Stressful colours: corticosterone concentrations in a free-living songbird vary with the spectral composition of experimental illumination

Ouyang, Jenny Q.; Jong, Maaike de; Hau, Michaela; Visser, Marcel E.; Grunsven, Roy H. A. van; Spoelstra, Kamiel

doi:10.1098/rsbl.2015.0517

Cited by 80 publications

(79 citation statements)

References 17 publications

(24 reference statements)

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“…artificial light) can imitate ancestral cues (natural light) and animals exposed to this new environment may change their behaviour with innate responses that are no longer adaptive (Blumstein & BergerTal, 2015). Early singing may for example lead to sleep deprivation (Raap, Pinxten, & Eens, 2015) or to increased stress levels (Ouyang et al, 2015). Further work should also investigate whether songbirds can lower these potential costs by using (adaptive) compensatory behaviours (Sih et al, 2011) such as light avoidance, increased foraging, or decreased song output later during the day.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Behavioural plasticity in the onset of dawn song under intermittent experimental night lighting

2016

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The disruption of daily rhythms is one of the most studied ecological consequences of light pollution. Previous work showed that several songbird species initiated dawn song earlier in areas with light pollution. However, the mechanisms underlying this shift are still unknown. Individuals may immediately adjust their timing of singing to the presence of artificial light (behavioural plasticity), but the observed effect may also be due to phenotype-dependent habitat choice, effects of conditions during early life or micro-evolution. The main aim of this study was to experimentally investigate how males of four common passerine species respond to day-to-day variation in the presence of artificial night lighting in terms of the timing of singing. During two consecutive breeding seasons, we manipulated the presence of light throughout the night in a cyclic fashion in several naturally undisturbed forest patches. We show that individuals of all four species immediately and reversibly adjusted their onset of dawn singing in response to artificial light. The effect was strongest in the European robin, but relatively small in the blue tit, the great tit and the blackbird. The effect in the latter two species was smaller than expected from the correlational studies. This may be coincidence (small sample size of this study), but it could also indicate that there are longer-term effects of living in light-polluted urban areas on timing of dawn singing, or that birds use compensatory behaviours such as light avoidance. We found no evidence that our light treatment had carryover effects into the subsequent dark period, but robins progressively advanced their dawn singing during the light treatment.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Behavioural plasticity in the onset of dawn song under intermittent experimental night lighting

2016

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“…While artificial light affects circadian and circannual biology, the consequences on an individual's health and fitness under actual conditions remain unknown. We found that great tits roosting in white light have higher stress hormone concentrations (Ouyang et al., ), but it is uncertain if the cause is due to changes in behavior or the result of a direct physiological effect. Glucocorticoids, like those found to be elevated in the great tits, can be immunosuppressive (Nelson, Demas, Klein, & Kriegsfeld, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Restless roosts: Light pollution affects behavior, sleep, and physiology in a free‐living songbird

et al. 2017

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The natural nighttime environment is increasingly polluted by artificial light. Several studies have linked artificial light at night to negative impacts on human health. In free-living animals, light pollution is associated with changes in circadian, reproductive, and social behavior, but whether these animals also suffer from physiologic costs remains unknown. To fill this gap, we made use of a unique network of field sites which are either completely unlit (control), or are artificially illuminated with white, green, or red light. We monitored nighttime activity of adult great tits, Parus major, and related this activity to within-individual changes in physiologic indices. Because altered nighttime activity as a result of light pollution may affect health and well-being, we measured oxalic acid concentrations as a biomarker for sleep restriction, acute phase protein concentrations and malaria infection as indices of immune function, and telomere lengths as an overall measure of metabolic costs. Compared to other treatments, individuals roosting in the white light were much more active at night. In these individuals, oxalic acid decreased over the course of the study. We also found that individuals roosting in the white light treatment had a higher probability of malaria infection. Our results indicate that white light at night increases nighttime activity levels and sleep debt and affects disease dynamics in a free-living songbird. Our study offers the first evidence of detrimental effects of light pollution on the health of free-ranging wild animals.

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“…ALAN can affect several behaviors of wild animals, from orientation and navigation during dispersal and migration (Rich and Longcore, 2006;Poot et al, 2008), to daily and seasonal rhythms in behavior Robert et al, 2015;Dominoni et al, 2016), to more subtle physiological effects on stress levels, body mass and immune responses (Bedrosian et al, 2011;Ouyang et al, 2015;Raap et al, 2016a). Effects on circadian rhythms of behavior and physiology are particularly evident in a range of species, from insects to mammals (Swaddle et al, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Artificial Light at Night Reduces Daily Energy Expenditure in Breeding Great Tits (Parus major)

et al. 2017

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The ecological impact of artificial light at night (ALAN) is an increasingly recognized process that accompanies expanding urbanization. Yet, we have limited knowledge on the impact of ALAN on wild species, and on the potential to mitigate any negative effects by using different light sources and colors. In birds, effects of ALAN on activity levels are reported for several species and, hence, their daily energy expenditure (DEE) may be affected. DEE is a potent mediator of life-history trade-offs and fitness and thus an important aspect to consider when examining the potential long-term ecological effects of ALAN. Previous work has suggested that birds exposed to ALAN show higher levels of provisioning and nocturnal activity, suggesting that white ALAN increases DEE. Other factors regulating DEE, such as provisioning behavior and food availability, might also respond to ALAN and thus indirectly affect DEE. We tested the hypothesis that ALAN increases DEE using an experimental setup where four previously unlit transects were illuminated with either white, green, or red LED light, or left dark as a control treatment. This setup was replicated in eight locations across the Netherlands. We measured DEE of our focal species, the great tit (Parus major), using a novel doubly labeled water technique that uses breath rather than blood samples. Contrary to our expectations, birds feeding their offspring under white and green ALAN showed lower DEE compared to birds in the control dark treatment. Differences in chick provisioning activity did not explain this result, as neither visit rates nor daily activity timing was affected by light treatment. However, food availability under white and green light was much higher compared to red light and the dark control. This difference strongly suggests that the lower DEE under white and green ALAN sites is a consequence of higher food availability in these treatments. This result shows that there can be positive, indirect effects of ALAN for breeding song birds which may balance against the negative direct effects shown in previous studies.

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Stressful colours: corticosterone concentrations in a free-living songbird vary with the spectral composition of experimental illumination

Cited by 80 publications

References 17 publications

Behavioural plasticity in the onset of dawn song under intermittent experimental night lighting

Behavioural plasticity in the onset of dawn song under intermittent experimental night lighting

Restless roosts: Light pollution affects behavior, sleep, and physiology in a free‐living songbird

Artificial Light at Night Reduces Daily Energy Expenditure in Breeding Great Tits (Parus major)

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