City trees can also suffer from sleep deprivation, due to streetlights
City trees can also suffer from sleep deprivation, due to the streetlights that prevent them from getting a proper amount of sleep.
According to forester Peter Wohlleben, trees also have to sleep at night and if they cannot get proper rest, they are more likely to die earlier. “Research shows that trees near street lights die earlier. Like burning a lamp in your bedroom at night, it is not good for you,” Wohlleben says.
Peter Wohlleben has been studying and working in forests for 20 years, and is pointing out to scientific research in order to support the observations regarding the urban trees. A 2016 study funded by the European Commission saw that the artificial light in urban environments ”affected the timing of spring budburst, leaf colouring and abscission (the shedding of dead leaves)”, all of which “may have significant effects on [their] health, survival and reproduction”.
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Wohlleben also considers city trees to be ”like orphans”, as they lack the support system of their neighbours. Moreover, they experience the negative effects of radiated heat from streets and buildings at night and are deprived of microorganisms that would have normally helped them get nutrients and water.
In order to solve these issues, Wohlleben suggests that city councils should turn off the streetlights at night, as this will both help save electricity and increase the health and lifespan of urban trees.
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