First Wednesday Challenge: Every Day Needs A Night

 Wildlife are increasingly threatened by artificial light at night.

Southeastern USA from NASA

When I step outside at night I can barely find my favorite constellations. Because of development a lot has changed in my neighborhood; the tree canopy has been reduced, monocultural lawns have replaced the bee friendly lawns and the mega houses have exterior up lighting on every remaining tree. Standing in my driveway I can see eave lights, porch lights and landscape lighting that's on all night. All of it helping to obscure the night sky. 

from my driveway 7:21pm

But my missing the constellations is small potatoes compared to the effect that artificial light at night has on birds, amphibians, insects and mammals. Especially those that are nocturnal (sleep during the day, and move about at night). The lit up night harms wildlife and ecosystems.

According to research scientist Christopher Kyba, for nocturnal animals “the introduction of artificial light probably represents the most drastic change human beings have made to their environment.”

“Predators use light to hunt, and prey species use darkness as cover,” Kyba explains. “Near cities, cloudy skies are now hundreds or even thousands of times brighter than they were 200 years ago. We are only beginning to learn what a drastic effect this has had on nocturnal ecology.” (source)

 

The night is full of life and activity. That's when nocturnal creatures like bats, raccoons, most owls, skunks, coyotes, opossums, deer, many amphibians, and insects are out and about. I didn't know until I listened to Bug Banter , a Xercis Society podcast, that about 60% of insects rely upon darkness for orientation, navigation, avoidance of predators, location of food and reproduction. Many nocturnal and crepuscular (out at dawn and dusk) insects use celestial light sources such as stars and the moon as visual cues for movement across landscapes. All plants, animals and humans living on Earth are genetically adapted to regular day/night/seasonal cycles that have, in many places on the planet, been completely interrupted by the glow created by artificial lights.(source)

For all of evolutionary history the night has been totally dark. What we've done in lighting up the night is unprecedented and has had a huge impact on critters.

Artificial lights effect on critters

• Some critters are attracted to the light and end up where they should not be. Moths for example are attracted to street lights and are easy prey for predators.
  
• It repels some organisms and they lose their habitat.
• Allows some critters to out compete others when the "longer day" means longer hunting time. 
• Insects are in decline and recent research suggests that AL is one of the causes. Insects are  essential components of all terrestrial food webs, and any losses in insect biomass are likely to have widespread ecological ramifications.
  
• It alters the day/night patterns, resulting in not getting enough sleep, not having enough down time for the body to repair itself.
• It alters reproductive cycles. 
• It messes with insect movement and migration.
  
• Birds that migrate or hunt at night navigate by moonlight and starlight. Migratory birds depend on cues from properly timed seasonal schedules. Artificial lights can cause them to migrate too early or too late and miss ideal climate conditions for nesting, foraging, and other behaviors. It can also cause them to be attracted to illuminated building where they can collide and die. (source)
• Seeing the night sky is important to one's quality of life and should not be dismissed as unimportant.
• Research suggests that artificial light at night can negatively affect human health, increasing risks for obesity, depression, sleep disorders, diabetes, breast cancer and more.
  

 

Luna Moth

 We Can Help Save The Night

1. Turn off lights when not in use.

2. Turn of lights at 11pm until 6 am. Especially during spring and fall bird migration, but really every   night to help all the critters in our gardens.

3. Keep blinds and drapes closed at night.

4. If at all possible try to not drive at night.

5. Shield out door lights so they point downwards.

6. Access your light use: Do you really do you need to up-light your trees?

7. Concerned about safety around home? Use motion detectors.

8. Choose warm light bulbs that are only as light as necessary. Light bulbs should be 3000k or warmer to meet International Dark-Sky Association friendly criteria.

9. Educate others about the importance of reducing light pollution and how to do it. Share your thoughts on social media and on neighborhood listserves.  Encourage your neighbors, local businesses, and government agencies to implement measures to reduce light pollution.

10. Let your city officials know about your concerns. Get involved in local initiatives to reduce light pollution from artificial lights.

