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Artificial light at night briefly changes feeding behavior in three species of sea bottom grazers from the Adriatic Sea

Circadian Biology Weekly Brief ↗PubMed ↗DOI ↗

Updated Mar 31, 2026

Abstract

Temporary changes in feeding rhythms were observed in the snail Cerithium spp. and the sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus due to artificial light at night (ALAN).

Cerithium spp. and Paracentrotus lividus exhibited altered feeding rhythms when exposed to artificial light at night.
No lasting effects of ALAN on food consumption rates were detected in the examined marine grazers.
The intensity of the impact from ALAN decreased when exposure occurred only during part of the night.
These findings suggest that limiting nighttime lighting could help mitigate ecological effects on coastal marine life.

Simplified

Artificial light at night (ALAN) has the potential to change the day-night activity of marine benthic grazers, and can therefore alter the top-down control they exert on macroalgal communities. In laboratory experiments, we investigated the influence of three realistic ALAN regimes on food consumption and feeding rhythmicity in the sea urchins Arbacia lixula and Paracentrotus lividus as well as in the snail Cerithium spp. from the Adriatic Sea. Food consumption was assessed in assays with algal pellets, while feeding rhythms were documented with 24 h time-lapse photography. Both was done in ALAN-acclimated and in non-acclimated animals. We observed temporary and potential long-term changes in the feeding rhythms of Cerithium spp. and Paracentrotus lividus, respectively, but found no lasting influence of ALAN on consumption rates. Effects were weaker when ALAN was applied only part-night, which suggests a possible mitigation measure to reduce the impact of nighttime lighting on coastal ecosystems.

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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

Artificial light at night briefly changes feeding behavior in three species of sea bottom grazers from the Adriatic Sea

Abstract

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Competing interests

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