The Science of the total environmentApr 1, 2022

Different colors of artificial night light affect daytime animals in insect food webs

Circadian Biology Weekly Brief ↗PubMed ↗DOI ↗

Updated Apr 5, 2026

Abstract

Exposure to seven different light spectra at night affected parasitoid efficiency, resulting in higher aphid densities.

Aphid population growth was initially unaffected by artificial light at night (ALAN).
Most ALAN light spectra led to a decline in parasitoid efficiency.
Reduced parasitoid efficiency resulted in decreased top-down control of aphid populations.
Higher aphid densities were observed under various ALAN conditions.
These findings suggest that the specific spectrum of ALAN may significantly influence ecological interactions.

Simplified

Artificial light at night (ALAN) has become a profound form of global anthropogenic environmental change differing in from natural light regimes in intensity, duration, distribution and spectra. It is clear that ALAN impacts individual organisms, however, population level effects, particularly of spectral changes, remain poorly understood. Here we exposed experimental multigenerational aphid-parasitoid communities in the field to seven different light spectra at night ranging from 385 to 630 nm and compared responses to a natural day-night light regime. We found that while aphid population growth was initially unaffected by ALAN, parasitoid efficiency declined under most ALAN spectra, leading to reduced top-down control and higher aphid densities. These results differ from those previously found for white light, showing a strong impact on species' daytime performance. This highlights the importance of ALAN spectra when considering their environmental impact. ALAN can have large impacts on the wider ecological community by influencing diurnal species.

Full Text

Full text is available at the source.

View Full Text ↗

Funding

Competing interests

Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

PubMed

Different colors of artificial night light affect daytime animals in insect food webs

Abstract

Full Text

Funding

Competing interests

You found one interesting study. We’ll send the next 7.

What Lands in Your Inbox Each Week:

Recent issues from the circadian biology brief

Abstract

Full Text

Funding

Competing interests

Related papers

You found one interesting study. We’ll send the next 7.

What Lands in Your Inbox Each Week:

Recent issues from the circadian biology brief