Artificial light at night confounds broad‐scale habitat use by migrating birds |
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| Authors: | James D. McLaren Jeffrey J. Buler Tim Schreckengost Jaclyn A. Smolinsky Matthew Boone E. Emiel van Loon Deanna K. Dawson Eric L. Walters |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Department of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, USA;2. National Wildlife Research Centre, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Ottawa, ON, CanadaThese authors contributed equally.;3. Department of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, USAThese authors contributed equally.;4. Theoretical and Computational Ecology, Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands;5. U.S. Geological Survey, Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, Laurel, MD, USA;6. Department of Biological Sciences, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA, USA |
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| Abstract: | With many of the world's migratory bird populations in alarming decline, broad‐scale assessments of responses to migratory hazards may prove crucial to successful conservation efforts. Most birds migrate at night through increasingly light‐polluted skies. Bright light sources can attract airborne migrants and lead to collisions with structures, but might also influence selection of migratory stopover habitat and thereby acquisition of food resources. We demonstrate, using multi‐year weather radar measurements of nocturnal migrants across the northeastern U.S., that autumnal migrant stopover density increased at regional scales with proximity to the brightest areas, but decreased within a few kilometers of brightly‐lit sources. This finding implies broad‐scale attraction to artificial light while airborne, impeding selection for extensive forest habitat. Given that high‐quality stopover habitat is critical to successful migration, and hindrances during migration can decrease fitness, artificial lights present a potentially heightened conservation concern for migratory bird populations. |
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| Keywords: | Artificial light at night conservation ecological modelling generalized additive models landbird migration landscape ecology machine learning migratory stopover stochastic boosting weather surveillance radar |
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