Database: The Impacts Of Light Pollution On Wildlife In Kenya & Eastern Africa
This database catalogues Kenyan wildlife species which are demonstrably affected by artificial light at night.
Light pollution is a serious threat to the balance of ecosystems, but there has been no direct research conducted on wildlife and ecosystems in Kenya and Eastern Africa. However, some species in Kenya are also found in other parts of the world, and the effects of artificial lighting on these species have been studied elsewhere. Such studies have been cross-referenced with lists of local species to create this database. The information from the research is also summarised to make it readable to a wide audience.
| Type | Species | Species name/ type | Location in Kenya | Documented effects of light pollution | Link to source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Birds | Seabirds | Procellariiformes (mostly Petrels and Shearwaters, but also affects Alcidae and Anatidae) | Coastal | Burrow-nesting seabirds are attracted to lights on the ground, and affected by coastal light pollution. This often leads to death from fatal injuries, vehicle collisions, predation, dehydration, and exhaustion. | Link |
| Marine Invertebrates | Zooplankton | Copepoda, Cladocera | Lake Victoria | These zooplankton are most at risk of predation when a full or nearly full moon rises after sunset. Equally bright artificial light that is switched on after a short period of darkness after sunset could be a threat to them too. | Link |
| Birds | Seabirds | Grebes | Freshwater bodies | These seabirds are attracted to bright lights during late night migration, and often die in collision with buildings | Link |
| Mammals | Bats | Rhinolophus, myotis | These bats are sensitive to light, and avoid artificially lit areas. Unshielded, improperly targeted and bright street lights repel them. The spread of artificial lighting shrinks their available habitat. | Link | |
| Insects | Many insects, especially nocturnal insects, are attracted to artificial light at night. Light can be used to trap these insects, but also leads to biochemical, physiological, molecular and fitness changes in them. | Link | |||
| Marine Invertebrates | Coral Reefs | Coastal | Many coral reefs reproduce in low intensity moonlight. Artificial nighttime light tends to be brighter than a full moon, and impacts many biological processes within the corals, and also affects other life forms that live on it. | Link | |
| Mammals | Bats | If their water source is illuminated by an artificial light, some bats will either drink water less frequently, or stop drinking altogether. | Link | ||
| Reptiles | Sea Turtles | Caretta caretta | Coastal | Artificial light can disrupt the ability of sea turtle hatchlings to find the sea, which often leads to fatal events on land when they are attracted to the lights there. 'Turtle-friendly' artificial lighting has also been shown to disrupt this ability to find the sea. | Link |
| Mammals, Insects | Bats, Moths | Artificial light at night makes it harder for moths to evade syntonic bats (bats which use frequencies of 20-50kHz). These bats tend to forage around artificial light sources. | Link | ||
| Reptiles, Mammals, Birds | Sea turtles, Cetaceans, Seabirds | Coastal | Lighting up fishing nets with LEDs can reduce unnecessary bycatch by alerting some species to the presence of a fishing net. | Link | |
| Birds | Migratory birds | Nocturnal migrating birds make more frequent flight calls when they fly over areas with artificial lighting, compared to when they are flying over dark areas. | Link | ||
| Insects, Birds | Moths, Insectivorous Birds | Lepidoptera | These moths are very attracted to artificial white light, and a bit less attracted to orange and yellow light. The high number of moths around artificial lights attracts the birds that feed on them, and could increase the risk of the birds dying from collision with man-made infrastructure. | Link | |
| Mammals | Bats | Pipistrellus kuhlii | Meru National Park | Insects tend to swarm around artificial lights at night. These bats use these artificially lit points as a source of food by hunting the insects that swarm around lights. | Link |
| Mammals | Bats | Pipistrellus kuhlii | Meru National Park | This bat species is shown to be opportunistic, and seeks out artificial light to hunt swarming insects, unlike some other sensitive bats that avoid artificial lighting. | Link |
| Mammals | Small tropical mammals | Small tropical mammals avoid taking food from feeding stations which have low intensity artificial lighting. | Link | ||
| Insects | Flies and mosquitoes | Diptera | Members of this class of insects often carry diseases that can be transmitted to humans. In general, they are attracted to high-intensity, short wavelength LEDs, but further study is needed. Lighting with dim, red LEDs could help reduce the numbers of these insects in and around homes. | Link | |
| Insects | Nocturnal moths | Artificial lighting disrupts the behaviour of moths, and can reduce moth populations. Artificial lighting that also emits in ultraviolet frequencies attracts more moths than regular LED lights. | Link | ||
| Marine Invertebrates | Coral Reefs | Sylophora pistillata, Turbinaria reniformis | Coastal | Light pollution threatens coral reefs near urbanised areas with light sources. In response to artificial lighting, some coral species showed signs of stress, undergo bleaching, and decrease their rates of photosynthesis. | Link |
| Birds | Feral pigeons | Columba livia domestica | Urbanisation and the nighttime lighting that comes with it makes feral pigeons more nocturnal. Artificial lighting also probably changes their circadian rhythm. | Link | |
| Mammals | Bats | Many bat species are threatened and endangered because of how artificial lights impact their habitat and their bodies. Nighttime lighting can lead to higher chances of mutations of Coronaviruses in bats, which can threaten other species' health, including humans. | Link | ||
| Fish | Guppies | Poecilia reticulata | Lake Naivasha | Artificial nighttime lighting affects these fish even though they are not a nocturnal species. Fish exposed to artificial light at night are more likely to leave their hiding places sooner, and remain in open, risky areas for longer. This happens even though the artificial light is only slightly brighter than the full moon. | Link |
| Insects, Plants | Aartificial light at night disrupts nighttime pollination. If plants are in brightly lit areas, insects that pollinate the plants visit them 62% less than if the plants are in dark areas. | Link | |||
| Birds | Common swifts | Apus Apus | Nesting common swift colonies usually stop being active around sunset if the surrounding artificial lighting is low, but they continue activity into the night under intense artificial light, and may sometimes stay active through the whole night.activiAt the Western Wall, however, swifts remained active throughout the night. This could affect their physiology, breeding cycle, and fitness, and may have cascading effects on their ecosystems. | Link |