scholarly journals Impact of artificial light at night on diurnal plant-pollinator interactions

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Simone Giavi ◽  
Colin Fontaine ◽  
Eva Knop
Keyword(s):  
Adverse Effects ◽  
Ecosystem Functioning ◽  
Species Interactions ◽  
Reproductive Output ◽  
Artificial Light ◽  
Light At Night ◽  
Natural Plant ◽  
Pollinator Community ◽  
Plant Pollinator ◽  
Commercial Street

AbstractArtificial light at night has rapidly spread around the globe over the last decades. Evidence is increasing that it has adverse effects on the behavior, physiology, and survival of animals and plants with consequences for species interactions and ecosystem functioning. For example, artificial light at night disrupts plant-pollinator interactions at night and this can have consequences for the plant reproductive output. By experimentally illuminating natural plant-pollinator communities during the night using commercial street-lamps we tested whether light at night can also change interactions of a plant-pollinator community during daytime. Here we show that artificial light at night can alter diurnal plant-pollinator interactions, but the direction of the change depends on the plant species. We conclude that the effect of artificial light at night on plant-pollinator interactions is not limited to the night, but can also propagate to the daytime with so far unknown consequences for the pollinator community and the diurnal pollination function and services they provide.

scholarly journals Facilitation between plants shapes pollination networks

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gianalberto Losapio ◽  
Miguel A. Fortuna ◽  
Jordi Bascompte ◽  
Bernhard Schmid ◽  
Richard Michalet ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Functioning ◽  
Scale Up ◽  
Experimental System ◽  
Additive Effects ◽  
Plant Interactions ◽  
Bottom Up ◽  
Antagonistic Effects ◽  
Pollinator Community ◽  
Local Plant ◽  
Plant Pollinator

SignificanceAlthough it is known that plant–plant and plant–pollinator interactions can strongly influence biodiversity and its effects on ecosystem functioning, the details of how competition and facili-tation among plants scale up to mutualistic interactions with pollinators and thus affect pollina-tion networks are poorly understood. We introduce a simple experimental system in which we control local plant interactions, measure pollinator responses and characterize plant–pollinator networks. We find that facilitation among plants produces synergistic and antagonistic effects on the pollinator community affecting the architecture and robustness of plant–pollinator net-works. Our results provide evidence for bottom-up non-additive effects of plant interactions on pollination networks and have implications for the way we study and manage ecosystems.

scholarly journals Working with Inadequate Tools: Legislative Shortcomings in Protection against Ecological Effects of Artificial Light at Night

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 2551 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sibylle Schroer ◽  
Benedikt John Huggins ◽  
Clementine Azam ◽  
Franz Hölker
Keyword(s):  
Adverse Effects ◽  
Environmental Law ◽  
Population Level ◽  
Light Pollution ◽  
Artificial Light ◽  
Legal Analysis ◽  
Light At Night ◽  
Environmental Laws ◽  
Legal Obligations ◽  
Special Protection

The fundamental change in nocturnal landscapes due to the increasing use of artificial light at night (ALAN) is recognized as being detrimental to the environment and raises important regulatory questions as to whether and how it should be regulated based on the manifold risks to the environment. Here, we present the results of an analysis of the current legal obligations on ALAN in context with a systematic review of adverse effects. The legal analysis includes the relevant aspects of European and German environmental law, specifically nature conservation and immission control. The review represents the results of 303 studies indicating significant disturbances of organisms and landscapes. We discuss the conditions for prohibitions by environmental laws and whether protection gaps persist and, hence, whether specific legislation for light pollution is necessary. While protection is predominantly provided for species with special protection status that reveal avoidance behavior of artificially lit landscapes and associated habitat loss, adverse effects on species and landscapes without special protection status are often unaddressed by existing regulations. Legislative shortcomings are caused by difficulties in proving adverse effect on the population level, detecting lighting malpractice, and applying the law to ALAN-related situations. Measures to reduce ALAN-induced environmental impacts are highlighted. We discuss whether an obligation to implement such measures is favorable for environmental protection and how regulations can be implemented.

scholarly journals Artificial light at night increases growth and reproductive output in Anolis lizards

2020 ◽  
Vol 287 (1919) ◽  
pp. 20191682 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher J. Thawley ◽  
Jason J. Kolbe
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Output ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Egg Laying ◽  
Endocrine Function ◽  
Artificial Light ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Light At Night ◽  
Brown Anole ◽  
Negative Impacts ◽  
Growth And Reproduction

Since the invention of electric lighting, artificial light at night (ALAN) has become a defining, and evolutionary novel, feature of human-altered environments especially in cities. ALAN imposes negative impacts on many organisms, including disrupting endocrine function, metabolism, and reproduction. However, we do not know how generalized these impacts are across taxa that exploit urban environments. We exposed brown anole lizards, an abundant and invasive urban exploiter, to relevant levels of ALAN in the laboratory and assessed effects on growth and reproduction at the start of the breeding season. Male and female anoles exposed to ALAN increased growth and did not suffer increased levels of corticosterone. ALAN exposure induced earlier egg-laying, likely by mimicking a longer photoperiod, and increased reproductive output without reducing offspring quality. These increases in growth and reproduction should increase fitness. Anoles, and potentially other taxa, may be resistant to some negative effects of ALAN and able to take advantage of the novel niche space ALAN creates. ALAN and both its negative and positive impacts may play a crucial role in determining which species invade and exploit urban environments.

