LED lighting threatens adult aquatic insects: Impact magnitude and distance thresholds

Carannante, Deborah; Blumenstein, Claudia Sara; Hale, James; Arlettaz, Raphaël

doi:10.1002/2688-8319.12053

Cited by 5 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 64 publications

(141 reference statements)

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“…With autochthonous proportional abundance greater in the littoral zone and allochthonous proportional abundance greater in the riparian, there is evidence that short-wavelength LED lighting creates both dispersal barriers and an asymmetrical vacuum effect wherein aquatic emergent insects are more readily pulled from their habitat of origin than are terrestrial invertebrates. A recent study examining distance thresholds on adult aquatic insects [48] found that a majority of Trichoptera were captured much closer to the aquatic-riparian border than other taxa, such as Ephemeroptera, concurring with our findings that the capture versus vacuum effect varies among taxa. This taxa-specific response suggests a degree of predictability of communities and ecosystems to ALAN, and also highlights the context dependency of our work, performed in a single pond and on a single night.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Spectral composition of light-emitting diodes impacts aquatic and terrestrial invertebrate communities with potential implications for cross-ecosystem subsidies

Parkinson,

Tiegs

2023

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

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Resource exchanges in the form of invertebrate fluxes are a key component of aquatic-terrestrial habitat coupling, but this interface is susceptible to human activities, including the imposition of artificial light at night. To better understand the effects of spectral composition of light-emitting diodes (LEDs)—a technology that is rapidly supplanting other lighting types—on emergent aquatic insects and terrestrial insects, we experimentally added LED fixtures that emit different light spectra to the littoral zone and adjacent riparian habitat of a pond. We installed four replicate LED treatments of different wavelengths (410, 530 and 630 nm), neutral white (4000 k) and a dark control, and sampled invertebrates in both terrestrial and over-water littoral traps. Invertebrate communities differed among light treatments and between habitats, as did total insect biomass and mean individual insect size. Proportional allochthonous biomass was greater in the riparian habitat and among some light treatments, demonstrating an asymmetrical effect of differently coloured LEDs on aquatic-terrestrial resource exchanges. Overall, our findings demonstrate that variation in wavelength from LEDs may impact the flux of resources between systems, as well as the communities of insects that are attracted to particular spectra of LED lighting, with probable implications for consumers. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Light pollution in complex ecological systems’.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Spectral composition of light-emitting diodes impacts aquatic and terrestrial invertebrate communities with potential implications for cross-ecosystem subsidies

Parkinson,

Tiegs

2023

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

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“…While the impacts of ALAN on insects have usually been studied using terrestrial insects, data are presently accumulating on the effects of light pollution on aquatic insects that have flying adult stages; Ephemeroptera and Trichoptera were caught by traps that were located near portable LED lights in an effort to mimic realistic ALAN conditions at different distances from riparian areas (Carannante et al, 2021). While the Ephemeroptera and Trichoptera catches were greater in traps set near rivers, the Diptera were trapped at all distances from the river.…”

Section: Effect Of Alan On Nocturnal Insectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While the Ephemeroptera and Trichoptera catches were greater in traps set near rivers, the Diptera were trapped at all distances from the river. Carannante et al (2021) recommended that LED lighting should be placed at 40-60 m from riverbanks to prevent the attraction of adult aquatic flying insects. The larvae of aquatic insects were also attracted to mid-regions of the spectrum, and the Ephemeroptera larvae did not exhibit phototaxis towards blue light (Kühne et al, 2021).…”

Section: Effect Of Alan On Nocturnal Insectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impacts of Artificial Light at Night on Nocturnal and Diurnal Insect Biology and Diversity

Borges

2022

ije

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Artificial light at night (ALAN) is leading to light pollution on local and global scales. Reflected and scattered light contributes to skyglow over cities and large industrial complexes. ALAN is one of the key drivers of insect declines in the Anthropocene era. This is the likely consequence of perturbations in circadian clocks by extension and even abolition of the dark phase of the diel cycle, which affect reproduction and foraging. Bioluminescent insects that use light as sexual signals are severely affected by ALAN and may be under sexual selection for even brighter signals. The phototactic response of insects to light is also causing mortality due to increased predation and altered activity. Mitigatory measures are urgently needed to stem insect declines and to ‘protect’ the role of insects in community ecology. New satellite technology for ALAN measurement is urgently required. There are many research gaps, such as the effect of ALAN on diurnal insects and on interaction networks, that need to be filled.

