Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Do Embedded Roadway Lights Protect Sea Turtles?

  • RESEARCH
  • Published:
Environmental Management Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Street lighting on coastal roadways is often visible at sea turtle nesting beaches, and disrupts the nocturnal orientation of hatchlings as they crawl toward the sea. Our objective was to determine whether an alternative lighting system (light-emitting diodes, embedded in the roadway pavement) prevented orientation disruption. Hatchlings at the beach oriented normally when only the embedded lights were on, or when all lighting was switched off. However, turtles showed poor orientation when street lighting was on. Measurements confirmed that street lighting was scattered to the beach, whereas embedded lighting was not. We conclude that embedded lighting keeps the beach dark and thus protects sea turtles. However, on two overcast evenings, lighting (“skyglow”) from nearby development, reflected by cloud cover to the beach, weakened hatchling orientation. Thus, both indirect (reflected) and direct sources of lighting negatively impact the turtles.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
Figure 4

Similar content being viewed by others

Literature Cited

  • Adamany S., M. Salmon, B. E. Witherington. 1997. Behavior of sea turtles at an urban beach III. Costs and benefits of nest caging as a management strategy. Florida Scientist 60:239–253

    Google Scholar 

  • Bustard H. R. 1967. Mechanism of nocturnal emergence from the nest in green turtle hatchlings. Nature 214:317

    Google Scholar 

  • Carr A., L. Ogren. 1960. The ecology and migrations of sea turtles. IV. The green turtle in the Caribbean sea. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 121:6–45

    Google Scholar 

  • Ecological Associates, Inc. 1997. Beach lighting management plan: A comprehensive approach for addressing coastal lighting impacts on sea turtles in Broward County, Florida. Broward County technical report 97-06

  • Ecological Associates, Inc. 1998. Coastal roadway lighting manual: A handbook of practical guidelines for managing street lighting to minimize impacts to sea turtles. Report prepared for the Florida Power & Light Corporation

  • Ellis, R. D., and S. Washburn. 2003. Evaluation of the safety and user response to embedded roadway lighting systems on an FDOT demonstration project. Summary report #BC354–31, Florida Department of Transportation, Tallahassee, Florida, 3 pp

  • Florida Department of Environmental Protection. 1996. Marine Turtle Conservation Guidelines, January, 1996. Florida Department of Environmental Protection, Tallahassee, Florida. 43 pp

  • Gocke, J., M. Salmon, and K. Horch. 2004. Spectral sensitivity of leatherback (Dermochelys coriacea) and loggerhead (Caretta caretta) hatchling to light: a comparative study. Proceedings of the 23rd Annual Symposium on sea turtle Biology and Conservation. NOAA Technical Memorandum (in press)

  • Limpus C. J. 1971. Sea turtle ocean finding behaviour. Search 2:385–387

    Google Scholar 

  • Lohmann K. J., C. M. F. Lohmann 2003. Orientation mechanisms of hatchling loggerheads. In A. B. Bolten, B. E. Witherington (eds.), Loggerhead sea turtles. Smithsonian Books, Washington, DC, pp 44–62

    Google Scholar 

  • Lohmann K. J., B. E. Witherington, C. M. F. Lohmann, M. Salmon 1997. Orientation, navigation, and natal beach homing in sea turtles. In P. L. Lutz, J. A. Musick (eds.), The biology of sea turtles. CRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida, pp 107–135

    Google Scholar 

  • Mrosovsky N. 1968. Nocturnal emergence of hatchling sea turtles: Control by thermal inhibition of activity. Nature 220:1338–1339

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mrosovsky N., S. F. Kingsmill. 1985. How turtles find the sea. Z Tierpsychol 67:237–256.

    Google Scholar 

  • Salmon M. 2003. Artificial lighting and sea turtles. The Biologist 50:163–168

    Google Scholar 

  • Salmon, M. 2005. Artificial lighting and sea turtles: lessons learned from Florida. Pages 141–168 in T. Longhorn and C. Rich (eds.), Ecological consequences of artificial light. Island Press, San Francisco

  • Salmon M., B. E. Witherington 1995. Artificial lighting and seafinding by loggerhead hatchlings: Evidence for lunar modulation. Copeia 4:931–938

    Google Scholar 

  • Salmon M, J. Wyneken, E. Fritz, M. Lucas 1992. Seafinding by hatchling sea turtles: Role of brightness, silhouette and beach slope as orientation cues. Behaviour 122:56–77

    Google Scholar 

  • Tuxbury S. M., M. Salmon. 2005. Competitive interactions between artificial lighting and natural cues during the orientation of marine turtle hatchlings. Biological Conservation 21:311–316

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Verheijen F. J. 1958. The mechanisms of the trapping effect of artificial light sources upon animals. Arch Neerl Zool 3:1–107.

    Google Scholar 

  • Verheijen F. J. 1980. The moon: A neglected factor in studies on collisions of nocturnal migrant birds with tall lighted structures and with aircraft. Vogelwarte 30:305–320

    Google Scholar 

  • Verheijen F. J. 1981. Bird kills at lighted man-made structures: Not on nights close to a full moon. American Birds 35:251–254

    Google Scholar 

  • Verheijen F. J. 1985. Photopollution: Artificial light optic spatial control systems fail to cope with. Incidents, causation, remedies. Experimental Biology 44:1–18

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Witherington, B. E. 1992a. Sea-finding behavior and the use of photic orientation cues by hatchling sea turtles. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida

  • Witherington B. E. 1992b. Behavioral responses of nesting sea turtles to artificial lighting. Herpetologica 48:31–39

    Google Scholar 

  • Witherington B. E., K. A. Bjorndal. 1991. Influences of artificial lighting on the seaward orientation of hatchling loggerhead turtles (Caretta caretta). Biological Conservation 55:139–149

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Witherington, B. E., and R. E. Martin. 1996. Understanding, assessing, and resolving light-pollution problems on sea turtle nesting beaches. Florida Marine Research Institute Technical Report. FMRI Technical Report RT-2

  • Zar J. H. 1999. Biostatistical analysis. Prentice Hall, New Jersey, 412 pp

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We thank A. Broadwell (FDOT) for administering the contract that supported this study, B. E. Witherington for suggesting the embedded lighting project, and the Florida Department of Transportation and the City of Boca Raton for financing it. This study served as a Masters thesis in Biology for L. B. Its design was approved by the State (Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, turtle permit No. 72) and by the Florida Atlantic University Institutional Animal Care Committee.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Broward County Department of Planning and Environmental Protection, Biological Resources Division, 218 SW 1st Avenue, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, 33301, USA

    Lesley Bertolotti

  2. Department of Biological Sciences, Florida Atlantic University, 777 Glades Road, Boca Raton, Florida, 33431, USA

    Michael Salmon

Authors
  1. Lesley Bertolotti
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Michael Salmon
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Michael Salmon.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Bertolotti, L., Salmon, M. Do Embedded Roadway Lights Protect Sea Turtles?. Environmental Management 36, 702–710 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-004-0288-2

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-004-0288-2

Keywords

Search

Navigation