metal halide; in Cornwall, UK, there has been a relatively recent replacement of the street lighting, from low pressure sodium to ceramic metal halide. Alongside the increasing amount of artificial nighttime light, recent research has highlighted declines in macro moth numbers. Given the well-known ‘flight-to-light’ behaviour of moths, and the negative effects this behaviour can have, alongside other known and potential ways in which nighttime light can affect moths, the increasing amount of artificial light in the environment is a suspected contributor to the declines. It is particularly important to understand how modern lighting technologies will impact upon moths, as different spectra of light are known to vary in terms of how attractive they are. As a means to determine the potential impact of different street lighting types on moths, particularly the ceramic metal halide lighting rolled out in Cornwall, UK, we compared the attractiveness to macro moths, of a number of increasingly used, energy efficient, street lighting types. We found that shorter wavelength metal halide lighting attracted significantly more individuals and species of moth than longer wavelength high pressure sodium lighting. In a second experiment, we also found ceramic metal halide lighting to be more attractive to macro moths than LED lighting. Reduced emissions of short wavelength UV light was deemed the likely reason behind the fewer macro moths attracted to the high pressure sodium and LED lighting. Interestingly, we also found striking differences in the relative attractiveness of the different lighting types to different moth groups. The metal halide lighting attracted significantly more Noctuidae than high pressure sodium lighting, whereas both high pressure sodium and metal halide lighting were equally attractive to Geometridae. Understanding accurately the extent to which different groups of moth are attracted to different wavelengths of light could be useful in determining the impact of artificial light on moth populations. In addition to impacting moths through attraction, artificial light has the potential to alter the day length as perceived by organisms, which at mid- to high latitudes is utilised by certain species as an abiotic cue to ensure the coincidence of development with favourable environmental conditions. Due to a paucity of knowledge on how raised ambient nighttime light levels affect moths and the trophic levels with which they interact, we carried out analyses into the impact of nighttime light on the winter moth and its host plant oak; a well-studied model system, where synchrony between moth egg hatch and oak budburst is important for the moth’s survival. Firstly we carried out an analysis looking at the relationship between the amount of nighttime light and the date of oak budburst. Spatially referenced budburst dates were matched with satellite imagery of nighttime lighting and average spring temperature data, and the relationship between the variables was analysed. Model predictions suggested that oak budburst occurs earlier in brighter areas. In addition, the predicted advance of budburst in brighter areas was still apparent when analysing only the data points that fell outside of large urban areas, where the urban heat island effect is likely reduced. The findings suggested that artificial nighttime light may be causing an advance in oak budburst. To follow up the spatial analysis we carried out a field experiment. We used light cages that simulated various nighttime lighting scenarios to test whether oak budburst and winter moth egg hatch were affected by low intensity light at night. In contrast to the spatial analysis, there was no significant relationship found between light treatment and the phenology of either oak budburst or winter moth egg hatch. However, there was a suggestion in the data that the higher buds of the oak saplings emerged earlier in the yellow light treatment, highlighting the need for further research into the potential impact of artificial nighttime light on phenology and species interactions. In conclusion, the findings of this research project provide information useful to those seeking ecologically sensitive lighting solutions, and also highlight a potential tool to assist in determining whether light at night is a causative factor behind apparent moth declines. In addition, they suggest that artificial light at night may be affecting the phenology of an ecological system at a national scale. Finally, this research project has highlighted the complexity of the ecological impacts of artificial light at night, and also a need for further research.