scholarly journals Plant-pollinator Vocabulary - a Contribution to Interaction Data Standardization

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
Author(s):  
José Augusto Salim ◽  
Paula Zermoglio ◽  
Debora Drucker ◽  
Filipi Soares ◽  
Antonio Saraiva ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Functioning ◽  
Species Interactions ◽  
Interspecific Interactions ◽  
Data Representation ◽  
Data Availability ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
Great Effort ◽  
Interaction Data ◽  
Data Repositories ◽  
Plant Pollinator

Human demands on resources such as food and energy are increasing through time while global challenges such as climate change and biodiversity loss are becoming more complex to overcome, as well as more widely acknowledged by societies and governments. Reports from initiatives like the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) have demanded quick and reliable access to high-quality spatial and temporal data of species occurrences, their interspecific relations and the effects of the environment on biotic interactions. Mapping species interactions is crucial to understanding and conserving ecosystem functioning and all the services it can provide (Tylianakis et al. 2010, Slade et al. 2017). Detailed data has the potential to improve our knowledge about ecological and evolutionary processes guided by interspecific interactions, as well as to assist in planning and decision making for biodiversity conservation and restoration (Menz et al. 2011). Although a great effort has been made to successfully standardize and aggregate species occurrence data, a formal standard to support biotic interaction data sharing and interoperability is still lacking. There are different biological interactions that can be studied, such as predator-prey, host-parasite and pollinator-plant and there is a variety of data practices and data representation procedures that can be used. Plant-pollinator interactions are recognized in many sources from the scientific literature (Abrol 2012, Ollerton 2021) for the importance of ecosystem functioning and sustainable agriculture. Primary data about pollination are becoming increasingly available online and can be accessed from a great number of data repositories. While a vast quantity of data on interactions, and on pollination in particular, is available, data are not integrated among sources, largely because of a lack of appropriate standards. We present a vocabulary of terms for sharing plant-pollinator interactions using one of the existing extensions to the Darwin Core standard (Wieczorek et al. 2012). In particular, the vocabulary is meant to be used for the term measurementType of the Extended Measurement Or Facts extension. The vocabulary was developed by a community of specialists in pollination biology and information science, including members of the TDWG Biological Interaction Data Interest Group, during almost four years of collaborative work. The vocabulary introduces 40 new terms, comprising many aspects of plant-pollinator interactions, and can be used to capture information produced by studies with different approaches and scales. The plant-pollinator interactions vocabulary is mainly a set of terms that can be both understood by people or interpreted by machines. The plant-pollinator vocabulary is composed of a defining a set of terms and descriptive documents explaining how the vocabulary is to be used. The terms in the vocabulary are divided into six categories: Animal, Plants, Flower, Interaction, Reproductive Success and Nectar Dynamics. The categories are not formally part of the vocabulary, they are used only to organize the vocabulary and to facilitate understanding by humans. We expect that the plant-pollinator vocabulary will contribute to data aggregation from a variety of sources worldwide at higher levels than we have experienced, significantly amplify plant-pollinator data availability for global synthesis, and contribute to knowledge in conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity.

scholarly journals Artificial light at night can modify ecosystem functioning beyond the lit area

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Simone Giavi ◽  
Sina Blösch ◽  
Guido Schuster ◽  
Eva Knop
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Functioning ◽  
Artificial Light ◽  
Light At Night

MEASURES FOR REDUCING THE ADVERSE EFFECTS OF ARTIFICIAL LIGHT AT NIGHT: INTER-DISCIPLINARY DEVELOPMENT AND PROGRESS

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
A.K. Jägerbrand ◽  
C.A. Bouroussis
Keyword(s):  
Adverse Effects ◽  
Sustainable Use ◽  
Lighting Design ◽  
Outdoor Environment ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Artificial Light ◽  
Sensitive Species ◽  
Light At Night ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
High Level

The use of artificial light at night in the outdoor environment may introduce negative and unwanted side-effects such as light pollution and unwanted impacts on humans, ecosystems and biodiversity. Therefore, appropriate measures for reducing the adverse effects of artificial light at night are important to establish a sustainable use of outdoor lighting. This paper presents an updated overview and a state-of-the-art of available and effective measures for reducing artificial light at night, which range from strategical and high-level recommendations to more practical and applicable lighting design recommendations and principles. Another aim is to identify prioritized future research questions and areas that will enhance progress within the area. We present the current recommendations into three groups: (I) recommendations for legislation at the national or international levels, (II) recommendations for technical and practical adaptations of the lighting design and (III) recommendations for sensitive species, taxa, areas or ecosystems.

The physical environment

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip James
Keyword(s):  
Physical Environment ◽  
Urban Climate ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Artificial Light ◽  
Noise Levels ◽  
Light At Night ◽  
High Noise ◽  
P Elements ◽  
Micro Organisms ◽  
Diversity Of Life

Elements of the physical aspects of urban environments determine which micro-organisms, plants, and animals live in urban environments. In this chapter, climate, air, water, soil, noise, and light are discussed. Urban environments are affected by the climate of the region in which they are located, and in turn and create their own, distinctive urban climate. Air, water, and soil are all affected by urbanization. Pollution of these elements is common. High noise levels and artificial light at night (ALAN—a new phenomenon) are both strongly associated with urban environments. Details of both are discussed. The discussion in this chapter provides a foundation for further exploration of the diversity of life in urban environments and for later exploration of how organisms adapt to urban living, which will be discussed in Parts II and III.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document