DOI: 10.5061/dryad.xwdbrv1q0
title: Data from: Colours of the night: spectrum-specific impacts of light pollution on biota

description: Artificial light at night (ALAN) disrupts ecosystems by altering natural
 light cycles and affecting species’ physiology and behavior. This
 meta-analysis examines how different wavelengths and intensities of ALAN
 impact organisms. Broad-spectrum “cool” light, enriched with blue and
 ultraviolet radiation, strongly disrupts circadian rhythms, melatonin
 production, and nocturnal activity. However, against common belief,
 broad-spectrum "warm" light is almost as impactful as
 broad-spectrum "cool" light without ultraviolet radiation, even
 though physiological processes are mostly influenced by short wavelengths.
 The impact of ALAN is not consistently dose-dependent, as even dim light
 often causes substantial biological disruptions. Thus, effective
 mitigation strategies require tailored solutions to specific ecological
 contexts and should generally avoid nocturnal illumination unless clearly
 needed, as there is no single “safe dose” and “safe spectrum” of ALAN.
description: We conducted literature searches in electronic academic
 databases: Web of Science and Scopus for peer-reviewed papers published in
 English until 30 August 2023. We used the following terms TITLE-ABS-KEY (
 ( "Artificial light*"  OR  "Light* pollution"  OR 
 "Light* at night"  OR  "night time light*" )  AND  (
 "light intensity"  OR  "spectral composition"  OR 
 "spectral sensitivity"  OR  "colo*r"  OR 
 "wavelength"  OR  "LED light"  OR  "HPS
 light"  OR  "red light"  OR  "blue light" )  AND 
 ( "species"  OR  "ecosystem*"  OR 
 "ecology"  OR  "community composition"  OR 
 "phototaxis"  OR  "flight to light"  OR 
 "stress"  OR  "abundance"  OR  "behav*"  OR 
 "reproduction"  OR  "predat*"  OR 
 "activity"  OR  "physiolog*"  OR 
 "melatonin"  OR  "development"  OR 
 "trophic"  OR  "biomass"  OR  "pollination" 
 OR  "phenolog*"  OR  "photosynt*"  OR 
 "budburst"  OR  "leaf"  OR  "flowering" ) ).
 The search returned 1694 studies (after duplicates removal). We also
 checked the bibliography of eligible articles to extract all relevant
 papers and therefore included 64 additional studies. The articles were
 screened for eligibility and we selected studies that met the following
 inclusion criteria: (1) laboratory and field studies testing biological
 effects of ALAN on organisms (excluding humans); (2) studies with a
 control group (dark night conditions) and treatment groups exposed to ALAN
 with illuminance up to 180 lx; (3) studies with at least 2 replicates per
 treatment and providing information on light types used and light levels
 (if necessary, we converted non-photometric quantities lighting units to
 illuminance in lux, see details below); (4) studies containing data on
 means, sample size and estimation of variation. If only box plots were
 presented, we extracted the median and interquartile range. In total, 314
 studies (with 4 905 effect sizes) met our inclusion criteria.
description: # Data from: Colours of the night: spectrum-specific impacts of light
 pollution on biota \**M. Czarnecka, M. Grubisic, F. Pilotto, A. Jechow, F.
 Hölker.   **Data S1: Spectrum-specific impacts of light pollution on
 biota** Data used to estimate effects of different light types and light
 levels on organismal physiology, behaviour, and community/population ###
 **File description** `Data_S1_Czarnecka_et_al..xlsx`: file contains data
 used to estimate effects of different light types and light levels on
 organismal physiology, behaviour, and community/population with calculated
 effect sizes (Hedges g). ### **Description of the columns:** **Study, ID
 –** identification number of the study **Authors** – authors of the source
 publication **Title, Publication.year,**  - title of the source
 publication and year of publishing **Source, DOI** - journal name of the
 source publication and DOI **Study.type** - study type: field or
 laboratory **Habitat** – study habitat **Phylum, Class, Order, Species** -
 taxonomic classification of the studied organism **Functional** -
 functional groups according to type of food consumed: * **Carnivores**:
 species deriving food mainly from the consumption of animal tissues
 (including insects) * **Non-carnivores:** species actively consuming both
 plant and animal materials (omnivores) and exclusively plant materials
 (herbivores) * **Bloodsucker:** species feeding on blood * **Parasite:**
 parasite species **Measured.effect** - measured variable or parameter
 **Measure.comment** – additional information about measured variable
 **Category** – category of studies (physiology, behaviour, life history
 traits “LHT,” populations and communities) **Sub.category** **and**
 **Sub.category1** – more specific study subcategories within the listed
 categories and subcategories, respectively **Activity** - activity
 patterns of studied animals: * **Nocturnal:** animals that are active
 primarily during night. Crepuscular animals (active during twilight) are
 also included. * **Diurnal:** Animals that are active primarily during
 daytime * **Cathemeral:** Animals that can be active during the day or
 night (activity pattern is characterized by irregular intervals)
 **Light_Source -** type of lighting used in the study
 **Light_Type_coded”**: categories of light sources. They include broad
 spectrum (BS) light sources emitting light across a wide range of
 wavelengths and narrow-spectrum (NS) light emitting narrow bands of
 wavelengths. * **BS cool**: cool white light with high correlated colour
 temperature (CCT) &gt; 3000 K, characterized by relatively high blue light
 content (&gt; 15%); * **BS warm**: warm white light with low CCT &lt; 3000
 K and reduced blue light content (&lt; 15%); * **BS_UV:** cool white light
 with high CCT &gt; 3000 K and relatively high blue light content (&gt;
 15%), but also containing UV radiation. * **NS blue**: emitting a narrow
 band of wavelengths in the blue spectrum; * **NS green**: emitting a
 narrow band of wavelengths in the green spectrum; * **NS yellow-red**:
 emitting a narrow band of wavelengths in the yellow-orange spectrum
 **Control_Lux –** illuminance in control conditions **Night_Lux** –
 illuminance in disturbed night conditions **Night_Lx_coded** – categories
 of light levels in disturbed night conditions: low - illuminance  &gt;0.01
 ≤5 lx; moderate - illuminance  &gt;5.1 ≤ 20 lx; high - illuminance 
 &gt;20.1 ≤180 lx **Control_Mean –** mean values for the control groups
 **Control_SE** - standard errors for the control groups **Control_SD** –
 standard deviations for the control groups **Control_95% CI_low and
 Control_95% CI_upper** - Lower and upper 95% confidence limits for the
 control groups **Control N** – sample size of the control groups
 **Control_median** – median values for the control groups **Control Q1 and
 Control Q3** – first (Q1) and third (Q3) quartiles for the control groups
 **Experimental_Mean** – mean values for the experimental groups **Exp_95%
 CI_low  and Exp_95% CI_upper -** lower and upper 95% confidence limits for
 the experimental groups **Experimental_SE –** standard errors for the
 experimental groups **Experimental_SD -** standard deviations for the
 experimental groups **Experimental_median –** median values for the
 experimental groups **Experimental_Q1 and Experimental_Q3 -** first (Q1)
 and third(Q3) quartiles for the experimental groups **Experimental_N -**
 sample size of the experimental groups **Effect size (ES) –** calculated
 effect sizes (Hedges g) **SE –** standard errors for the effect sizes
 **Effects size_absolute** – absolute values of the effect sizes **Effect
 size_sign** – effect size values with reversed sign, indicating the
 direction of the effect, calculated only for those results which were
 included in the further analysis **Location** – study location **Included
 (directional ES)** – Effect sizes showing the direction of the effect,
 included in the further analysis