Department of Biology, Behavioural Ecology and Ecophysiology Group, University of Antwerp, Wilrijk, Belgium.
Department of Biology, Behavioural Ecology and Ecophysiology Group, University of Antwerp, Wilrijk, Belgium.
Environ Pollut. 2018 Dec;243(Pt B):1317-1324. doi: 10.1016/j.envpol.2018.09.037. Epub 2018 Sep 10.
Light pollution or artificial light at night (ALAN) is an increasing, worldwide challenge that affects many aspects of animal behaviour. Interestingly, the response to ALAN varies widely among individuals within a population and variation in personality (consistent individual differences in behaviour) may be an important factor explaining this variation. Consistent individual differences in exploration behaviour in particular may relate to the response to ALAN, as increasing evidence indicates its relation with how individuals respond to novelty and how they cope with anthropogenic modifications of the environment. Here, we assayed exploration behaviour in a novel environment as a proxy for personality variation in great tits (Parus major). We observed individual sleep behaviour over two consecutive nights, with birds sleeping under natural dark conditions the first night and confronted with ALAN inside the nest box on the second night, representing a modified and novel roosting environment. We examined whether roosting decisions when confronted with a camera (novel object), and subsequently with ALAN, were personality-dependent, as this could potentially create sampling bias. Finally, we assessed whether experimentally challenging individuals with ALAN induced personality-dependent changes in sleep behaviour. Slow and fast explorers were equally likely to roost in a nest box when confronted with either a camera or artificial light inside, indicating the absence of personality-dependent sampling bias or avoidance of exposure to ALAN. Moreover, slow and fast explorers were equally disrupted in their sleep behaviour when challenged with ALAN. Whether other behavioural and physiological effects of ALAN are personality-dependent remains to be determined. Moreover, the sensitivity to disturbance of different behavioural types might depend on the behavioural context and the specific type of challenge in question. In our increasingly urbanized world, determining whether the effects of anthropogenic stressors depend on personality type will be of paramount importance as it may affect population dynamics.
光污染或夜间人工照明（ALAN）是一个全球性的日益严重的挑战，它影响着动物行为的许多方面。有趣的是，同一物种的个体对 ALAN 的反应差异很大，而个性（行为的一致性个体差异）可能是解释这种差异的一个重要因素。特别是探索行为的一致性个体差异可能与对 ALAN 的反应有关，因为越来越多的证据表明，它与个体对新奇事物的反应方式以及它们对环境人为改变的适应能力有关。在这里，我们以大山雀（Parus major）为例，通过在新环境中的探索行为来测定个性差异。我们观察了两只连续两晚的个体睡眠行为，第一晚鸟类在自然黑暗条件下睡觉，第二晚在巢箱内面对 ALAN，代表了一种经过修改的、新颖的栖息环境。我们研究了当面临摄像机（新物体）以及随后面临 ALAN 时，栖息决策是否取决于个性，因为这可能会产生抽样偏差。最后，我们评估了用 ALAN 实验性地挑战个体是否会导致睡眠行为的个性依赖变化。当面临巢箱内的摄像机或人造光时，慢探索者和快探索者同样有可能栖息在巢箱中，这表明不存在个性依赖的抽样偏差或对 ALAN 的回避。此外，当受到 ALAN 挑战时，慢探索者和快探索者的睡眠行为同样受到干扰。ALAN 是否会对其他行为和生理效应产生个性依赖仍有待确定。此外，不同行为类型对干扰的敏感性可能取决于行为背景和具体的挑战类型。在我们日益城市化的世界中，确定人为压力源的影响是否取决于个性类型将至关重要，因为它可能会影响种群动态。
