scholarly journals Artificial light at night alters life history in a nocturnal orb-web spider

PeerJ ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. e5599 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nikolas J. Willmott ◽  
Jessica Henneken ◽  
Caitlin J. Selleck ◽  
Therésa M. Jones
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Artificial Light ◽  
Light At Night ◽  
Night Time ◽  
Juvenile Mortality ◽  
Web Spider ◽  
Orb Web ◽  
Juvenile Development

The prevalence of artificial light at night (ALAN) is increasing rapidly around the world. The potential physiological costs of this night lighting are often evident in life history shifts. We investigated the effects of chronic night-time exposure to ecologically relevant levels of LED lighting on the life history traits of the nocturnal Australian garden orb-web spider (Eriophora biapicata). We reared spiders under a 12-h day and either a 12-h natural darkness (∼0 lux) or a 12-h dim light (∼20 lux) night and assessed juvenile development, growth and mortality, and adult reproductive success and survival. We found that exposure to ALAN accelerated juvenile development, resulting in spiders progressing through fewer moults, and maturing earlier and at a smaller size. There was a significant increase in daily juvenile mortality for spiders reared under 20 lux, but the earlier maturation resulted in a comparable number of 0 lux and 20 lux spiders reaching maturity. Exposure to ALAN also considerably reduced the number of eggs produced by females, and this was largely associated with ALAN-induced reductions in body size. Despite previous observations of increased fitness for some orb-web spiders in urban areas and near night lighting, it appears that exposure to artificial night lighting may lead to considerable developmental costs. Future research will need to consider the detrimental effects of ALAN combined with foraging benefits when studying nocturnal insectivores that forage around artificial lights.

scholarly journals Artificial light at night alters life history in a nocturnal orb-web spider

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nikolas J Willmott ◽  
Jessica Henneken ◽  
Caitlin J Selleck ◽  
Therésa M Jones
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Artificial Light ◽  
Light At Night ◽  
Night Time ◽  
Juvenile Mortality ◽  
Web Spider ◽  
Orb Web ◽  
Juvenile Development

The prevalence of artificial light at night (ALAN) is increasing rapidly around the world. The potential physiological costs of this night lighting are often evident in life history shifts. We investigated the effects of chronic night-time exposure to ecologically relevant levels of LED lighting on the life history traits of the nocturnal Australian garden orb-web spider (Eriophora biapicata). We reared spiders under a 12-hour day and either a 12-hour natural darkness (~0 lux) or a 12-hour dim light (~20 lux) night and assessed juvenile development, growth and mortality, and adult reproductive success and survival. We found that exposure to ALAN accelerated juvenile development, resulting in spiders progressing through fewer moults, and maturing earlier and at a smaller size. There was a significant increase in daily juvenile mortality for spiders reared under 20 lux, but the earlier maturation resulted in a comparable number of 0 lux and 20 lux spiders reaching maturity. Exposure to ALAN also considerably reduced the number of eggs produced by females, largely associated with ALAN-induced reductions in body size. Despite previous observations of increased fitness for some orb-weavers in urban areas and near night lighting, it appears that exposure to artificial night lighting may lead to considerable developmental costs. Future research will need to consider the detrimental effects of ALAN combined with foraging benefits when studying nocturnal insectivores that forage around artificial lights.

scholarly journals Artificial light at night alters life history in a nocturnal orb-web spider

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nikolas J Willmott ◽  
Jessica Henneken ◽  
Caitlin J Selleck ◽  
Therésa M Jones
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Artificial Light ◽  
Light At Night ◽  
Night Time ◽  
Juvenile Mortality ◽  
Web Spider ◽  
Orb Web ◽  
Juvenile Development

The prevalence of artificial light at night (ALAN) is increasing rapidly around the world. The potential physiological costs of this night lighting are often evident in life history shifts. We investigated the effects of chronic night-time exposure to ecologically relevant levels of LED lighting on the life history traits of the nocturnal Australian garden orb-web spider (Eriophora biapicata). We reared spiders under a 12-hour day and either a 12-hour natural darkness (~0 lux) or a 12-hour dim light (~20 lux) night and assessed juvenile development, growth and mortality, and adult reproductive success and survival. We found that exposure to ALAN accelerated juvenile development, resulting in spiders progressing through fewer moults, and maturing earlier and at a smaller size. There was a significant increase in daily juvenile mortality for spiders reared under 20 lux, but the earlier maturation resulted in a comparable number of 0 lux and 20 lux spiders reaching maturity. Exposure to ALAN also considerably reduced the number of eggs produced by females, largely associated with ALAN-induced reductions in body size. Despite previous observations of increased fitness for some orb-weavers in urban areas and near night lighting, it appears that exposure to artificial night lighting may lead to considerable developmental costs. Future research will need to consider the detrimental effects of ALAN combined with foraging benefits when studying nocturnal insectivores that forage around artificial lights.

scholarly journals Urban warming and artificial light alter dormancy in the flesh fly

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (7) ◽  
pp. 210866
Author(s):  
Ayumu Mukai ◽  
Koki Yamaguchi ◽  
Shin G. Goto
Keyword(s):  
Rural Areas ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Day Length ◽  
Artificial Light ◽  
Light At Night ◽  
Night Time ◽  
Strong Light ◽  
Flesh Fly ◽  
Rural And Urban ◽  
Urban Warming

