Missing the Dark: Malediction for the Environment and Human Health
Asian Journal of Environment & Ecology · pp. 148–164 · Published 27 Dec 2023
10.9734/ajee/2023/v22i4516Abstract
Modern civilization has flourished after the invention of electricity and eclectic lights for getting illumination at night. Initially, artificial light was a blessing for the civilization and mankind. Later, artificial-light-at-night (ALAN) appears as a serious problem in our modern world. Rapid urbanization and industrialization are the major causes of light pollution. Indeed, artificial light has several benefits, but it has negative impacts on the entire living system, including humans. Nighttime light exposure disrupts circadian clock activities and deregulates many rhythmic behaviors (sleep, hormone secretion, and others). Insects, fishes, frogs, turtles, birds, nocturnal mammals (bats and rats), and humans are facing serious problems. Light pollution alters behavioral functions, physical and physiological activities, feeding and nesting behavior, migration, and reproductive functions in different animals. Shift work, night work, and lit areas in the streets and residential areas make a serious issue for human exposure and may cause several pathologies. Thus ALAN affects entire ecosystems, and the present review focuses on the effects of light pollution on the different living systems.
References (87)
- 1 Molecular Analysis of Mammalian Circadian Rhythms [DOI]
- 2 Photoperiodic Control of Seasonality in Birds [DOI]
- 3 Light pollution as a biodiversity threat [DOI]
- 4 The dark side of light at night: physiological, epidemiological, and ecological consequences [DOI]
- 5 Shift work, safety and productivity [DOI]
- 6 Linking Molecules to Mood: New Insight Into the Biology of Depression [DOI]
- 7 Artificial Night Lighting Affects Dawn Song, Extra-Pair Siring Success, and Lay Date in Songbirds [DOI]
- 8 Ecological effects of artificial light at night on wild plants [DOI]
- 9 Artificial light at night advances avian reproductive physiology [DOI]
- 10 Night Shift Work and the Risk of Endometrial Cancer [DOI]
- 11 Melatonin induces the expression of gonadotropin-inhibitory hormone in the avian brain [DOI]
- 12 Annual rhythms that underlie phenology: biological time-keeping meets environmental change [DOI]
- 13 Light pollution disrupts sleep in free-living animals [DOI]
- 14 Melatonin in Psychiatric Disorders: A Review on the Melatonin Involvement in Psychiatry [DOI]
- 15 Melanopsin Is Expressed in PACAP-Containing Retinal Ganglion Cells of the Human Retinohypothalamic Tract [DOI]
- 16 Green Light for Nocturnally Migrating Birds [DOI]
- 17 Global Trends in Exposure to Light Pollution in Natural Terrestrial Ecosystems [DOI]
- 18 Artificial night lighting rather than traffic noise affects the daily timing of dawn and dusk singing in common European songbirds [DOI]
- 19 Urban-like night illumination reduces melatonin release in European blackbirds (Turdus merula): implications of city life for biological time-keeping of songbirds [DOI]
- 20 Individual‐based measurements of light intensity provide new insights into the effects of artificial light at night on daily rhythms of urban‐dwelling songbirds [DOI]
- 21 Clocks for the city: circadian differences between forest and city songbirds [DOI]
- 22 Stacking the odds: light pollution may shift the balance in an ancient predator–prey arms race [DOI]
- 23 The Case of the Missing Mechanism: How Does Temperature Influence Seasonal Timing in Endotherms? [DOI]
- 24 The effects of light pollution on biological rhythms of birds: an integrated, mechanistic perspective [DOI]
- 25 Rotating Night-Shift Work and Lung Cancer Risk Among Female Nurses in the United States [DOI]
