Aeroecology of a solar eclipse
Nilsson, Cecilia LU
; Horton, Kyle G.
; Dokter, Adriaan M.
; Van Doren, Benjamin M.
and Farnsworth, Andrew
(2018)
In Biology letters
14(11).
- Abstract
Light cues elicit strong responses from nearly all forms of life, perhaps most notably as circadian rhythms entrained by periods of daylight and darkness. Atypical periods of darkness, like solar eclipses, provide rare opportunities to study biological responses to light cues. By using a continental scale radar network, we investigated responses of flying animals to the total solar eclipse of 21 August 2017. We quantified the number of biological targets in the atmosphere at 143 weather radar stations across the continental United States to investigate whether the decrease in light and temperature at an atypical time would initiate a response like that observed at sunset, when activity in the atmosphere usually increases. Overall,... (More)
Light cues elicit strong responses from nearly all forms of life, perhaps most notably as circadian rhythms entrained by periods of daylight and darkness. Atypical periods of darkness, like solar eclipses, provide rare opportunities to study biological responses to light cues. By using a continental scale radar network, we investigated responses of flying animals to the total solar eclipse of 21 August 2017. We quantified the number of biological targets in the atmosphere at 143 weather radar stations across the continental United States to investigate whether the decrease in light and temperature at an atypical time would initiate a response like that observed at sunset, when activity in the atmosphere usually increases. Overall, biological activity decreased in the period leading to totality, followed by a short low-altitude spike of biological activity during totality in some radars. This pattern suggests that cues associated with the eclipse were insufficient to initiate nocturnal activity comparable to that occurring at sunset but sufficient to suppress diurnal activity.
(Less)
- author
- Nilsson, Cecilia
LU
; Horton, Kyle G.
; Dokter, Adriaan M.
; Van Doren, Benjamin M.
and Farnsworth, Andrew
- publishing date
- 2018-11-01
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- keywords
- Light cues, Nocturnal migration, Radar aeroecology, Solar eclipse
- in
- Biology letters
- volume
- 14
- issue
- 11
- article number
- 20180485
- publisher
- Royal Society Publishing
- external identifiers
-
- pmid:30429244
- scopus:85056640308
- ISSN
- 1744-9561
- DOI
- 10.1098/rsbl.2018.0485
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- no
- additional info
- Publisher Copyright: & 2018 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved.
- id
- 984f8f4e-2a39-4716-956d-d5e672077ce8
- date added to LUP
- 2023-08-30 11:37:42
- date last changed
- 2025-01-13 04:26:18
@article{984f8f4e-2a39-4716-956d-d5e672077ce8,
abstract = {{<p>Light cues elicit strong responses from nearly all forms of life, perhaps most notably as circadian rhythms entrained by periods of daylight and darkness. Atypical periods of darkness, like solar eclipses, provide rare opportunities to study biological responses to light cues. By using a continental scale radar network, we investigated responses of flying animals to the total solar eclipse of 21 August 2017. We quantified the number of biological targets in the atmosphere at 143 weather radar stations across the continental United States to investigate whether the decrease in light and temperature at an atypical time would initiate a response like that observed at sunset, when activity in the atmosphere usually increases. Overall, biological activity decreased in the period leading to totality, followed by a short low-altitude spike of biological activity during totality in some radars. This pattern suggests that cues associated with the eclipse were insufficient to initiate nocturnal activity comparable to that occurring at sunset but sufficient to suppress diurnal activity.</p>}},
author = {{Nilsson, Cecilia and Horton, Kyle G. and Dokter, Adriaan M. and Van Doren, Benjamin M. and Farnsworth, Andrew}},
issn = {{1744-9561}},
keywords = {{Light cues; Nocturnal migration; Radar aeroecology; Solar eclipse}},
language = {{eng}},
month = {{11}},
number = {{11}},
publisher = {{Royal Society Publishing}},
series = {{Biology letters}},
title = {{Aeroecology of a solar eclipse}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2018.0485}},
doi = {{10.1098/rsbl.2018.0485}},
volume = {{14}},
year = {{2018}},
}