The effects of light pollution on biological rhythms of birds: an integrated, mechanistic perspective

Dominoni, Davide M.

doi:10.1007/s10336-015-1196-3

Cited by 99 publications

(69 citation statements)

References 83 publications

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“…The choice of such light colors was made to cover both short (green) and long wavelengths (red), as well as the broad-spectrum white light. Because sensitivity to light in birds' photoreceptors peaks at mid-short wavelengths (Peirson et al, 2009;Hunt et al, 2014;Dominoni, 2015), we expected white and green light to be associated with stronger responses than red light and the dark treatment. Specifically, we predicted that white ALAN would increase DEE in great tits, because in previous studies we have found that white ALAN was associated with increased provisioning rate during the day (Titulaer et al, 2012), as well as with higher activity levels at night (Ouyang et al, in press), but they never directly measured energy expenditure.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 95%

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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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 95%

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

et al. 2017

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“…Such a drop was related at the individual level to the amount of activity that a bird showed in the morning, regardless of the origin of the animal (urban versus forest). This suggests that light at night, via changes in melatonin levels, can promote the emergence of early chronotypes, which could be favoured in urban environments [74,97]. This hypothesis requires further testing, but the availability of novel molecular tools might inspire further studies [98].…”

Section: Timing As a Sexually Selected Trait In Birds (A) Daily Timingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Timing as a sexually selected trait: the right mate at the right moment

Hau

Dominoni

Casagrande

et al. 2017

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

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One contribution of 12 to a theme issue 'Wild clocks: integrating chronobiology and ecology to understand timekeeping in free-living animals'. Sexual selection favours the expression of traits in one sex that attract members of the opposite sex for mating. The nature of sexually selected traits such as vocalization, colour and ornamentation, their fitness benefits as well as their costs have received ample attention in field and laboratory studies. However, sexually selected traits may not always be expressed: coloration and ornaments often follow a seasonal pattern and behaviours may be displayed only at specific times of the day. Despite the widely recognized differences in the daily and seasonal timing of traits and their consequences for reproductive success, the actions of sexual selection on the temporal organization of traits has received only scant attention. Drawing on selected examples from bird and mammal studies, here we summarize the current evidence for the daily and seasonal timing of traits. We highlight that molecular advances in chronobiology have opened exciting new opportunities for identifying the genetic targets that sexual selection may act on to shape the timing of trait expression. Furthermore, known genetic links between daily and seasonal timing mechanisms lead to the hypothesis that selection on one timescale may simultaneously also affect the other. We emphasize that studies on the timing of sexual displays of both males and females from wild populations will be invaluable for understanding the nature of sexual selection and its potential to act on differences within and between the sexes in timing. Molecular approaches will be important for pinpointing genetic components of biological rhythms that are targeted by sexual selection, and to clarify whether these represent core or peripheral components of endogenous clocks. Finally, we call for a renewed integration of the fields of evolution, behavioural ecology and chronobiology to tackle the exciting question of how sexual selection contributes to the evolution of biological clocks.This article is part of the themed issue 'Wild clocks: integrating chronobiology and ecology to understand timekeeping in free-living animals'.

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“…In addition, other manipulations of the natural light/ dark cycle (e.g. use of artificial light at night in natural habitat) are possible [90] and have been shown to affect circadian as well as seasonal traits in a variety of species [91][92][93]. However, the fitness consequences of such effects are still unclear.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Methods in field chronobiology

Dominoni

Åkesson

Klaassen

et al. 2017

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

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Chronobiological research has seen a continuous development of novel approaches and techniques to measure rhythmicity at different levels of biological organization from locomotor activity (e.g. migratory restlessness) to physiology (e.g. temperature and hormone rhythms, and relatively recently also in genes, proteins and metabolites). However, the methodological advancements in this field have been mostly and sometimes exclusively used only in indoor laboratory settings. In parallel, there has been an unprecedented and rapid improvement in our ability to track animals and their behaviour in the wild. However, while the spatial analysis of tracking data is widespread, its temporal aspect is largely unexplored. Here, we review the tools that are available or have potential to record rhythms in the wild animals with emphasis on currently overlooked approaches and monitoring systems. We then demonstrate, in three question-driven case studies, how the integration of traditional and newer approaches can help answer novel chronobiological questions in free-living animals. Finally, we highlight unresolved issues in field chronobiology that may benefit from technological development in the future. As most of the studies in the field are descriptive, the future challenge lies in applying the diverse technologies to experimental set-ups in the wild.

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The effects of light pollution on biological rhythms of birds: an integrated, mechanistic perspective

Cited by 99 publications

References 83 publications

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

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

Timing as a sexually selected trait: the right mate at the right moment

Methods in field chronobiology

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