- 26 The Influence of Low Intensities of Light Pollution on Bat Communities in a Semi-Natural Context [DOI]
- 27 Effects of nocturnal illumination on life-history decisions and fitness in two wild songbird species [DOI]
- 28 Is the avian circadian system a neuroendocrine loop? [DOI]
- 29 Underlying physiological control of reproduction in urban and forest‐dwelling European blackbirds Turdus merula [DOI]
- 30 Understanding, Assessing, and Resolving Light-Pollution Problems on Sea Turtle Nesting Beaches [DOI]
- 31 Long-Term Effects of Chronic Light Pollution on Seasonal Functions of European Blackbirds (Turdus merula) [DOI]
- 32 Ecological Consequences of Artificial Night Lighting [DOI]
- 33 Effects of Melatonin on Peripheral Reproductive Function: Regulation of Testicular GnIH and Testosterone [DOI]
- 34 Avian Urban Ecology. Behavioural and Physiological Adaptations [DOI]
- 35 Bacterial curli protein promotes the conversion of PAP 248-286 into the amyloid SEVI: cross-seeding of dissimilar amyloid sequences [DOI]
- 36 Fatal Attraction of Short-Tailed Shearwaters to Artificial Lights [DOI]
- 37 GPS tracking for mapping seabird mortality induced by light pollution [DOI]
- 38 Metabolic impact of shift work [DOI]
- 39 Street lighting delays and disrupts the dispersal of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) fry [DOI]
- 40 Circadian Effects of Light No Brighter Than Moonlight [DOI]
- 41 Dim light at night disrupts the short-day response in Siberian hamsters [DOI]
- 42 Mammalian Molecular Clocks [DOI]
- 43 Environmental pollution and biodiversity: Light pollution and sea turtles in the Caribbean [DOI]
- 44 Consequences of Different Types of Littoral Zone Light Pollution on the Parental Care Behaviour of a Freshwater Teleost Fish [DOI]
- 45 Melatonin delays clutch initiation in a wild songbird [DOI]
- 46 Effects of Daytime Exposure to Light from Blue-Enriched Light-Emitting Diodes on the Nighttime Melatonin Amplitude and Circadian Regulation of Rodent Metabolism and Physiology.
- 47 Differential activation and tyrosine hydroxylase distribution in the hippocampal, pallial and midbrain brain regions in response to cognitive performance in Indian house crows exposed to abrupt light environment [DOI]
- 48 Basic Science Review on Circadian Rhythm Biology and Circadian Sleep Disorders [DOI]
- 49 The Potential Role of Melatonin on Mental Disorders: Insights from Physiology and Pharmacology [DOI]
- 50 Artificial Lighting of Poultry Houses in Western Washington [DOI]
- 51 Two new Later Stone Age sites from the Final Pleistocene in the Falémé Valley, eastern Senegal [DOI]
- 52 Carcinogenicity of night shift work [DOI]
- 53 A brief review about melatonin, a pineal hormone [DOI]
- 54 Effect of Circadian Rhythm on Metabolic Processes and the Regulation of Energy Balance [DOI]
- 55 Exposure to Artificial Light at Night and the Consequences for Flora, Fauna, and Ecosystems [DOI]
- 56 Rotating night shift work and colorectal cancer risk in the nurses’ health studies [DOI]
- 57 Off the Clock: From Circadian Disruption to Metabolic Disease [DOI]
- 58 Feedback Loops of the Mammalian Circadian Clock Constitute Repressilator [DOI]
- 59 Physiological and pharmacological perspectives of melatonin [DOI]
- 60 Defining circadian disruption in neurodegenerative disorders [DOI]
- 61 Artificial Lighting at Night in Estuaries—Implications from Individuals to Ecosystems [DOI]
- 62 Cancer in the Fourth Dimension: What Is the Impact of Circadian Disruption? [DOI]
- 63 Melatonin: Countering Chaotic Time Cues [DOI]
- 64 Artificial light at night disturbs the activity and energy allocation of the common toad during the breeding period [DOI]
- 65 The effects of artificial light at night on Eurasian tree sparrow (Passer montanus): Behavioral rhythm disruption, melatonin suppression and intestinal microbiota alterations [DOI]
