The effects of artificial nighttime lighting on moth visual ecology and survival

夜间人工照明对飞蛾视觉生态和生存的影响

• 批准号: NE/W006359/1
• 负责人: Jolyon Troscianko
• 金额: $ 70.62万
• 依托单位: UNIVERSITY OF EXETER
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2022 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=NE%2FW006359%2F1
• 关键词: effects; artificial; nighttime; lighting; moth

Artificial light at night, from streetlights and other sources, is increasing at unprecedented rates, in terms of intensity and worldwide coverage. This lighting almost certainly has wide-ranging effects on the visual ecology of nocturnal animals, and has been implicated in the dramatic population declines of nocturnal moths throughout Europe.Many nocturnal moths use their outstanding low-light colour vision to locate flowers at night and are major global contributors to pollen transport networks. Recent research has highlighted the potential for artificial light sources to interfere with the vision of nocturnal pollinators, change their abundance and distribution across landscapes, affect pollination quality, and alter their response to predators. Attraction to light sources is also a well known cause of mortality in many insects. Nevertheless, much of this research remains correlative, or limited to specific species, and a fundamental behavioural understanding is lacking of how different artificial light sources affect specific visual interactions that are key to the survival of moths and the plants they pollinate.Our visual modelling work identified unexpected interactions between light type, light intensity and object colour, for example allowing the same flower to change from highly conspicuous to a background-matching colour dependent on light intensity. Such effects could fundamentally disrupt pollinator behaviour in a manner that would be almost impossible to detect in the wild, and with unknown consequences for plants. Our modelling also suggested that artificial light could interfere with the anti-predator defences of moths by causing poor choices of background colour for daytime resting.This project will determine how nighttime artificial light affects three key aspects of moth visual ecology: i) Floral signalling: we will investigate the predictions of our visual modelling using semi-natural experiments, testing the effects of complex interactions between light type, light intensity and flower colour on visually-guided flower detection and handling behaviour. ii) Flight behaviour: tethered flight experiments using simulated viewing conditions will be used to determine how different moth species respond to different aspects of artificial light and background scene appearance, and which hypothesised orientation mechanisms are affected. Specifically, this will measure the attraction, repulsion or flight deflection of different light sources at different intensities, distances and background contrasts. iii) Anti-predator defences: predation is the main source of mortality in many species, and our modelling suggests that artificial light sources could weaken this defence. A combination of moth background choice experiments and controlled predation experiments will determine how nighttime background choice under different types of artificial light affects predation risk from visually-guided avian predators in the daytime.Fulfilling these three objectives will provide the first assessment of the potential impact of novel light sources on the visual ecology of moths (or any animal). Critically, by determining how and why specific types of artificial light interfere with key behaviours and interspecific interactions we will be able to assess their likely impact on pollination and moth survival, which will in turn affect the biodiversity of wildflowers and other pollinator groups, with implications for food security. Moreover, the results will facilitate the development of targeted mitigation strategies from whole-taxon levels, right down to species-specific interactions. This is critical because next-generation light sources identified as potentially disruptive to pollination behaviour in our modelling are already being deployed.

从强度和全球覆盖范围来看，来自路灯和其他来源的夜间人造光正以前所未有的速度增长。几乎可以肯定的是，这种光照对夜行动物的视觉生态有着广泛的影响，并与整个欧洲夜行蛾数量的急剧下降有关。许多夜行蛾利用其出色的弱光色觉在夜间定位花朵，是全球花粉运输网络的主要贡献者。最近的研究强调了人工光源干扰夜间传粉者视觉的潜力，改变了它们在景观中的丰度和分布，影响了授粉质量，并改变了它们对捕食者的反应。对光源的吸引也是许多昆虫死亡的众所周知的原因。然而，这些研究中的大部分仍然是相关的，或仅限于特定的物种，并且缺乏对不同人工光源如何影响特定视觉交互的基本行为理解，这些视觉交互是飞蛾及其授粉植物生存的关键。我们的视觉建模工作确定了光类型，光强度和物体颜色之间意想不到的相互作用，例如允许同一朵花根据光强度从高度显眼的颜色改变为背景匹配的颜色。这种影响可能会从根本上扰乱传粉者的行为，其方式在野外几乎不可能检测到，对植物的影响也是未知的。我们的模型还表明，人造光可能会干扰飞蛾的反捕食防御，导致白天休息的背景颜色选择不当。本项目将确定夜间人造光如何影响飞蛾视觉生态的三个关键方面：i）花信号：我们将研究我们的视觉建模的预测使用半自然实验，测试光类型之间的复杂相互作用的影响，光强度和花的颜色对视觉引导的花检测和处理行为的影响。ii）飞行行为：利用模拟观察条件的系留飞行实验将用于确定不同蛾类对人造光和背景场景外观的不同方面的反应，以及哪些假设的定向机制受到影响。具体来说，这将测量不同光源在不同强度、距离和背景对比度下的吸引力、排斥力或飞行偏转。3.反掠夺者防御：捕食是许多物种死亡的主要来源，我们的模型表明人造光源可能会削弱这种防御。结合蛾类的背景选择实验和控制捕食实验，将确定在不同类型的人造光下夜间背景选择如何影响白天视觉引导的鸟类捕食者的捕食风险，实现这三个目标将提供新的光源对蛾类（或任何动物）的视觉生态的潜在影响的第一个评估。重要的是，通过确定特定类型的人造光如何以及为什么会干扰关键行为和种间相互作用，我们将能够评估它们对授粉和蛾类生存的可能影响，这反过来又会影响野花和其他传粉者群体的生物多样性，并对粮食安全产生影响。此外，研究结果将有助于制定从整个类群水平到物种特异性相互作用的有针对性的缓解策略。这一点至关重要，因为在我们的建模中被确定为可能破坏授粉行为的下一代光源已经被部署。

项目成果

Adapting genetic algorithms for artificial evolution of visual patterns under selection from wild predators

采用遗传算法在野生捕食者的选择下进行视觉模式的人工进化

• DOI: 10.1101/2023.11.15.567326
• 发表时间: 2023
• 作者: Briolat E

OSpRad; an open-source, low-cost, high-sensitivity spectroradiometer

OSpRad；

• DOI: 10.1101/2022.12.09.519768
• 发表时间: 2022
• 作者: Troscianko J

Supplement Materials from Artificial light at night causes conflicting behavioural and morphological defence responses in a marine isopod

夜间人造光的补充材料会导致海洋等足类动物行为和形态防御反应发生冲突

• DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.23151013
• 发表时间: 2023
• 作者: Bullough K