Anthropogenic light pollution and the settlement of benthic fouling communities in a Gulf of Maine ecosystem

Anthropogenic light pollution increasingly affects much of Earth’s terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Coined ‘ecological light pollution,\u27 human-induced light that influences and changes the behavior of species and communities of organisms has become an important, but little researched topic. Several studies have looked at the impacts of artificial night time light at the species level; however, few studies have been geared towards establishing a relationship between artificial nighttime light and communities of ecosystems, in particular marine ecosystems have not been studied