Seasonal changes in temperature and day length are distinct between rural and urban areas due to urban warming and the presence of artificial light at night. Many studies have focused on the impacts of these ubiquitous signatures on daily biological events, but empirical studies on their impacts on insect seasonality are limited. In the present study, we used the flesh fly Sarcophaga similis as a model insect to determine the impacts of urbanization on the incidence and timing of diapause (dormancy), not only in the laboratory but also in rural and urban conditions. In the laboratory, diapause entry was affected by night-time light levels as low as 0.01 lux. We placed fly cages on outdoor shelves in urban and rural areas to determine the timing of diapause entry; it was retarded by approximately four weeks in urban areas relative to that in rural areas. Moreover, almost all flies in the site facing an urban residential area failed to enter diapause, even by late autumn. Although an autumnal low temperature in the urban area would mitigate the negative effect of artificial light at night, strong light pollution seriously disrupts the flesh fly seasonal adaptation.

scholarly journals Guiding lights: Foraging responses of juvenile nocturnal orb‐web spiders to the presence of artificial light at night

Ethology ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 125 (5) ◽  
pp. 289-297 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nikolas J. Willmott ◽  
Jessica Henneken ◽  
Mark A. Elgar ◽  
Therésa M. Jones
Keyword(s):  
Artificial Light ◽  
Light At Night ◽  
Orb Web ◽  
Orb Web Spiders

scholarly journals Moving in the Dark—Evidence for an Influence of Artificial Light at Night on the Movement Behaviour of European Hedgehogs (Erinaceus europaeus)

Animals ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. 1306
Author(s):  
Anne Berger ◽  
Briseida Lozano ◽  
Leon M. F. Barthel ◽  
Nadine Schubert
Keyword(s):  
Light Intensity ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Species Conservation ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Artificial Light ◽  
Movement Behaviour ◽  
Light At Night ◽  
Very High Frequency ◽  
Erinaceus Europaeus ◽  
The Mean

With urban areas growing worldwide comes an increase in artificial light at night (ALAN), causing a significant impact on wildlife behaviour and its ecological relationships. The effects of ALAN on nocturnal and protected European hedgehogs (Erinaceus europaeus) are unknown but their identification is important for sustainable species conservation and management. In a pilot study, we investigated the influence of ALAN on the natural movement behaviour of 22 hedgehogs (nine females, 13 males) in urban environments. Over the course of four years, we equipped hedgehogs at three different study locations in Berlin with biologgers to record their behaviour for several weeks. We used Global Positioning System (GPS) tags to monitor their spatial behaviour, very high-frequency (VHF) loggers to locate their nests during daytime, and accelerometers to distinguish between active and passive behaviours. We compared the mean light intensity of the locations recorded when the hedgehogs were active with the mean light intensity of simulated locations randomly distributed in the individual’s home range. We were able to show that the ALAN intensity of the hedgehogs’ habitations was significantly lower compared to the simulated values, regardless of the animal’s sex. This ALAN-related avoidance in the movement behaviour can be used for applied hedgehog conservation.

scholarly journals Artificial light at night causes diapause inhibition and sex‐specific life history changes in a moth

2014 ◽  
Vol 4 (11) ◽  
pp. 2082-2089 ◽  
Author(s):  
Koert G. Geffen ◽  
Roy H. A. Grunsven ◽  
Jasper Ruijven ◽  
Frank Berendse ◽  
Elmar M. Veenendaal
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Artificial Light ◽  
Light At Night

scholarly journals Thermal flexibility and a generalist life history promote urban tolerance in butterflies

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Corey Thomas Callaghan ◽  
Diana Bowler ◽  
Henrique Pereira
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Urban Expansion ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Life History Strategies ◽  
Continuous Measure ◽  
Butterfly Species ◽  
Night Time ◽  
Species Response ◽  
Species Specific

Urban expansion poses a serious threat to biodiversity. Given that the expected area of urban land cover is predicted to increase by 2-3 million km2 by 2050, urban environments are one of the most widespread human-dominated land-uses affecting biodiversity. Responses to urbanization differ greatly among species. Some species are unable to tolerate urban environments (i.e., urban avoiders), others are able to adapt and use areas with moderate levels of urbanization (i.e., urban adapters), and yet others are able to colonize and even thrive in urban environments (i.e., urban exploiters). Quantifying species-specific responses to urbanization remains an important goal, but our current understanding of urban tolerance is heavily biased towards traditionally well-studied taxa (e.g., mammals and birds). We integrated a continuous measure of urbanization — VIIRS night-time lights — with over 900,000 species’ observations from GBIF to derive a comprehensive analysis of species-specific (N=158 species) responses of butterflies to urbanization across Europe. The majority of butterfly species included in our analysis avoided urban areas, regardless of whether species’ urban tolerances were quantified as a mean score of urban tolerance across all occurrences (79%) or as a species’ response curve to the whole urbanization gradient (55%). We then used the species-specific responses to urbanization to assess which life history strategies promote urban tolerance in butterflies. These trait-based analyses found strong evidence that the average number of flight months, likely associated with thermal niche breath, and number of adult food types were positively associated with urban tolerance, while hostplant specialism was negatively associated with urban tolerance. Overall, our results demonstrate that specialist butterflies, both in terms of thermal and diet preferences, are most at risk from increasing urbanization, and should thus be considered in urban planning and prioritized for conservation.

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