On many nesting beaches, hatchling marine turtles are exposed to poled street lighting that disrupts their ability to crawl to the sea. Experiments were done to determine how hatchlings responded to street lighting transmitted through 2 filters that excluded the most disruptive wavelengths (those < 530 nm; those < 570 nm). Filtered lighting, however, also attracted the turtles though not as strongly as an unfiltered (high-pressure sodium vapor) lighting. Filtering is therefore of limited utility for light management, especially since other alternatives (such as lowering, shielding, or turning off unnecessary lighting; use of dimmer lights embedded in roadways) are more effective.
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1 December 2006
Filtered Streetlights Attract Hatchling Marine Turtles
Kristen Nelson Sella,
Michael Salmon,
Blair E. Witherington
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Chelonian Conservation and Biology
Vol. 5 • No. 2
December 2006
Vol. 5 • No. 2
December 2006
artificial lighting
Caretta caretta
Chelonia mydas
Cheloniidae
Florida
Hatchlings
light “trapping”