How do changes in light affect underwater life? The ocean is becoming brighter in some areas and darker in others, but what does this mean for marine ecosystems? Questions like these are at the heart of JPI Oceans’ Joint Action on Changing Marine Lightscapes, which brought together more than fifty researchers from thirteen countries and several research funders last month in Hamburg, Germany.
The two-day kick-off event, hosted by Hereon’s Climate Service Center Germany (GERICS), officially launched two research projects: ISOLUME (IndicatorS Of changing Lightcapes in Underwater Marine Ecosystems) and ALANIS (Impacts of Artificial Light At Night on pelagic ecosystems In European Seas). The event also focused on the establishment of the Changing Marine Lightscapes Knowledge Hub. Said Knowledge Hubs are one of JPI Oceans’ implementation tools, designed to bring together experts to consolidate dispersed knowledge.
Both projects, supported by the Knowledge Hub, aim to address critical gaps in our understanding of how marine light environments are changing, looking at the drivers and ecological impacts of both Coastal Darkening and Artificial Light at Night (ALAN). Additionally, ISOLUME and ALANIS are endorsed by the UN Ocean Decade hosted by GOALANN, the research programme focusing on light pollution linking European research to global efforts on the matter.
The Changing Marine Lightscapes Joint Action exemplifies how JPI Oceans acts as first responder in identifying and advancing innovative research topics. Described by Hakai Magazine in 2011 as “the environmental threat you’ve never heard of”, light pollution is now being investigated through concerted international collaboration. JPI Oceans member countries have brought together expertise and approximately four million euros in funding to assess changes in marine lightscapes and their potential effects, yet still largely unknown, on marine ecosystems. ISOLUME and ALANIS demonstrate the value of cross-border, interdisciplinary marine research by bringing experts together to align on common parameters and terminology. For instance, no universally agreed definition exists of coastal darkening. Additionally, the two projects and the Knowledge Hub are fostering a coordinated, and therefore more effective, approach to science communication by combining their efforts to disseminate their results.
The science generated through the Changing Marine Lightscapes Joint Action provides the foundation for building bridges to policy. Together, the two projects and the Knowledge Hub aim to help close a long-standing gap in the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) Descriptor 11 on energy pollution, where light has not yet been a prominent part of the legislative discourse. The Lightscapes experts will contribute to translating their scientific findings into policy advice by working together with JPI Oceans’ Underwater Noise experts on a joint policy brief to inform Descriptor 11 of the MSFD.
The Hamburg launch officially marks the beginning of this collaborative effort on Changing Marine Lightscapes projects and Knowledge Hub. The next steps include progressing with the policy briefs, formalising the Knowledge Hub, and establishing joint communication and outreach.
Learn more about the newly launched projects below:
The ISOLUME project, coordinated by Oliver Zielinski at the Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnemünde (IOW), studies nocturnal light pollution as well as ocean darkening, and how sediments, algae, and climate change are dimming the sea’s natural light. The project analyses changes in light intensity, location, timing, and spectra over a long timespan using historical data, remote sensing, and modelling, studying marine, estuarine, and freshwater systems, with case studies across multiple European locations. ISOLUME's findings will inform future management and policy development to mitigate the ecological effects of altered marine lightscapes.
ALANIS, led by Rüdiger Röttgers at Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon, looks at Artificial Light At Night (ALAN) from ports, ships, and coastal cities. The project investigates how both lighter and darker conditions, namely ALAN and coastal darkening, affect aquatic ecosystems. Zooplankton diel vertical migration (DVM, the daily journey these small animals make, ascending to shallower waters at night to feed and descending to deeper waters during the day to avoid predators) is pivotal to this project, particularly focusing on how changes in light disrupt predator-prey dynamics and fundamental ecosystem functions. Through laboratory experiments, field studies, remote sensing, and ecosystem modelling, ALANIS examines how zooplankton respond to varying light conditions across diverse sites in European waters. The project will produce an online, high-resolution ALAN atlas, including a risk map with integrated models that predict ecological impacts.