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Long‐term effects of artificial nighttime lighting and trophic complexity on plant biomass and foliar carbon and nitrogen in a grassland community

The introduction of artificial nighttime lighting due to human settlements and transport networks is increasingly altering the timing, intensity, and spectra of natural light regimes worldwide. Much of the research on the impacts of nighttime light pollution on organisms has focused on animal specie...

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Autores principales: Anic, Vinka, Gaston, Kevin J., Davies, Thomas W., Bennie, Jonathan
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9352868/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35949540
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.9157
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author Anic, Vinka
Gaston, Kevin J.
Davies, Thomas W.
Bennie, Jonathan
author_facet Anic, Vinka
Gaston, Kevin J.
Davies, Thomas W.
Bennie, Jonathan
author_sort Anic, Vinka
collection PubMed
description The introduction of artificial nighttime lighting due to human settlements and transport networks is increasingly altering the timing, intensity, and spectra of natural light regimes worldwide. Much of the research on the impacts of nighttime light pollution on organisms has focused on animal species. Little is known about the impacts of daylength extension due to outdoor lighting technologies on wild plant communities, despite the fact that plant growth and development are under photoperiodic control. In a five‐year field experiment, artificial ecosystems (“mesocosms”) of grassland communities both alone or in combination with invertebrate herbivores and predators were exposed to light treatments that simulated street lighting technologies (low‐pressure sodium, and light‐emitting diode [LED]‐based white lighting), at ground‐level illuminance. Most of the plant species in the mesocosms did not exhibit changes in biomass accumulation after 5 years of exposure to the light treatments. However, the white LED treatment had a significant negative effect on biomass production in the herbaceous species Lotus pedunculatus. Likewise, the interaction between the white LED treatment and the presence of herbivores significantly reduced the mean shoot/root ratio of the grass species Holcus lanatus. Artificial nighttime lighting had no effect on the foliar carbon or nitrogen in most of the grassland species. Nevertheless, the white LED treatment significantly increased the leaf nitrogen content in Lotus corniculatus in the presence of herbivores. Long‐term exposure to artificial light at night had no general effects on plant biomass responses in experimental grassland communities. However, species‐specific and negative effects of cool white LED lighting at ground‐level illuminance on biomass production and allocation in mixed plant communities are suggested by our findings. Further studies on the impacts of light pollution on biomass accumulation in plant communities are required as these effects could be mediated by different factors, including herbivory, competition, and soil nutrient availability.
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spelling pubmed-93528682022-08-09 Long‐term effects of artificial nighttime lighting and trophic complexity on plant biomass and foliar carbon and nitrogen in a grassland community Anic, Vinka Gaston, Kevin J. Davies, Thomas W. Bennie, Jonathan Ecol Evol Research Articles The introduction of artificial nighttime lighting due to human settlements and transport networks is increasingly altering the timing, intensity, and spectra of natural light regimes worldwide. Much of the research on the impacts of nighttime light pollution on organisms has focused on animal species. Little is known about the impacts of daylength extension due to outdoor lighting technologies on wild plant communities, despite the fact that plant growth and development are under photoperiodic control. In a five‐year field experiment, artificial ecosystems (“mesocosms”) of grassland communities both alone or in combination with invertebrate herbivores and predators were exposed to light treatments that simulated street lighting technologies (low‐pressure sodium, and light‐emitting diode [LED]‐based white lighting), at ground‐level illuminance. Most of the plant species in the mesocosms did not exhibit changes in biomass accumulation after 5 years of exposure to the light treatments. However, the white LED treatment had a significant negative effect on biomass production in the herbaceous species Lotus pedunculatus. Likewise, the interaction between the white LED treatment and the presence of herbivores significantly reduced the mean shoot/root ratio of the grass species Holcus lanatus. Artificial nighttime lighting had no effect on the foliar carbon or nitrogen in most of the grassland species. Nevertheless, the white LED treatment significantly increased the leaf nitrogen content in Lotus corniculatus in the presence of herbivores. Long‐term exposure to artificial light at night had no general effects on plant biomass responses in experimental grassland communities. However, species‐specific and negative effects of cool white LED lighting at ground‐level illuminance on biomass production and allocation in mixed plant communities are suggested by our findings. Further studies on the impacts of light pollution on biomass accumulation in plant communities are required as these effects could be mediated by different factors, including herbivory, competition, and soil nutrient availability. John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2022-08-04 /pmc/articles/PMC9352868/ /pubmed/35949540 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.9157 Text en © 2022 The Authors. Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article under the terms of the http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Research Articles
Anic, Vinka
Gaston, Kevin J.
Davies, Thomas W.
Bennie, Jonathan
Long‐term effects of artificial nighttime lighting and trophic complexity on plant biomass and foliar carbon and nitrogen in a grassland community
title Long‐term effects of artificial nighttime lighting and trophic complexity on plant biomass and foliar carbon and nitrogen in a grassland community
title_full Long‐term effects of artificial nighttime lighting and trophic complexity on plant biomass and foliar carbon and nitrogen in a grassland community
title_fullStr Long‐term effects of artificial nighttime lighting and trophic complexity on plant biomass and foliar carbon and nitrogen in a grassland community
title_full_unstemmed Long‐term effects of artificial nighttime lighting and trophic complexity on plant biomass and foliar carbon and nitrogen in a grassland community
title_short Long‐term effects of artificial nighttime lighting and trophic complexity on plant biomass and foliar carbon and nitrogen in a grassland community
title_sort long‐term effects of artificial nighttime lighting and trophic complexity on plant biomass and foliar carbon and nitrogen in a grassland community
topic Research Articles
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9352868/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35949540
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.9157
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