11. Become a citizen scientist and help measure light pollution in your community.

12. Join Dark Sky International and Bird Safe Nashville.

 

 

 

We can and must make a difference in our world.

xoxogail

Resources

Dark Sky Society

ALAN_DB/Zotero:

 Xercis Society

World Migratory Bird Day 

Bird Cast showing bird migration maps in real time

First Wednesday Monthly Challenge

Want to Take the Taking Care of Wildlife In Our Gardens Challenge?

The first part of this challenge is to do something, even lots of things, each month that support the critters living in our gardens. Gardening with native wildflowers, shrubs and trees that make sense for our ecoregion is a good place to start or continue (as the case may be). Plants and their pollinators are a classic example of mutualism: they have coevolved through evolutionary time in a reciprocal beneficial relationship. This is also true for other critters that visit and live in our gardens. 

Activities that increase our knowledge of the natural world are equally as valuable. Helping others learn about nature is included. Golly gee whiz, there are so many things you can do. 

The second part of the challenge is to post about it somewhere: Your blog, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter or even your neighborhood listserve. Wouldn't an article in the local paper be a coup for nature! Why post it? Because positive publicity is needed to educate our friends, neighbors and communities about how important even the smallest changes we make as gardeners can be for pollinators, birds, insects and mammals, including humans, that live all around us. 

Why now? My neighborhood is changing. Yours might be, too. Every day an older home along with many (if not all) of the mature oak, hickory, maple, Eastern cedar and hackberry trees are cut down. Insects, birds, even mammals lose their home site and food supplies when we lose trees. During construction soil is compacted by bulldozers, trucks and piles of debris cause runoff; surface runoff that can carry pollution to streams and rivers. It's important that our neighbors and our community have information about how important trees are to our ecosystem. Trees contribute to their environment by providing oxygen, improving air quality, climate amelioration, conserving water, preserving soil, and supporting wildlife.

In place of the "bee lawns" composed of Claytonia, Salvia lyrata, Ruellia humilis, fleabane, Western Daisy, Violets, self-heal, clovers, native grasses (in my neighborhood it's poverty oat grass) and sedges, they're being sodded with non-native grasses. These monoculture turf lawns contribute nothing environmentally. Here's what we lose when our diverse lawns are replaced with pristine turf grass:

• Gone are the lightening bugs.
• Gone are the ground dwelling/nesting native bees.
• Gone is the habitat for insects, spiders and other critters. 
• Gone is plant diversity. 
• Gone are trees that provided for hundreds of moths, butterflies and other insects.
• Gone are the nesting sites for woodpeckers, hummingbirds, Chickadees and other birds. 
• Gone is a healthy foodweb.
  

 It breaks my heart. 

We can't stop the progmess, but, maybe we can make a lot of educational noise and help our new neighbors see the value in providing for critters and ultimately helping the environment.

A gardener can hope! 

xoxoGail

Here's an incomplete list of things you might consider doing or changing in your garden, and things you can do for and/or in your community. But don't limit yourself to my list, make your own list or check out the internet for ideas.

 

Looking for ways to get involved go here for a list of environmental advocacy groups.

Buy the best wildflower, butterfly and bird id books for your state.

Read nature books to your children and grandchildren. Buy them nature books.

Get in the garden with your children and grandchildren.

Give nature books as baby shower gifts (Nature books for infants and toddlers)

Shrink your lawn and make your planting beds larger.

Plant your favorite native perennials and shrubs. Leave them standing after they've gone to seed to continue to provide for wildlife. What you plant in your yard makes a difference to wildlife. I garden for wildlife so every tree, shrub and plant is chosen with wildlife in mind.

 

Plant more natives and then consider planting even more. "A typical suburban landscape contains only 20-30% native plant species. Try reversing that trend in your own landscape by using 70-80% native species." (source) 

Plant for bloom from late spring to early winter. Bees are most active from February to November (longer in mild climates) late winter blooming Hamamelis vernalis and the earliest spring ephemerals (like the toothworts, hepaticas, spring beauties, and False rue-anemeone) are perfect plants for a variety of pollinators.

