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Artificial light at night at the terrestrial-aquatic interface: Effects on predators and fluxes of insect prey

The outcomes of species interactions–such as those between predators and prey–increasingly depend on environmental conditions that are modified by human activities. Light is among the most fundamental environmental parameters, and humans have dramatically altered natural light regimes across much of...

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Autores principales: Parkinson, Elizabeth, Lawson, Justine, Tiegs, Scott D.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7544032/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33031444
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0240138
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author Parkinson, Elizabeth
Lawson, Justine
Tiegs, Scott D.
author_facet Parkinson, Elizabeth
Lawson, Justine
Tiegs, Scott D.
author_sort Parkinson, Elizabeth
collection PubMed
description The outcomes of species interactions–such as those between predators and prey–increasingly depend on environmental conditions that are modified by human activities. Light is among the most fundamental environmental parameters, and humans have dramatically altered natural light regimes across much of the globe through the addition of artificial light at night (ALAN). The consequences for species interactions, communities and ecosystems are just beginning to be understood. Here we present findings from a replicated field experiment that simulated over-the-water lighting in the littoral zone of a small lake. We evaluated responses by emergent aquatic insects and terrestrial invertebrate communities, and riparian predators (tetragnathid spiders). On average ALAN plots had 51% more spiders than control plots that were not illuminated. Mean individual spider body mass was greater in ALAN plots relative to controls, an effect that was strongly sex-dependent; mean male body mass was 34% greater in ALAN plots while female body mass was 176% greater. The average number of prey items captured in spider webs was 139% greater on ALAN mesocosms, an effect attributed to emergent aquatic insects. Non-metric multidimensional scaling and a multiple response permutation procedure revealed significantly different invertebrate communities captured in pan traps positioned in ALAN plots and controls. Control plots had taxonomic-diversity values (as H’) that were 58% greater than ALAN plots, and communities that were 83% more-even. We attribute these differences to the aquatic family Caenidae which was the dominant family across both light treatments, but was 818% more abundant in ALAN plots. Our findings show that when ALAN is located in close proximity to freshwater it can concentrate fluxes of emergent aquatic insects, and that terrestrial predators in the littoral zone can compound this effect and intercept resource flows, preventing them from entering the terrestrial realm.
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spelling pubmed-75440322020-10-19 Artificial light at night at the terrestrial-aquatic interface: Effects on predators and fluxes of insect prey Parkinson, Elizabeth Lawson, Justine Tiegs, Scott D. PLoS One Research Article The outcomes of species interactions–such as those between predators and prey–increasingly depend on environmental conditions that are modified by human activities. Light is among the most fundamental environmental parameters, and humans have dramatically altered natural light regimes across much of the globe through the addition of artificial light at night (ALAN). The consequences for species interactions, communities and ecosystems are just beginning to be understood. Here we present findings from a replicated field experiment that simulated over-the-water lighting in the littoral zone of a small lake. We evaluated responses by emergent aquatic insects and terrestrial invertebrate communities, and riparian predators (tetragnathid spiders). On average ALAN plots had 51% more spiders than control plots that were not illuminated. Mean individual spider body mass was greater in ALAN plots relative to controls, an effect that was strongly sex-dependent; mean male body mass was 34% greater in ALAN plots while female body mass was 176% greater. The average number of prey items captured in spider webs was 139% greater on ALAN mesocosms, an effect attributed to emergent aquatic insects. Non-metric multidimensional scaling and a multiple response permutation procedure revealed significantly different invertebrate communities captured in pan traps positioned in ALAN plots and controls. Control plots had taxonomic-diversity values (as H’) that were 58% greater than ALAN plots, and communities that were 83% more-even. We attribute these differences to the aquatic family Caenidae which was the dominant family across both light treatments, but was 818% more abundant in ALAN plots. Our findings show that when ALAN is located in close proximity to freshwater it can concentrate fluxes of emergent aquatic insects, and that terrestrial predators in the littoral zone can compound this effect and intercept resource flows, preventing them from entering the terrestrial realm. Public Library of Science 2020-10-08 /pmc/articles/PMC7544032/ /pubmed/33031444 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0240138 Text en © 2020 Parkinson et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Parkinson, Elizabeth
Lawson, Justine
Tiegs, Scott D.
Artificial light at night at the terrestrial-aquatic interface: Effects on predators and fluxes of insect prey
title Artificial light at night at the terrestrial-aquatic interface: Effects on predators and fluxes of insect prey
title_full Artificial light at night at the terrestrial-aquatic interface: Effects on predators and fluxes of insect prey
title_fullStr Artificial light at night at the terrestrial-aquatic interface: Effects on predators and fluxes of insect prey
title_full_unstemmed Artificial light at night at the terrestrial-aquatic interface: Effects on predators and fluxes of insect prey
title_short Artificial light at night at the terrestrial-aquatic interface: Effects on predators and fluxes of insect prey
title_sort artificial light at night at the terrestrial-aquatic interface: effects on predators and fluxes of insect prey
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7544032/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33031444
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0240138
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