Stony corals are the founding species of reefs around the globe on which ~0.5 billion people depend for their livelihoods. Controlled polyp expansion is critical for successful feeding and nutrient acquisition of both, the coral hosts and their photosynthetic symbionts and represents, consequently, an important driver of coral reef health. We could show that ALAN with a broadband white spectrum can disrupt the natural polyp expansion behaviour (Mardones et al. 2023). The present project explores the sensitivity of coral expansion to light of different spectral composition with the aim to develop guidelines for the design of lighting solutions with reduced ALAN effects on coral behaviour.
Mardones, M.L., Lambert, J., Wiedenmann, J., Davies, T.W., Levy, O. and D’Angelo, C., 2023. Artificial light at night (ALAN) disrupts behavioural patterns of reef corals. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 194, p.115365.