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“…As many insects are known to be attracted to, and find shorter wavelengths (UV, blue) more visible (Briscoe & Chittka, 2001), the selection of an LED that emits less blue light may reduce the attraction of flying freshwater insects to outdoor lights. Despite a global trend towards LED conversions, there is little published research on the effects of LEDs on freshwater insects, with the exception of research on attraction distance thresholds (Blumenstein et al, 2018; Carannante et al, 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Many studies on varying insect taxa found significant declines in flying insect abundance attracted to lights over short dispersal or attraction distances. In these, the specific distance where the greatest decline in abundance occurred was variable and likely to have been taxa‐dependent: for example, in the distance range 0–20 m for Trichoptera (Collier & Smith, 1997), 0–15 m for Lepidoptera (Merckx & Slade, 2014; Truxa & Fiedler, 2012), 0–10 m for Trichoptera and Ephemeroptera (Blumenstein et al, 2018; Carannante et al, 2021), and 0–3 m for Trichoptera, Diptera and Ephemeroptera (Perkin et al, 2014). Therefore, increasing the distance that lights are set back from a waterway is expected to reduce freshwater insect attraction to artificial lights.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The colour temperature and placement of LED lighting near rivers can reduce attraction of flying adult caddisflies

Schofield,

Hogsden,

Greenwood

et al. 2023

Freshwater Biology

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Artificial light at night (ALAN), which can confuse and distract insects, has been implicated as a contributor of their decline worldwide. Changes in artificial light technology has led to a widespread conversion of outdoor lighting to light‐emitting diode (LED) bulbs, which are more energy efficient than older high‐intensity discharge or fluorescent lamps. However, many outdoor LED lights emit a proportion of short‐wavelength blue light, to which insects are commonly sensitive. The potential to reduce flying insect attraction to outdoor lights by using LEDs that emit different amounts of blue light, or by placing lights further from insect sources has not been well‐studied, particularly for freshwater insects. We tested whether four blue‐white LEDs that varied in their emittance of blue light intensity (3000, 4000, 5650, 6500 Kelvin [K] colour temperature) differed in their attractiveness to flying insects, particularly adult caddisflies (Trichoptera) over distances up to 100 m from a river. LEDs were deployed at a lit urban river and a predominantly unimpacted braided river in Canterbury, New Zealand. We expected a greater abundance and species richness of adult caddisflies to be attracted to LEDs that emit more blue light (cooler white LEDs [6500, 5650 K]) than those that emit less (warmer colour temperatures [3000 K, 4000 K]). We also expected the abundance and species richness of adult caddisflies in light traps to decline rapidly with increasing distance from the river, regardless of colour temperature. Moths, flies and a total of 26 caddisfly species were collected from both rivers. Significantly more caddisflies were attracted to higher than lower colour temperature LEDs. For example, a more than 1.6‐fold number of caddisflies were caught by the bluer‐white 6500 K LEDs than the warmer‐white 3000 K LEDs. This trend was consistent across most caddisfly taxa and both rivers. The number of caddisflies attracted to LEDs significantly declined with increasing distance from the river edge for the two most abundant caddisfly families and the four most abundant species; 65% of all caddisflies were caught by 20 m from the river margin. In order to reduce the attraction of caddisflies to outdoor lights such as streetlights, our study highlights the importance of considering a low LED colour temperature (3000 K or 4000 K) or those that emit less blue light and the benefit of positioning lights further back from waterways, where possible. Our results indicate that plans for urban outdoor lighting should consider the ecological implications of different colour temperature LEDs and their spatial position as project design considerations.

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LED lighting threatens adult aquatic insects: Impact magnitude and distance thresholds

Cited by 5 publications

References 64 publications

Spectral composition of light-emitting diodes impacts aquatic and terrestrial invertebrate communities with potential implications for cross-ecosystem subsidies

Spectral composition of light-emitting diodes impacts aquatic and terrestrial invertebrate communities with potential implications for cross-ecosystem subsidies

Impacts of Artificial Light at Night on Nocturnal and Diurnal Insect Biology and Diversity

The colour temperature and placement of LED lighting near rivers can reduce attraction of flying adult caddisflies

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