Commit to never, ever, ever, ever using pesticides in the garden.

Stay away from native plant hybrids and cultivars that are double flowered. They are sterile and have no pollen or nectar for insects and no seeds for the birds. If possible plant “true open-pollinated native wildflowers”

If you want to garden for wildlife and pollinators, don't let lack of space stop you! Plant your favorite wildflowers in large containers. You just might have the prairie or woodland garden you've always wanted...in a pot!
 
Create a water feature. Provide water year round that is accessible to birds, bees and other critters.

Make a rain garden in low spots to collect and mitigate runoff.

Show some soil! Our native ground nesting bees nest in bare soil, so don't mulch every square inch of your garden. 

Get rid of the plastic weed barriers in your garden, it's not good for anything.

Invite bugs into your garden. Plant annuals that attract beneficial bugs.

 

Learn to tolerate damaged plants. Imperfection is the new perfect.

Don't be in a rush to clean up the fall garden. Leave plant stalks and seed heads standing all winter. Leave those fallen leaves or as many as you can tolerate! Insects over winter in the fallen and decaying leaves. Leave a layer of leaves as a soft landing material under trees for moths and butterflies to over winter. Many caterpillars drop to the ground from the trees in the fall and need a soft landing site and a place to live over the winter.

Allow a fallen tree to remain in the garden. Limbs on the ground are a perfect shelter for small animals such as rabbits, chipmunks and squirrels and a habitat for beetles, termites and other insects.

Make a brush pile. Stack fallen brush, cut tree limbs, broken pots for ground beetles. Ground beetles are excellent at eating "bad bugs". Bugs are also good bird, toad and small critter food. 

Rethink what you consider a pest. Lots of good bugs eat aphids. Spiders are important predators and they're great bird food!

Add nesting boxes for birds. 

Turn off your yard up-lighting, eave lights and porch lights after 11pm. This is important for nocturnal critters including mammals, snakes, insects, bats, birds (especially during migration). (Birdcast suggestions)

Plant shrubs and small trees that provide berries and nuts.

Keep a nature journal: You can observe visitors to your water feature, make note of when they visit. Notice which flowers attract the most pollinators and which ones are just pretty faces. 

Join your state native plant society (Tennessee Native Plant Society)

Join WildOnes even if there's no local group you can join the national organization.  (Middle Tennessee WildOnes)

Support your local native plant sellers. (GroWild in middle Tennessee, Overhill Gardens in east Tennessee,  Resource Guide TN Native Plant Society)

Encourage your local garden clubs to offer native plant talks.

If your garden club has a plant sale encourage them to sell more native plants.

Get trained as a naturalist (Tennessee Naturalist Program. Almost every state has their own Master Naturalist training program

Take an online course on tree, fungi and wildflower id. 

Take an online course on designing with native plants.

Take a walk in your neighborhood and observe nature. To quote Joanna Brichetto in Sidewalk Nature "Look Around. Nature is here, is us, our driveways, our baseboards, parks, and parking lots."

Read! There are hundreds of books on gardening for wildlife, the environment, and rewilding our world. There are delightful blogs with wonderful and informative articles.

If you are already gardening with wildlife in mind then add a few signs that help educate your neighbors. (Xerces Society, Pollinator Partnership)

Join the Xerces Society.

Set up an information station where neighbors can pick up brochures about your garden and other info. 

Get certified (National Wildlife Federation, check to see what your state offers)

Support trees by joining the effort to make sure developers don't remove more trees than are necessary for their project. Work to make sure there are tree removal permits and that they are actually enforced in your community.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gail Eichelberger is a gardener and therapist in Middle Tennessee. She loves wildflowers and native plants and thoroughly enjoys writing about the ones she grows at Clay and Limestone. She reminds all that the words and images are the property of the author and cannot be used without written permission.