Switching to daylight saving time produces a range of effects. People tend to lose about 40 minutes of sleep whenever they have to adjust to a new schedule, which can mess up with their sleep cycle and possibly cause mood disruptions and poor levels of concentration and performance.
Not everyone loves the idea of adjusting their clocks and their schedules but findings of a new study suggest that DST may be beneficial for some creatures. Researchers have found that introducing DST may help stabilize the declining population of koalas in southeast Queensland.
Koalas And Vehicular Collisions
For the study, Bill Ellis from the University of Queensland's School of Agriculture and Food Sciences, and colleagues tracked the movements of koalas and compared these with traffic patterns along roads where these animals are often killed.
Traffic during weekdays peaked between 7 a.m. and 8 a.m., and 3 p.m. and 6 p.m., while traffic during the weekend peaked between 11 a.m. and dusk. The researchers likewise found that more than 300 koalas die from being hit by cars on Queensland's roads per year. Car collisions tend to happen during the late afternoon or early evening when car traffic and koala activities are at their peak.
How Daylight Saving Time Can Reduce Number Of Koala Deaths
Adjusting the clocks though may help reduce these occurrences. Researchers said that DST may reduce car collision with koalas by 8 percent on weekdays and 11 percent on weekends. The researchers said that shifting the time of traffic relative to darkness may help in koala conservation.
Collisions with wildlife tend to occur during twilight or darkness so adopting daylight saving time may help reduce accidents that can be fatal to koalas since it would still be light when people drive home. The animal tends to be awake at night and asleep during the day,
"Cars are responsible for hundreds of koala deaths each year," Ellis said. "Anything that can reduce the number of cars on the road when nocturnal animals begin moving around is a good thing, and we wondered if daylight saving might be a factor."
Daylight Saving Time May Also Benefit Other Nocturnal Animals
Study researcher Robbie Wilson from University of Queensland's School of Biological Sciences said that it isn't just the koala that could benefit from DST. Other nocturnal animals such as wallabies and kangaroos may also benefit from switching to daylight saving time, which in turn can also improve the safety of commuters.
