Travis Longcore

Sensory Perception in a Changing World graphic. The graphic has a black background. The text in the top right says: Special Issue. Next line: Sensory Perception in a Changing World Next line: Guest Editors: Almut Kelber, Kathleen M. Gilmour and Sanjay Sane Next line: the Journal of Experimental Biology logo Left of graphic: image showing a moth drinking nectar from cluster of white flowers against two circular green leaves

Artificial light at night, urban noise, psychoactive pollutants, agriculture, introduced species & a warming world are making it difficult to sleep. John Lesku & Anne Aulesebrook review how species are affected & suggest ways to minimise the impact #SensoryPerceptionInAChangingWorld

bit.ly/469cNrT

Glare more than uplight attracts flying insects to artificial lights Artificial lighting at night (ALAN) from residential, commercial, transportation, and other sources has substantially altered nocturnal light environm…

Paper 15: Brett Seymoure et al take us to the Chihuahuan desert to test impacts of ALAN shielding types and their resulting impacts on insects. Obviously, all ALAN attracted insects, but shielding, particularly to prevent glare, showed reduced insect attraction. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Assessing and mapping taxon-specific effects of ecological light pollution for environmental impact analysis Predicting the adverse effects of light at night is necessary to ensure compliance with laws and regulations that protect species. Using two case stud…

Paper 13 is out: @travislongcore.bsky.social and colleagues present a detailed framework for ALAN risk assessment for species, using several real-world case studies as examples. Risks have not been taken into account enough in our bright world. Great work!

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Special thanks to the detailed, patient, and constructive reviewers and the editors of the special issue of Biological Conservation where the study appears. Full issue here: www.sciencedirect.com/special-issu... fin/

Study undertaken at @uclaioes.bsky.social, funded by California Department of Transportation (Caltrans), with collaborators @mherf.bsky.social and Clanton and Associates Lighting Design and Engineering.

Light pollution can be reduced safely, but it requires:
🔬 More spectral response data for wildlife
🖥️ Better integrated software tools
📋 Updated environmental review standards
🤝 Collaboration between lighting engineers + ecologists
It's technically feasible. Let's make it standard practice. 7/

When is light pollution actually "pollution" for wildlife? 🚨
Our proposed thresholds (in animal-adjusted lux):

<0.001: Minimal impact (but glare still matters)
0.01-0.1: Probable significant impacts
0.1: Definite significant impacts

Why? 🌘 Moonlight is ~82% of night hours at <0.01 lux. 6/

We did this analysis with standard lighting software AGi32 + GIS, but it was tedious. The tools exist, but:

Can't handle large areas
Don't talk to each other
Not designed for <0.1 lux precision

We need platforms that combine lighting calculations + ecology + spatial data. Who's building this? 🛠️ 5/

Plot twist: Some shields made things worse. 😬

At one site, house-side shields increased forward light throw, expanding the impact area by 16%.

Lesson: Environmental review needs site-specific analysis. We need better integration of lighting engineering + ecology. 4/

Real-world application: SR-12/SR-113 intersection in CA tiger salamander habitat.

Before mitigation: Light >0.01 lux extended 200+ ft into habitat area.

After shielding + spectral tuning: 38% reduction in area at >0.01 lux. 3/

Why moonlight? 🌒

Animals evolved with lunar cycles. Full moon = ~0.1 lux. But roadway lights can blast habitat with 10-50+ lux.

We developed "moonlight equivalent illuminance"—showing how bright lights appear to each species based on their visual system. 2/

Assessing and mapping taxon-specific effects of ecological light pollution for environmental impact analysis Predicting the adverse effects of light at night is necessary to ensure compliance with laws and regulations that protect species. Using two case stud…

Environmental assessments need to account for spectrum and brightness of light affecting sensitive species. 🌙

We map impact zones using "moonlight equivalent" measures accounting for species visual sensitivity, then apply spectral tuning and shielding.
🔗 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... 1/

Assessing and mapping taxon-specific effects of ecological light pollution for environmental impact analysis Predicting the adverse effects of light at night is necessary to ensure compliance with laws and regulations that protect species. Using two case stud…

I helped Travis with some moonlight calcs for this paper - our code figures out "how bright compared to moonlight is this light for each species". There is a ton of photometrics and spatial modeling here too:
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Trust, Incommensurability, and the Limits of Intersubjectivity A response to “Can We Trust Social Science Yet?” by Ryan Briggs

A sympathetic response to Ryan Briggs on trust in social science.
My argument: the deepest problem isn’t error, but epistemic incommensurability-when fields lose shared standards for weighing evidence, experience, and interpretation.
Trust depends on commensuration.
open.substack.com/pub/kylesaun...

