Artificial lights and seabirds: is light pollution a threat for the threatened Balearic petrels?

Petrels are among the most threatened group of birds. On top of facing predation by introduced mammals and incidental bycatch, these seabirds have to deal with an emerging threat, light pollution, which is increasing globally. Fledglings are disoriented and attracted to artificial lights in their maiden night flights from their nests to the sea. Once grounded, they are exposed to multiple threats leading to high mortality. We report on numbers of three petrel species (Balearic shearwater Puffinus mauretanicus, Scopoli’s shearwater Calonectris diomedea, and European storm-petrel Hydrobates pelagicus) rescued on the Balearic Islands, Mediterranean Sea, in the period 1999–2013. We assessed the proportion of grounded fledglings in the population and colonies impact based on radiance levels measured from a nocturnal satellite image. We also calculated the radius of light pollution impact. At least 304 …

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Rodríguez A. García D. Rodríguez B. Cardona E. Parpal L. y Pons P. Artificial lights and seabirds: is light pollution a threat for the threatened Balearic petrels?. Springer, 2015. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-015-1232-3

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Retrieved: 06 Nov 2025 06:05:16
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Resource type Text
Date of creation 2025-05-23
Date of last revision 2025-05-23
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Metadata identifier a9f905ae-3c30-5ccc-bfbf-f5d7204c81a9
Metadata language Spanish
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ISO 19115 topic category biota
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Name of the dataset creator Rodríguez, A., García, D., Rodríguez, B., Cardona, E., Parpal, L. y Pons, P.
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Other identifier DOI: 10.1007/s10336-015-1232-3
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