Mechanistic, ecological, and evolutionary consequences of artificial light at night for insects: review and prospective

Desouhant, Emmanuel; Gomes, Elisa; Mondy, Nathalie; Amat, Isabelle

doi:10.1111/eea.12754

Cited by 92 publications

(71 citation statements)

References 114 publications

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“…We found a strong increase in insect abundance in ALAN plots, with these communities dominated by emergent aquatic insects, a finding that is consistent with those from other studies [28,32,34,37,46,47]. ALAN plots also had greater family richness, while non-ALAN control plots were more diverse, a result attributable to more-even community composition; ALAN mesocosms were dominated by the aquatic family Caenidae, reducing evenness and H' values.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Artificial light at night at the terrestrial-aquatic interface: Effects on predators and fluxes of insect prey

2020

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The outcomes of species interactions-such as those between predators and prey-increasingly depend on environmental conditions that are modified by human activities. Light is among the most fundamental environmental parameters, and humans have dramatically altered natural light regimes across much of the globe through the addition of artificial light at night (ALAN). The consequences for species interactions, communities and ecosystems are just beginning to be understood. Here we present findings from a replicated field experiment that simulated over-the-water lighting in the littoral zone of a small lake. We evaluated responses by emergent aquatic insects and terrestrial invertebrate communities, and riparian predators (tetragnathid spiders). On average ALAN plots had 51% more spiders than control plots that were not illuminated. Mean individual spider body mass was greater in ALAN plots relative to controls, an effect that was strongly sex-dependent; mean male body mass was 34% greater in ALAN plots while female body mass was 176% greater. The average number of prey items captured in spider webs was 139% greater on ALAN mesocosms, an effect attributed to emergent aquatic insects. Non-metric multidimensional scaling and a multiple response permutation procedure revealed significantly different invertebrate communities captured in pan traps positioned in ALAN plots and controls. Control plots had taxonomic-diversity values (as H') that were 58% greater than ALAN plots, and communities that were 83% more-even. We attribute these differences to the aquatic family Caenidae which was the dominant family across both light treatments, but was 818% more abundant in ALAN plots. Our findings show that when ALAN is located in close proximity to freshwater it can concentrate fluxes of emergent aquatic insects, and that terrestrial predators in the littoral zone can compound this effect and intercept resource flows, preventing them from entering the terrestrial realm.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Artificial light at night at the terrestrial-aquatic interface: Effects on predators and fluxes of insect prey

2020

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“…We will only outline the main traits and processes relevant to this article. For more extensive treatment, several review articles and book chapters have been published that can be referred to (Desouhant, Gomes, Mondy, & Amat, 2019;Gaston, Davies, Nedelec, & Holt, 2017;Grubisic, Grunsven, Kyba, Manfrin, & Hölker, 2018;Longcore & Rich, 2004;Owens & Lewis, 2018;Perry, Buchanan, Fisher, Salmon, & Wise, 2008;Rich & Longcore, 2006;Stevens & Zhu, 2015). At the physiological level, ALAN is a major source of circadian disruption that F I G U R E 1 Mean latitudinal distribution of artificial light at night (ALAN) and cloud cover fraction as measured from satellite images (a and c, respectively) and their standard deviations (b, d).…”

Section: The G Eog R Aphi C Al E X Tent Of Al An and Its Effec T Onmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing the effects of artificial light at night on biodiversity across latitude – Current knowledge gaps

Secondi

Davranche

Théry

et al. 2019

Global Ecol Biogeogr

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Aim: Exposure to artificial light at night (ALAN) is a risk factor for organisms.Considering the spread and increasing intensity of night brightness across the globe, and the key role of light at all biological levels, alterations of ecosystems are ex-pected. Yet, we cannot predict the severity of the effects of ALAN in several biomes because little information is available outside the temperate zone. We reviewed current knowledge and identified traits that could be targeted to fill this knowledge gap in order to contribute to the elaboration of a biogeographical framework for the study of ALAN at the global scale. Location: Global.Time period: Current and next decades. Methods:We analysed the latitudinal variation in ALAN and focused on environmental factors that vary with latitude but that have been overlooked. We reviewed biological traits that exhibit latitudinal variation and depend on light and photoperiod and compiled information about the predicted changes in human demography and road networks across different world regions. Results:Cloud cover amplifies ALAN far away from urbanized areas. Because of the higher frequency of overcast sky nights, exposure effects may be stronger both at high latitudes and across a large fraction of the intertropical zone, although at different times of the year. Intertropical biomes host the largest fraction of global biodiversity. Although currently they are not the most exposed to ALAN, their human populations are growing, and urbanized areas and road networks are expanding.Hence, ALAN could have strong ecological consequences, with cloud cover as an aggravating factor. Perspectives: Knowledge gaps currently limit our ability to predict the effects of ALAN in different biomes. Therefore, it will be important to start investigating the consequences of this novel environmental factor across the globe, in order to develop a relevant theoretical framework. K E Y W O R D SALAN, biogeography, exposure, global change, intertropical, latitude, light pollution | 405 SECONDI Et al.

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“…Artificial light at night (ALAN) is identified as an important driver of environmental change in the 21st century (Davies et al 2012;Davies and Smyth, 2018;Hölker et al 2010). Still an underestimated challenge for the ecological environment (Gaston et al 2013;Guette et al 2018;Lyytimaki 2013), ALAN may exacerbate already precarious conditions for nocturnal organisms (Desouhant et al 2019;Fiorentin and Boscaro 2019;Owens et al 2019;Tahkamo et al 2019), and even leave traces into daytime (Knop et al 2017). Recent reviews point out that artificial light at night impacts practically all aspects in the life cycle of nocturnal insects: orientation, movement, foraging pattern, mate choice, predator availability, larval development, physiological processes and, last, but not least, adaptive and behavioral traits (Desouhant et al 2019;Owens et al 2019;Owens and Lewis 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Low impact of two LED colors on nocturnal insect abundance and bat activity in a peri-urban environment

et al. 2020

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Artificial light at night (ALAN) is an important driver of change in ecological environments of the 21th century. We investigated the impact on nocturnal insect abundance and bat activity of two LED light colors (warm-white 2700 K, cold-white 6500 K) in a peri-urban environment. Bat activity (predominantly Pipistrellus pipistrellus) was largely driven by prey availability (insects), while insect abundance was responsive to nightly weather conditions (precipitation, temperature). Thus, both insects and bats were not differentially responsive to cold-white or warm-white LEDs. These findings are largely in contrast with literature, particularly for insects. However, as most published experiments on ALAN were conducted in areas that were lit solely for the purpose of the experiment, we would like to bring forward that (1) adaptation to environmental constraints may play a role in peri-urban environments that have been exposed to ALAN for many decades; or (2) impacts of cold-white LEDs on nocturnal insects may be lower than expected, because nocturnal insects adapted to low-light conditions may be put off by cold white light sources (6500 K).

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Mechanistic, ecological, and evolutionary consequences of artificial light at night for insects: review and prospective

Cited by 92 publications

References 114 publications

Artificial light at night at the terrestrial-aquatic interface: Effects on predators and fluxes of insect prey

Artificial light at night at the terrestrial-aquatic interface: Effects on predators and fluxes of insect prey

Assessing the effects of artificial light at night on biodiversity across latitude – Current knowledge gaps

Low impact of two LED colors on nocturnal insect abundance and bat activity in a peri-urban environment

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