5.11 Pollution and Contaminants
5.11.4 Excess Energy—Anticipated Impacts Te most common expression of excess energy is light pollution. It alters and interferes with the timing of necessary biological activities, especially for crepuscular and nocturnal species by exposing them to predators and reducing the time they have to fnd food, shelter, or mates, and to reproduce. Excessive lighting has been shown to alter the nesting behavior of sea turtles, causing females to cluster nests in areas shaded from lights, which leads to competition for nesting sites and damage to previously laid eggs (Salmon et al. 1995a) . Once the nestlings hatch, light pollution causes them to become disoriented and have difculty fnding their way to the ocean, thus increasing predation and mortality (Salmon et al. 1995b) . Nocturnal animals are adapted to seeing in low light conditions; consequently, lights at night can blind these animals causing disruptions to migrations and local movements. Increased mortality due to road kill at night is common for species such as Opossum and skunks. Some salamanders show reduced night foraging behavior in the presence of artif- cial lights. Of course light pollution has a dramatic efect on insects, killing or afecting countless numbers. Teir altered behavior, in turn, afects animals that feed on them, such as bats and birds like the Common Nighthawk and Whip-poor-will. Light pollution can send bird migrations of course, which can cause mortality. Tere are instances of spring migrants such as warblers becoming disoriented by lights in a fog and fying into a building, killing hundreds of the birds. 5.11.5 SGCN Priority Species Te Taxa Team evaluation considered the level of threat pollution and contaminants rep- resents to SGCN priority species. Table 5.10 provides a list of species for which this threat category is consider very high or high.
T ABLE 5.10 SGCN at very high or high threat from pollution and contaminants
Threat Level Very High High
Scientifc Name
Common Name
AMPHIBIAN Desmognathus auriculatus Desmognathus imitator pop.1 Hemidactylium scutatum
Southern Dusky Salamander
X X X X
Imitator Salamander—Waterrock Knob pop.
Four-toed Salamander Neuse River Waterdog
Necturus lewisi
721
2015 NC Wildlife Action Plan
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