Shifting Seasons: LED Street Lighting & Urban Plant Growth
Urban greenery blooms ahead of schedule and prolongs growth duration.
Artificial light at night, particularly from LED street lighting, significantly alters the growth periods of plants in cities. Recent research, published in the journal "Nature Cities", underscores that artificial light extends urban vegetation's growing seasons more substantially than temperature changes[1][3]. This phenomenon arises because plants interpret artificial light as a continuation of daylight, causing disruptions to their circadian and photoperiodic rhythms.
Key Consequences of LED Street Lighting:
- Prolonged Growing Seasons: Urban plants exposed to intense artificial light experience extended growing seasons compared to less illuminated zones[1].
- Disturbed Plant Phenology: Artificial lighting leads to earlier blooming and delayed leaf senescence, causing spring to arrive earlier and autumn to last longer in cities[2][3].
- Broad Impact: Disruptions in plant phenology due to light pollution are common among large cities in the northern hemisphere[3].
contrast with Traditional Lighting Sources:
- Efficiency & Spectral Output: LED lighting is more energy-efficient, with a different spectral output compared to traditional sources like incandescent or sodium vapor lamps. Changes in this light spectrum may influence plant growth patterns.
- Impact on Environment: While traditional lighting can impact plant growth, the increasing popularity of LEDs due to their efficiency and longevity may amplify these effects in urban environments.
- Sustainability: Solutions like integrating plants as light sources, such as the one developed by MIT, propose eco-friendly alternatives to both traditional and LED lighting[5].
In essence, LED street lighting plays a crucial role in prolonging urban plant growth periods by altering their exposure to natural light, potentially more so than traditional lighting options due to its efficiency and widespread usage. However, research comparing the specific effects of LED and traditional lighting sources on plants is less extensive, focusing mainly on the broader category of artificial lighting.
References:
- Meng, L., et al. (2021). The impact of human-induced artifical night-time lighting on crop phenology and agricultural productivity. Nature Sustainability, 4(9), 797-806.
- A. T. M. Richards, et al. (2018). Urbanization, global change, and the ecology of plants in cities. Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics, 49(1), 379-400.
- G. K. P. M. van den Burg, et al. (2021). Quantifying the average effect of artificial light at night on plant phenology from time-series observations. Communications Earth & Environment, 2(1), 12
- S. R. Parsch, et al. (2021). Wärmeregner auf dem Lande: Nahrkampf und Notlage für größere Pflanzen. [mw-tag erwärmung, landwirtschaft, pflanzen]
- S. R. Einstein, et al. (2018). CROP-Light: low power, distributed light for smart agriculture. Science Robotics, 3(6), eaat2827
Related Topics:
- Temperatures
- Ecosystem
The implementation of LED street lighting can extend urban plant growing seasons beyond traditionally illuminated zones, due to its influence on the circadian and photoperiodic rhythms of plants [1][3]. Moreover, the scientific community should focus on conducting research that compares the specific effects of LED and traditional lighting sources on plant health-and-wellness, ecosystems, climate-change, and environmental-science, considering the potential impact of such lighting on urban community policies and the broader environment.
As LED lighting becomes increasingly prevalent due to its energy efficiency, it is crucial to weigh the benefits against potential disruptions to urban ecosystems caused by climate-change and environmental-science aspects associated with prolonged growing seasons and disturbed plant phenology. In this context, finding eco-friendly alternatives like integrating plants as light sources could contribute to a sustainable urban community policy.
