Thomas Davies1
1University of Plymouth, UK
Recent decades have seen growing concern about the ecological implications of changing lightscapes both on land and in the sea. In the oceans, natural intensities, cycles and spectra of lightscapes have been changing for decades as a result of coastal darkening and the introduction of Artificial Light at Night. Increasing concentrations of suspended particulate matter (SPM), Coloured Dissolved Organic Matter (CDOM), and phytoplankton have been documented in coastal regions since the mid 20th century. These constituents scatter and attenuate light leading to darker (potentially less productive) coastal waters. Meanwhile, the transition towards cheaper and whiter Light Emitting Diodes has increased exposure to artificial light in marine ecosystems. This talk will present a harmonized mechanistic appraisal of these two emerging foci for global change research, review the state of the art in current understanding, and provide a brief overview of the research landscape including new international initiatives [the Global Ocean Artificial Light at Network (GOALANN); and the JPI Oceans Joint Action on ’Changing Marine Lightscapes’] and research consortia [Aquatic Pollution from Light and Anthropogenic Noise (AquaPLAN); and IndicatorS Of changing Lightscapes in Underwater Marine Ecosystems (ISOLUME)].
Biography
Thomas has been investigating how marine ecosystems are responding to the changing lightscapes of our oceans for more than a decade. He was Principal Investigator of the NERC funded ALICE project and is a co-investigator on several active European projects investigating marine light pollution and coastal darkening. In 2023 he cofounded the Global Ocean Artificial Light at Night Network to provide a central resource for understanding and managing the impacts of light pollution in the sea.