Dominoni Davide M, Borniger Jeremy C, Nelson Randy J
Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health and Comparative Medicine, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, G12 8QQ, UK
Department of Neuroscience, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, Columbus, OH 43210, USA.
Biol Lett. 2016 Feb;12(2):20160015. doi: 10.1098/rsbl.2016.0015.
The increasing use of electric lights has modified the natural light environment dramatically, posing novel challenges to both humans and wildlife. Indeed, several biomedical studies have linked artificial light at night to the disruption of circadian rhythms, with important consequences for human health, such as the increasing occurrence of metabolic syndromes, cancer and reduced immunity. In wild animals, light pollution is associated with changes in circadian behaviour, reproduction and predator-prey interactions, but we know little about the underlying physiological mechanisms and whether wild species suffer the same health problems as humans. In order to fill this gap, we advocate the need for integrating ecological studies in the field, with chronobiological approaches to identify and characterize pathways that may link temporal disruption caused by light at night and potential health and fitness consequences.
电灯使用的日益增加极大地改变了自然光照环境，给人类和野生动物都带来了新的挑战。事实上，多项生物医学研究已将夜间人造光与昼夜节律紊乱联系起来，这对人类健康产生了重要影响，比如代谢综合征、癌症的发病率增加以及免疫力下降。在野生动物中，光污染与昼夜行为、繁殖以及捕食者 - 猎物相互作用的变化有关，但我们对其潜在的生理机制以及野生物种是否会遭受与人类相同的健康问题知之甚少。为了填补这一空白，我们主张有必要将野外生态学研究与时间生物学方法相结合，以识别和描述可能将夜间光照引起的时间紊乱与潜在的健康和适应性后果联系起来的途径。
