Nature, extent and ecological implications of night-time light from road vehicles

1.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.

2.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.

3.The ecological impacts of light emissions from vehicle headlights are likely to be especially high because these are (i) focused so as to light roadsides at higher intensities than commonly experienced from other sources, and well above activation thresholds for many biological processes; (ii) projected largely in a horizontal plane and thus can carry over long distances; (iii) introdu...

1. 人工照明的引入对夜间时段造成的侵蚀，已然成为自然环境所面临的一项深远压力。数千年来，生物界依托自然光周期作为调控各类生物过程的可靠信号，而人工照明改变了这一信号体系，其影响范围涵盖从基因表达变化到生态系统进程改变的诸多层面。
2. 现有针对此类影响的研究，几乎完全聚焦于固定光源光辐射所引发的效应，其中尤以路灯为主要研究对象。然而，移动光源——尤其是道路机动车前大灯所释放的光辐射，同样贡献了可观的额外光辐射负荷。
3. 机动车前大灯光辐射所产生的生态影响或尤为突出，原因在于：其一，此类光线被精准聚焦，使得道路两侧区域的光照强度高于其他常见光源，且远超多数生物过程的激活阈值；其二，其光线主要沿水平面投射，因而能够传播至更远距离；其三，[原文内容未完整呈现]