Top Themes

ALAN Conference Series

ALAN 6 will take place from 16-18.06.2020 in Lleida, Spain.

Night Sky Data to the People!

A new website presents citizen science data

Touring Exhibition

Our touring exhibition with 15 posters can be borrowed for events!

'Loss of the Night' App

The 'Loss of the Night' app measures sky brightness! Take part in a world-wide citizen science project that measures star visibility and light pollution. The app is free!

City Night Time Lapse

This growing collection of time lapse videos of nights in urban centres provides insights how city lights change throughout the course of the night

Dates
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further projects...

In addition to the project funded by the BMBF, there are / were other projects concerning "artificial light at night" at the various institutes.
Below you find a short description of the theme, the involved institute and the scientist working on it. 


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Crime scene streetlight

The project "Species Conservation through Environmentally Sound Lighting" is funded by the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation with funding from the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) as part of the Federal Biological Diversity Program. It offers environmental education and participatory potential for citizens. The public participation platform "Tatort Straßenbeleuchtung" will investigate the nightly insect killing. Based on the results of the "Loss of the Night" project, a new street lighting design is developed in cooperation with IGB and TU-LT Berlin. After a test phase on the experimental field, the effect of the new lighting design will be evaluated in four communities in Germany. For this purpose, the flight behavior of insects on the lights, based on the methodology of "Loss of the Night", is checked two years before and two years after the conversion.


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ILES - Illuminating Lake Ecosystems

In this project the IGB Stechlin LakeLab was experimentally controlled by the level of skyglow and brownification to assess complex responses of lake ecosystems to both higher light levels at night and lower light levels at day time. It is expected that the difference in natural light conditions are affecting the physiology and behaviour of key species and in multiple indirect effects mediated by species interactions. Consequently, the lake food web and biogeochemical fluxes could be markedly altered. We expect our results to provide fundamentally new insights into lake ecosystems and at the same time important information for future lake management in the face of ongoing climate change and light pollution.


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STARS4ALL

STARS4ALL is an EU funded project under the CAPSSI initiative, which aims to develop and test online platforms that raise awareness of sustainability issues and offer collaborative solutions based on innovative networks of people, ideas, services and technologies that enable new forms of social innovation.

STARS4ALL provides initiatives and actions to engage in research into the environmental problem and to develop solutions to prevent light pollution.


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Effects of artificial light on biodiversity

In this project, funded by the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation, the effects of street lighting on an aquatic-terrestrial ecosystem in the experimental area were examined. Monitoring of insect fauna was carried out and guidelines for sustainable lighting solutions for the protection of night landscapes and biodiversity were developed.

Supervisors: Dr. Sibylle Schroer and PD Dr. Franz Hölker

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Crime Scene Freshwater

The citizen science project "Crime scene freshwater - on track of the CO2!" Was carried out in 2015 with a partial financing by the IGB. In autumn, participants from all over Germany were called upon to take water and sediment samples from freshwater bodies closest to their homes and to describe the lighting situation on site by a prepaired questionnaire. A detailed description of the project, a picture gallery of sampling locations from all over Germany, a map and first results can be found on the project website (in German).


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COST ACTION ES1204: Loss of the Night Network

The Loss of the Night Network (LoNNe) was established from a COST ACTION, which was funded by EU Horizon 2020 from 2012-2016. COST, the cooperation in science and technology, creates spaces for networking. It supports cooperation between scientists, industry and the public and private sector.

LoNNe consists of partners from 18 member countries. The network aims to improve knowledge of the multiple effects of increasing artificial illumination worldwide. Innovations in technology and policy are urgently required to address the impact of artificial lighting on the natural environment, biodiversity, ecosystems, human health and society, and to identify potential corrective measures. Until now, the overwhelming focus for improvements in illumination technology has been with regard to energy and luminous efficiency. Existing research associated with the impact of artificial lighting on various aspects of our environment and lives is fragmented, and generally at best at a regional or national level. The current potential for networking to enhance mobility between different actors from science, health care, public authorities and industry is limited. LoNNe created a cooperation of these players in order to cross-fertilize skills, and to create standard operating procedures. It provides for example knowledge in form of a literature database or expertise for an EU petition for legislation against light pollution.

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Impact of artificial illumination on the diapause induction of Cameraria ohridella (Lepidoptera: Gracilariidae)

This research project was funded by the project MILIEU. It investigated the effects of artificial light at night on the induction of the diapause of Cameraria ohridella. The study is conducted by the research group of Applied Zoology of the Biological Institute of the Freie Universität Berlin and the IGB.

Scientist was Eva Häffner
Supervisors of the project were Dr. Sibylle Schroer and PD Dr. Franz Hölker


PDF project description 'Cameraria ohridella'


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The influence of light on land-water exchange

This research funded by financial resources of the FU Berlin and the IGB seeked to understand how artificial light changes the behavior of in-stream organisms (invertebrate drift and fish predation) as well as the terrestrial dispersal of adult aquatic insects.

Scientist is Liz Perkin
Supervisor of the project is Prof. Dr. Klement Tockner and PD Dr. Franz Hölker


PDF project description


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Mapping the light of Berlin

Within a diploma thesis an extensive overview of the existing lighting system in Berlin is being put together in cooperation with the University of Potsdam.

Scientist is Helga Kuechly
Supervisor of the project is PD Dr. Franz Hölker