abstract: Recent research within the field of natural resource management has been devoted to studying the cognitive structures, called mental models, that guide people’s thoughts, actions, and decision-making. Artificial lighting threatens the sustainability of pristine night skies around the world and is growing worldwide at an average rate of six-percent per year. Despite these trends, stakeholders’ mental models of night skies have been unexplored. This study will address this gap by eliciting stakeholders’ mental models of dark skies. Scenario planning has become a pervasive tool across diverse sectors to analyze complex systems for making decisions under uncertainty. The theory of scenario planning hypothesizes that scenario planning contributes to learning and improves upon participants’ mental models. However, there have been scant empirical studies attempting to investigate these two claims. Stakeholders’ mental models of dark skies were mapped while simultaneously testing the hypotheses that participation in scenario planning results in more complex mental models and alters environmental attitudes. Twenty-one Arizona stakeholders participated in one of two workshops during September 2016. Three identical surveys were given to measure knowledge, environmental attitudes and mental model change during the workshops. Knowledge gain peaked during the introductory lecture and continued to increase during the workshop. Scenario planning increased participants’ environmental attitudes from anthropocentric to nature-centered and was found to have a significant positive impact on dark sky advocates’ change in mental model complexity. The most prominent drivers affecting dark skies were identified using social network analysis of the pre and post mental models. The most prominent concepts were altered significantly from pre to post workshop suggesting that scenario planning may aid practitioners in understanding exogenous factors to their area of expertise. These findings have critical theoretical and managerial implications of mental model alteration, environmental attitudes, and the future of Arizona’s night skies. A revised theoretical framework is offered to include environmental attitudes into the theory of scenario planning and a conceptual framework was created to illustrate the most salient drivers affecting or being affected by dark skies. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Community Resources and Development 2016

The study of macroecology not only identifies patterns in the distribution and abundance of species at large spatial and temporal scales, it also gives insight into the processes underlying those patterns. The contribution of this work is not limited to helping develop the field of ecology per se, but also provides important insights into the understanding of large scale processes like climate change, the spread of introduced species, pest control and how increasing pressure from anthropogenic activities threatens biodiversity and ecosystem services. During the first decade following its formal inception, most of the progress in macroecology was made through studies of animal species, and research into plant species continues to lag far behind. This thesis contributes to the study of the macroecology of plant species by examining some selected macroecological patterns that have been studied only for animal species and by including an important issue that might have significant effects on diverse macroecological patterns, namely anthropogenic activities. The second and third chapters of the thesis address the generalised individuals-area relationship (GIAR) and the patch individuals-area relationship (PIAR), two macroecological relationships not previously explored for plant species. I show for the first time the existence of negative GIARs at the intraspecific and interspecific levels in plant species, similar to those documented for animal species. Unlike animal species, I did not find a broadly consistent intraspecific PIAR in plant species; more than half of the tested species showed negative PIARs. The resource concentration hypothesis may help explain those positive PIARs that were observed. The fourth chapter considers the effect of past human activities on current patterns of plant species richness at a landscape scale. Using a detailed database on the historical anthropogenic activities for Cornwall, U.K., I examine the relationship between species richness and the area covered by each historical land-use at two different spatial resolutions (10km x 10km and 2km x 2km). I find that at the 10km x10km scale human activities carried out since the 17th and 19th centuries explain an important proportion of the variation in current plant species richness. In contrast, a model at 2km x 2km scale with upland woods and the total land area of a grid cell explain only 5% of the variation. The fifth and sixth chapters focus on how artificial light at night (ALAN), which has increasingly come to attention as a significant anthropogenic pressure on species, is interacting with the distributions of plant species. In the fourth chapter, I consider the plant family Cactaceae to determine the proportion of the global distribution ranges of species that is being influenced by ALAN, and how this changes with the size of these distribution ranges and over a 21-year period (1992 to 2012). I found that >80% of cacti species are experiencing ALAN somewhere in their distribution range, and that there is a significant upward trend in ALAN in the ranges of the vast majority of species. For the sixth chapter, I consider similar issues for the threatened plant species of Britain, exploiting new remote sensing imagery of nighttime lighting at a very fine spatial resolution (c.340x340m2). Only 8% of Britain is free of artificial light at night and in consequence a high number of threatened plant species have a high proportion of their range under some influence of ALAN.

