Gaston Kevin J, Holt Lauren A
Environment & Sustainability Institute University of Exeter Cornwall UK.
Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin, Institute for Advanced Study Berlin Germany.
J Appl Ecol. 2018 Sep;55(5):2296-2307. doi: 10.1111/1365-2664.13157. Epub 2018 Apr 25.
The erosion of night-time by the introduction of artificial lighting constitutes a profound pressure on the natural environment. It has altered what had for millennia been reliable signals from natural light cycles used for regulating a host of biological processes, with impacts ranging from changes in gene expression to ecosystem processes.Studies of these impacts have focused almost exclusively on those resulting from stationary sources of light emissions, and particularly streetlights. However, mobile sources, especially road vehicle headlights, contribute substantial additional emissions.The ecological impacts of light emissions from vehicle headlights are likely to be especially high because these are (1) focused so as to light roadsides at higher intensities than commonly experienced from other sources, and well above activation thresholds for many biological processes; (2) projected largely in a horizontal plane and thus can carry over long distances; (3) introduced into much larger areas of the landscape than experience street lighting; (4) typically broad "white" spectrum, which substantially overlaps the action spectra of many biological processes and (5) often experienced at roadsides as series of pulses of light (produced by passage of vehicles), a dynamic known to have major biological impacts.The ecological impacts of road vehicle headlights will markedly increase with projected global growth in numbers of vehicles and the road network, increasing the local severity of emissions (because vehicle numbers are increasing faster than growth in the road network) and introducing emissions into areas from which they were previously absent. The effects will be further exacerbated by technological developments that are increasing the intensity of headlight emissions and the amounts of blue light in emission spectra. . Emissions from vehicle headlights need to be considered as a major, and growing, source of ecological impacts of artificial night-time lighting. It will be a significant challenge to minimise these impacts whilst balancing drivers' needs at night and avoiding risk and discomfort for other road users. Nonetheless, there is potential to identify solutions to these conflicts, both through the design of headlights and that of roads.
人工照明的引入对夜间的侵蚀给自然环境带来了巨大压力。它改变了数千年来一直作为调节众多生物过程的可靠自然光周期信号，其影响范围从基因表达的变化到生态系统过程。对这些影响的研究几乎完全集中在固定光源，特别是路灯所产生的影响上。然而，移动光源，尤其是道路车辆的前照灯，会产生大量额外的光排放。车辆前照灯的光排放对生态的影响可能特别大，原因如下：（1）其光线聚焦，照亮路边的强度高于其他常见光源，远高于许多生物过程的激活阈值；（2）主要投射在水平面上，因此可以传播很长距离；（3）与路灯相比，照亮的景观区域更大；（4）通常是宽广的“白色”光谱，与许多生物过程的作用光谱有很大重叠；（5）在路边通常会经历一系列光脉冲（由车辆驶过产生），这种动态已知会产生重大的生物影响。随着全球车辆数量和道路网络预计的增长，道路车辆前照灯的生态影响将显著增加，这会加剧当地的排放强度（因为车辆数量的增长速度快于道路网络的增长），并将排放引入以前没有排放的区域。技术发展增加了前照灯的发光强度和光谱中的蓝光量，这将进一步加剧这些影响。车辆前照灯的排放需要被视为人工夜间照明生态影响的一个主要且不断增长的来源。在平衡夜间驾驶员需求以及避免给其他道路使用者带来风险和不适的同时，尽量减少这些影响将是一项重大挑战。尽管如此，通过前照灯设计和道路设计，有可能找到解决这些冲突的办法。
