Szaz Denes, Horvath Gabor, Barta Andras, Robertson Bruce A, Farkas Alexandra, Egri Adam, Tarjanyi Nikolett, Racz Gergely, Kriska Gyorgy
Environmental Optics Laboratory, Department of Biological Physics, Physical Institute, Eötvös University, Budapest, Hungary.
Division of Science, Mathematics and Computing, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2015 Mar 27;10(3):e0121194. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0121194. eCollection 2015.
Ecological photopollution created by artificial night lighting can alter animal behavior and lead to population declines and biodiversity loss. Polarized light pollution is a second type of photopollution that triggers water-seeking insects to ovisposit on smooth and dark man-made objects, because they simulate the polarization signatures of natural water bodies. We document a case study of the interaction of these two forms of photopollution by conducting observations and experiments near a lamp-lit bridge over the river Danube that attracts mass swarms of the mayfly Ephoron virgo away from the river to oviposit on the asphalt road of the bridge. Millions of mayflies swarmed near bridge-lights for two weeks. We found these swarms to be composed of 99% adult females performing their upstream compensatory flight and were attracted upward toward unpolarized bridge-lamp light, and away from the horizontally polarized light trail of the river. Imaging polarimetry confirmed that the asphalt surface of the bridge was strongly and horizontally polarized, providing a supernormal ovipositional cue to Ephoron virgo, while other parts of the bridge were poor polarizers of lamplight. Collectively, we confirm that Ephoron virgo is independently attracted to both unpolarized and polarized light sources, that both types of photopollution are being produced at the bridge, and that spatial patterns of swarming and oviposition are consistent with evolved behaviors being triggered maladaptively by these two types of light pollution. We suggest solutions to bridge and lighting design that should prevent or mitigate the impacts of such scenarios in the future. The detrimental impacts of such scenarios may extend beyond Ephoron virgo.
人工夜间照明产生的生态光污染会改变动物行为，导致种群数量下降和生物多样性丧失。偏振光污染是另一种光污染，它会促使趋水昆虫在光滑黑暗的人造物体上产卵，因为这些物体模拟了天然水体的偏振特征。我们通过在多瑙河上一座有灯光的桥梁附近进行观察和实验，记录了这两种光污染形式相互作用的一个案例研究。这座桥吸引了大量的蜉蝣Ephoron virgo离开河流，在桥的柏油路面上产卵。数百万只蜉蝣在桥灯附近聚集了两周。我们发现这些聚集群体由99%正在进行上游补偿飞行的成年雌性组成，它们被向上吸引到非偏振的桥灯光下，远离河流的水平偏振光轨迹。成像偏振测量证实，桥的柏油路面强烈且水平偏振，为Ephoron virgo提供了超常的产卵线索，而桥的其他部分对灯光的偏振作用较弱。总体而言，我们证实Ephoron virgo会独立地被非偏振和偏振光源吸引，桥处同时产生了这两种光污染，并且聚集和产卵的空间模式与这两种光污染适应性不良地触发进化行为一致。我们提出了桥梁和照明设计的解决方案，以防止或减轻此类情况在未来的影响。此类情况的有害影响可能不仅限于Ephoron virgo。