Light pollution is currently one of the environmental problems of human society. With the technological development and the increase of the human population on the planet, the landscape is constantly increasing the emission of disturbing light into the surrounding area during the night. The largest producer of light pollution is the urban and suburban regions where light spreads to several decades away, increasing the brightness of the sky, as well as rural or nature-close landscapes. Exposure to disturbing light has a demonstrably unfavorable effect on human, animal and plant health as well as on the balance of whole ecosystems. In this work I focus on finding and assessing the state of sky brightness in the interest zone of the observatory of Astronomical Institute AV at Ondřejov. Based on my own data measured in the field during nine night excursions, I created an interpolated map of ArcMap 10.2 and, according to directional measurements, interpreted the main polluters in this area. The results clearly show a clear trend to reduce the sky's brightness from the northwest to the east. The measurements also show that the local sources of obstrusive light near Ondřejov have a slight influence on the overall zenith brightness of the sky compared to the presence of Prague, several miles away....

Today, artificial light is considered to be an obvious part of cities and it can fulfill many functions and purposes. Natural light and darkness are expected to return in longer as well as shorter life cycles of all living organisms since light affects their existence. Light is especially important for the ability of humans to see and move freely, which has resulted in the world being more and more illuminated. In line with an increase in artificial lighting, municipal planning has started to develop plans regarding light in cities. As such, the purpose of this study is to investigate and analyse how Stockholm, Gothenburg och Malmo approach lighting in relation to its effect on its surroundings and sustainable development. According to previous research, increased lighting might foster social sustainability while simultaneously affect ecological sustainability negatively unless the lighting is planned in a balanced way. Badly used lighting results in light pollution and that must be minimised. A thorough document analysis of the cities’ various planning documents has been performed. In those documents, the results vary. Firstly, Stockholm’s lighting plans aim to promote architectural and aesthetic values while, secondly, Gothenburg carries out broader work in which the city is a member of an international network and, thirdly, Malmo has engaged in lighting planning considerably longer than the other two. In conclusion, it can be established that each city approaches lighting in different ways. Shared between all three is that they must improve their sustainable long term lighting planning because, today, problems appear between social and ecological sustainability. In essence, the study contributes with deepened knowledge of how lighting planning is conducted in the cities. In the future, it will be of interest to study how light pollution might decrease as a result of urbanisation. / Belysning kan fylla många funktioner och syften och ses idag som en självklar del av staden. Naturligt ljus och mörker förväntas återkomma i längre och kortare cykler av alla levande organismer då ljuset påverkar deras levnad. Ljuset är speciellt viktigt för människans förmåga att se och röra sig fritt, vilket resulterat i att världen lyses upp mer och mer. I takt med den ökade belysning har den kommunala planeringen börjat utveckla planer som berör ljus i staden. Syftet med studien är därför att undersöka och analysera hur Stockholm, Göteborg och Malmö förhåller sig till belysning i relation till dess inverkan på omgivningen och hållbar utveckling. Ökad belysning kan enligt den tidigare forskningen främja social hållbar utveckling samtidigt som den ekologiska påverkas negativt om inte belysningen planeras på ett balanserat sätt. Illa använd belysning resulterar i ljusföroreningar och dessa måste minimeras. En djupgående dokumentanalys har genomförts av städernas olika planhandlingar, där resultatet varierar något mellan städerna. Stockholms belysningsplanering vill framför allt främja det arkitektoniska och estetiska värdena, Göteborg genomför ett bredare arbete där de ingår i ett internationellt nätverk samtidigt som Malmö har bedrivit ljusplanering under en betydligt längre tid jämfört med de andra. Sammanfattningsvis går det konstatera att respektive stad på olika sätt arbetar med belysning. Gemensamt för alla är att de måste förbättra det långsiktiga och hållbara arbetet inom belysningsplaneringen, då det idag uppstår dilemman mellan social och ekologisk hållbarhet. Studien bidrar till en fördjupad kunskap kring hur ljusplanering bedrivs i städerna och i framtiden är det av intresse att studera hur ljusföroreningar kan minska i samband med urbaniseringen.

