Department of Neuroscience, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, Columbus, Ohio.
Behavioral Medicine and Psychiatry, School of Medicine, West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia.
J Exp Zool A Ecol Integr Physiol. 2018 Oct;329(8-9):401-408. doi: 10.1002/jez.2173. Epub 2018 May 28.
Life has evolved to internalize and depend upon the daily and seasonal light cycles to synchronize physiology and behavior with environmental conditions. The nightscape has been vastly changed in response to the use of artificial lighting. Wildlife is now often exposed to direct lighting via streetlights or indirect lighting via sky glow at night. Because many activities rely on daily and seasonal light cues, the effects of artificial light at night could be extensive, but remain largely unknown. Laboratory studies suggest exposure to light at night can alter typical timing of daily locomotor activity and shift the timing of foraging/food intake to the daytime in nocturnal rodents. Additionally, nocturnal rodents decrease anxiety-like behaviors (i.e., spend more time in the open and increase rearing up) in response to even dim light at night. These are all likely maladaptive responses in the wild. Photoperiodic animals rely on seasonal changes in day length as a cue to evoke physiological and behavioral modifications to anticipate favorable and unfavorable conditions for survival and reproduction. Light at night can mask detection of short days, inappropriately signal long days, and thus desynchronize seasonal reproductive activities. We review laboratory and the sparse field studies that address the effects of exposure to artificial light at night to propose that exposure to light at night disrupts circadian and seasonal behavior in wildlife, which potentially decreases individual fitness and modifies ecosystems.
生命已经进化到可以内化并依赖日常和季节性的光周期，使生理和行为与环境条件同步。夜景已经发生了巨大的变化，以适应人工照明的使用。野生动物现在经常暴露在路灯的直接照明下，或者在夜间被天空辉光的间接照明下。由于许多活动依赖于日常和季节性的光提示，夜间人工光的影响可能是广泛的，但仍然很大程度上未知。实验室研究表明，夜间暴露在光线下会改变夜间活动动物的日常活动时间，并将觅食/食物摄入的时间转移到白天。此外，夜间活动的啮齿动物在夜间即使是微弱的光线也会减少焦虑样行为（即，更多地在开阔处活动并增加起身）。这些在野外都是可能的适应不良的反应。光周期动物依赖于季节性的日照时间变化作为一种信号，引发生理和行为的改变，以预测对生存和繁殖有利和不利的条件。夜间的光可以掩盖对短日照的检测，不恰当地发出长日照的信号，从而使季节性的繁殖活动不同步。我们回顾了实验室和稀疏的野外研究，以探讨夜间暴露于人工光的影响，提出夜间暴露于光会扰乱野生动物的昼夜节律和季节性行为，这可能会降低个体的适应性，并改变生态系统。