📢 NEW SPECIAL ISSUE OUT!

Excited to share a special issue I co-edited on bird–window collisions, a major yet overlooked source of bird mortality

Bringing together 8 papers, this issue advances methods, evidence, and solutions to inform bird-friendly(er) built environments

OA: tinyurl.com/yss5mvf2

A new UCLA–NRDC report shows massive pricing disparities in who pays what for water from the #ColoradoRiverBasin.

Some California urban water agencies shell out over $2,500 per acre-foot of surface water, while some irrigation districts pay $0—for the exact same water. ucla.in/4pC6ODH @nrdc.org

NEW PAPER on impact of #lightpollution, led by Yuhan He who recently defended her PhD thesis.
Historical Exposure to Artificial Light at Night Shapes Daphnia Responses: An Experiment Across an Urban–Rural Gradient - He - 2025 - Ecology and Evolution onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Grateful for received #funding from @koneensaatio.fi for our project on impact of light pollution on the flux of insects between aquatic and terrestrial habitats. Will be looking for a #postdoc and a #PhD for 4 years – take contact if interested.
koneensaatio.fi/apurahat-ja-...

Policymaking Under Uncertainty: Zone 0 and Vegetation Clearance webinar announcement, Friday December 12, 2025 at 12PM PT. Panelists: Edith de Guzman, Travis Longcore, Max Moritz and Alessandro Ossola. Moderated by Nurit Katz and hosted by the UCLA Sustainable LA Grand Challenge.

Join us for Policymaking Under Uncertainty: Zone 0 and Vegetation Management on Friday December 12, 2025 at 12 p.m. PT
👉 Register today: ucla.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

@edithdeguzman.bsky.social | @travislongcore.bsky.social | Max Moritz | Alessandro Ossola | Nurit Katz

A woman using an umbrella to shield the sun on a park bench

Read our suggestions for how to kickstart the important transformation of our urban environment to help shield residents from the worst effects of rising temperatures @uclaioes.bsky.social @law.ucla.edu @uclasustainablela.bsky.social @luskininnovation.bsky.social

law.ucla.edu/news/reducin...

You don't say. Quality of news outlets shared is lower on conservative social platforms. Bluesky --> more liberal and higher quality news outlets shared. PNAS paper: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/... Since you nerds asked, news outlet quality rankings from this paper: academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ar...

Looks like a well-conceived and very necessary initiative; count me in!

Researchers make surprising discovery while studying people's behavior at public parks: 'One compelling exception' They conducted the research using smartphone location data.

Media picked up our latest extreme heat work and writes better headlines than I do.. www.yahoo.com/news/article... #urbanecology #extremeheat #parks

My projects have always done all-sky measurements under all conditions because I'm concerned with the effects on wildlife, as well as interested in seeing the stars. For example, this paper --> iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1... where we show the influence of the % clouds on illuminance.

In 2010-2013, conservation teams on #Chichijima - 1 of the main islands in the #Ogasawara chain - captured & removed 131 feral cats. The goal was to reduce predation pressure on an endangered pigeon. The results were immediate: adult pigeon numbers rose from 111 to 966 www.nature.com/articles/s42...

A look at the devastating power loss across Jamaica following the historic crossing of Hurricane Melissa, captured by NOAA-21.

The global biomass of mammals since 1850. On the bright side, a few more whales since the 1980s. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Healthy forests have native pollinators.

Big thanks to @uclasustainablela.bsky.social at for funding the Heat Resilient LA project and @countyofla.bsky.social for their collaboration. end/