Light-pollution vulnerability of national parks of India
India has 108 national parks that preserve unique combinations of flora and fauna of the Indian sub-continent. Each of our national parks are also located in unique contexts of human activity and proximity to urbanization. The boundary of the national parks is meant to demarcate areas with restricted human activities like tourism and limited forest based human settlements are permitted. Artificial Light at Night (ALAN) is known to disrupt ecosystems, can spread across several kilometers and is not limited by the physical location of human activities and settlements. ALAN is known to alter movement, food foraging, mating behaviour of insects, birds and mammals. It can also alter success rates in pollination by nocturnal insects thus affecting vegetation as well. Light from urban areas spreads far beyond city limits (upto 200 Kms), altering brightness patterns of the night-sky that are otherwise set by the lunar cycle. Lights from rural areas and tourism activities in the close proximity to the national parks can have a more direct impact where they can lower insect and bird populations.
ALAN levels have been spatially recorded (on a global scale) since the 1990s through different satellite data like VIIRS (Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite) and Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) - Operational Linescan System (OLS). These observations are a primary data source to measure human activities from local, regional to global scales and have been extensively used in studies such as electricity consumption, socioeconomic activities, light pollution, urban ecosystems, and urban extent mapping.
