According to the Bat Conservation Trust bats are nocturnal animals and are adapted to low-light conditions. This means that most bat species can find artificial lighting to be very disturbing.
Bats play a key role in global ecology, pollinating plants and providing the guano that acts as a fertilizer, as well as eating bugs that decimate our crops.
A study, published online in the journal Global Change Biology, shows that bats tend not to move freely in brightly lit areas.
“The ability to freely move around is key to individual bat fitness and resilience of the broader bat population,” James Hale, a research associate in the school of geography at the University of Birmingham in England and the study’s lead author, said in a written statement.
The availability of cheap, energy-efficient lighting could “prove a real problem for bats as they move around a city,” he added.
Bats in the attic? Find out how to safely and humanely remove bats from your house—and help them out where they belong at The Humane Society of the United States.