Ljusföroreningar är ett stort framväxande problem och då fladdermöss oftast är nattaktiva erfaras de ingå i den taxa som påverkas mest. LED-belysning blir allt vanligare i gatubelysning och utstrålar bland annat inget UV-ljus jämfört med traditionella ljuskällor som utstrålar UV-ljus och därmed förändrar insekters- och potentiellt fladdermössens beteende. Det var därför relevant att undersöka hur den stod sig till traditionella ljuskällor med avseende på ekologisk påverkan. Med anledning av ett stort utbyte till LED i Karlstads kommun 2019 gavs en möjlighet att jämföra påverkan på fladdermöss utifrån olika ljuskällor. Syftet med studien var att undersöka om bytet till LED från traditionella ljuskällor skulle kunna ha en lägre påverkan på fladdermöss i Karlstads kommun och ifall en skillnad mellan arter kunde påvisas. Studien grundade sig i observationsdata hämtad från Fyndkartor via Artportalen, kartskikt från modelleringsverktyget PREBAT och kommunens belysningslager. Vidare har hänsyn tagits till födotillgång, avståndet till- och antalet boplatser, utifrån uppskattningar av PREBAT. Studien fann en signifikant medelskillnad om ca. 20% lägre avstånd till belysning mellan åren före och efter bytet till LED-belysning. Samtliga arter av fladdermöss hade lägre avstånd till LED-belysning jämfört med övrig belysning, däremot var skillnaden inte signifikant. Ingen signifikant skillnad kunde påvisas mellan arter, även om de mer opportunistiska arterna hade lägre avstånd till samtliga ljuskällor. Vidare kunde inte boplatsernas avstånd eller antal förklaras som en bidragande faktor till det låga avståndet till LED då fladdermössen inte visade en statistiskt signifikant ”preferens” för LED-belysning. Denna studie överensstämmer med tidigare forskning som säger att artificiell belysning påverkar fladdermöss men huruvida LED-belysning skulle ha en mindre ekologisk påverkan på fladdermöss är ännu inte klarlagt. Däremot finns det många åtgärder som kan sättas in för att reducera den ekologiska påverkan som ljusföroreningar har på fladdermöss och andra nattaktiva djur. / Light pollution is a rapidly growing problem and since bats often are nocturnal, they appear to be one of the taxa that is most affected. LED-lighting is becoming more common in street lighting, and it emits less UV light than traditional mercury lights, altering insect and potentially bat behavior. Thus, it is relevant to investigate LED-lighting compared to traditional light sources, in terms of the ecological impact. Owing to a large-scale switch to LED-lighting in Karlstad Municipality in 2019, there was an opportunity to compare the impact of different light sources on bats. The purpose of this study was to investigate if the switch to LEDs from traditional light sources could have a lower impact on bats in Karlstad, and to test if there were differences among species. The data in this study was based on observations from “Fyndkartor” at “Artportalen”, map layers from the PREBAT modeling software, and a map layer of the municipality’s street lighting. Consideration has been given to food supply, the distance to- and the amount of roosting sites, as estimated by the PREBAT model. The study found a significant mean difference of ca. 20% less distance to lighting between years before and after LED light installation. Each one of the four bat species had a lower distance to LED-lighting, compared to traditional lighting, but these differences were not significant. No significant difference was found among species, even though the more opportunistic species had a lower distance to each one of the light sources, as has been found in other studies. Furthermore, the distance to, or amount of, roosting sites could not explain why bats had a lower distance to LED-lighting, since the bats did not show a “preference” to LED that was statistically significant. This study is in line with previous research that confirms that artificial lighting has an impact on bats, but whether LED-lighting has a lower impact than other light sources still remains unclear. There are, however, many measures to be taken to reduce the ecological impacts that light pollution has on bats and other nocturnal animals.