Numerical research on the effects the skyglow could have in phytochromes and RQE photoreceptors of plants

Abstract

The increase of artificial light at night has a terrible impact on organisms with nightlife patterns such as a migration, nutrition, reproduction and collective interaction. Plants are not free from this issue as they have life cycle events occurring not only yearly but also daily. Such events relate to daytime variations with seasons in which the flowers of deciduous trees bloom and the leaves of certain trees fall off and change color. A response of plants to artificial light at night still remains poorly quantified; but recent scientific research suggest that skyglow can disturb plants processes. For instance, low levels of light affect deciduous plants, which shed their leaves as days grow short in the fall. In this paper we model skyglow considering the features of artificial light that can affect natural processes of plants during the night. A case-study was conducted to mimic skyglow effects in real location for which experimental data exist. In our numerical simulations we found that some lighting systems can have an effect on plant photoreceptors and affect the phenology of plants. Specifically, the lamps that emit the electromagnetic energy in a wide spectral range can have greater effect on the photosensitivity of the plants. We believe the results obtained here will motivate botanists to make a targeted experiment to verify or challenge our findings. If the night light can change plant behavior under some conditions, it can have significant implications in botany, biology, or even agriculture.

Keywords: Environmental pollution; Light pollution; Phenology of plants; Plants and artificial light; Skyglow simulation.