- 66 Artificial light at night decreases metamorphic duration and juvenile growth in a widespread amphibian [DOI]
- 67 Artificial light at night alters life history in a nocturnal orb-web spider [DOI]
- 68 Melatonin: an endogenous miraculous indolamine, fights against cancer progression [DOI]
- 69 The importance of being rhythmic: Living in harmony with your body clocks [DOI]
- 70 Effect of no-night light environment on behaviour, learning performance and personality in zebra finches [DOI]
- 71 Artificial light at night as a driver of urban colonization by an avian predator [DOI]
- 72 The effect of on-shore light pollution on sea-turtle hatchlings commencing their off-shore swim [DOI]
- 73 Artificial Light at Night (ALAN) Is the Main Driver of Nocturnal Feral Pigeon (Columba livia f. domestica) Foraging in Urban Areas [DOI]
- 74 In utero circadian changes; facing light pollution [DOI]
- 75 Impact of circadian clock dysfunction on human health [DOI]
- 76 Constant light environment suppresses maturation and reduces complexity of new born neuron processes in the hippocampus and caudal nidopallium of a diurnal corvid: Implication for impairment of the learning and cognitive performance [DOI]
- 77 Light pollution hampers recolonization of revitalised European Nightjar habitats in the Valais (Swiss Alps) [DOI]
- 78 Why do cancer cells break from host circadian rhythm? Insights from unicellular organisms [DOI]
- 79 Effects of Night Illumination on Behavior, Body Mass and Learning in Male Zebra Finches [DOI]
- 80 Melatonin: A Potential Antineoplastic Agent in Breast Cancer [DOI]
- 81 A Profound Relationship between Circadian Rhythm Dysfunction and Cancer Progression: An Approach to Exploration [DOI]
- 82 The potential anti-cancer effects of melatonin on breast cancer [DOI]
- 83 Artificial Light at Night, Higher Brain Functions and Associated Neuronal Changes: An Avian Perspective [DOI]
- 84 The Potential Oncostatic Effects of Melatonin against Prostate Cancer [DOI]
- 85 The promising oncostatic effects of melatonin against ovarian cancer [DOI]
- 86 Avian urban ecology: behavioural and physiological adaptations [DOI]
- 87 Exploration of Medicine [DOI]
Cited by 2
Katarzyna Bobkowska, P. Tysiąc, Paweł Burdziakowski · International Conference “Environmental Engineering” · 2026
Showing 1 of 2 known citations — external sources report more than can currently be individually listed.
Related research
- Pineal Body Tumor: An Overview of the Pathophysiology — shares topic coverage
- A Randomised Controlled Trial on the Effectiveness of Melatonin in Controlling Blood Loss during Ceaserean Section in a Tertiary Centre in Southeast Nigeria — shares topic coverage
- Exogenous Application of Melatonin-loaded Nanoformulation for Yield Enhancement in Finger Millet (Eleusine coracana) under Drought Condition — shares topic coverage
- Stabilization of Prostate Cancer with Amanita phalloides: Intervals with 5-Alpha-Reductase Inhibitors and Melatonin to Circumvent Resistance: Case Report — shares topic coverage
- Effects of Melatonin on Metabolic Abnormalities in HIV Patients Treated with Antiretroviral Drugs — shares topic coverage
Article metrics
Real usage data collected on this platform.
28
Page views
0
PDF downloads
2
Outbound clicks
2
Citations
Views over time
Views by country
Approximate, from request IP at view time — not citizenship or institution. Countries with fewer than 5 views are grouped as "Other".
Traffic sources
Referring site, by host.
Views and downloads exclude known bots/crawlers. Citations combines this platform's own DOI-resolved index with each external source's own reported total — see Cited by above for individually listed citing works. Last refreshed 0 seconds ago.