Left in the dark: nocturnal pollinators and the flowers they service in a brightly lit world

Feb 11, 2026The Journal of experimental biology

Nighttime pollinators and the flowers they visit in brightly lit environments

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Abstract

Nocturnal pollinators, including moths and bats, face challenges in detecting floral cues in variable light conditions.

Many flowering plants and their pollinators are typically active in daylight, but nocturnal pollination is not uncommon.
Nocturnal pollinators may depend on natural night-time light levels and lunar cycles for their activity and behavior.
The global increase in artificial light at night (ALAN) could disrupt the interactions between nocturnal pollinators and plants.
Current knowledge about the effects of ALAN on nocturnal pollinators is fragmented and varies by species and lighting type.
There are significant gaps in understanding how changes in nocturnal pollination dynamics may impact broader plant-pollinator relationships.

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Mutualistic interactions between night-blooming flowers and their nocturnal pollinators present unique challenges for both partners. Although most flowering plants and pollinators are diurnal, nocturnal pollination is not uncommon. In dim light conditions, flowers must remain attractive to pollinators, whereas pollinators must detect, discriminate and remember floral cues amid a noisy and variable sensory landscape. Both moths and bats are particularly well known for their roles as nocturnal pollinators. Yet, our understanding of the sensory ecology of these and other lesser-studied nocturnal pollinators remains limited. Little is known about the dependence of their activity and behaviour on daily fluctuations in natural night-time light levels, the circa-monthly lunar cycle, or the sensory adaptations that facilitate pollination. These knowledge gaps are concerning given the global spread of artificial light at night (ALAN), which envelops much of the Earth's surface. Current research on the responses of nocturnal pollinators to ALAN is fragmented, revealing effects that vary by both species and type of lighting. However, the knock-on effects of these responses remain poorly understood. In this Review, I discuss current knowledge and identify critical gaps across four themes, namely: (1) nocturnal pollinator activity in relation to natural ambient light levels and lunar phases; (2) the effects of ALAN on the visual ecology of nocturnal pollinators; (3) the consequences of ALAN for plant-pollinator interactions; and (4) unresolved questions concerning the sensory ecology of nocturnal pollinators and how disruptions may scale to affect broader plant-pollinator dynamics under increasingly illuminated night skies.

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Left in the dark: nocturnal pollinators and the flowers they service in a brightly lit world

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