Artificial light at night impairs inhibitory control in a wild songbird

May 4, 2023The Science of the total environment

Artificial light at night reduces self-control in a wild songbird

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Circadian Biology on OpenScience ↗PubMed ↗DOI ↗

Abstract

One night of exposure to artificial light at night (ALAN) can negatively affect cognitive performance in wild birds.

Sleep deprivation due to ALAN exposure impaired great tits' success on a cognitive task.
ALAN-exposed birds were more likely to peck at a test tube but less successful in reaching it.
Natural sleep duration and timing did not influence the cognitive effects observed.
No differences in vigilance or exploratory behavior were found between ALAN-exposed and non-exposed birds.
The findings suggest that even short-term exposure to ALAN may impact cognitive abilities in wild birds.

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Anthropogenic stressors, such as artificial light at night (ALAN), increasingly affect the sleep behaviour and physiology of wild birds, particularly in areas where human activity is prevalent. To understand the consequences of the resulting sleep deprivation, it is essential to investigate whether the effects of sleep deprivation on cognitive performance, observed in humans, also occur in birds. Here, we studied the impact of sleep deprivation, induced by intermittent exposure to ALAN, on inhibitory control, vigilance behaviour, and exploratory behaviour in great tits. Furthermore, we hypothesised that the effect of ALAN could depend on an individual's natural sleep duration and the timing of sleep. To achieve these goals, we measured emergence and entry times from/into the nest box in the wild, before capturing the great tits. In captivity, half of the birds were exposed to intermittent ALAN, and cognitive performance was assessed the following morning for all birds. ALAN-exposed birds were less successful on the detour reach task and when they started pecking at the test tube, they pecked more often. However, neither of the effects was related to the natural sleep duration or timing, in contrast to our hypothesis, and there were no differences between the ALAN-exposed and non-exposed group in vigilance and exploratory behaviour. Thus, even one night of exposure to ALAN can negatively affect cognitive performance in wild birds, possibly with negative effects on their performance and survival.

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Artificial light at night impairs inhibitory control in a wild songbird

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