[Pollinator] effect of lights at night on pollinators

[David Inouye]

Giavi, S., et al. (2021). "Impact of artificial light at night on 
diurnal plant-pollinator interactions." Nature Communications 12(1): 1690.
     Artificial 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.


-- 
Dr. David W. Inouye
Professor Emeritus
Department of Biology
University of Maryland

Principal Investigator
Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory