Light pollution is disrupting the seasonal rhythms of plants and trees, lengthening pollen season in US cities

By Yuyu Zhou, Associate Professor of Environmental Science, Iowa State University

The Research Brief is a short take about interesting academic work.

The big idea

City lights that blaze all night are profoundly disrupting urban plants’ phenology – shifting when their buds open in the spring and when their leaves change colors and drop in the fall. New research I coauthored shows how nighttime lights are lengthening the growing season in cities, which can affect everything from allergies…

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