Moths under bright nights : impact of light pollution on development, morphology and communities
(2025)
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- Abstract
- The introduction of artificial light at night (ALAN) is a form of anthropogenic niche construction causing light pollution. Both direct ALAN and skyglow affect organisms by disturbing their circadian rhythm and behaviour. Moths are an emblematic study system for the issue of ALAN as most species are nocturnal and show flight-to-light behaviour. However, also larval development is affected. This PhD thesis has two main goals to obtain a better understanding of how and why moths are affected by ALAN. First, we study the impact of ALAN on larval development, its consequences for adult morphology and behaviour, and potential adaptive responses. Second, we investigate how moth communities are affected by direct ALAN and skyglow, and explore general patterns in the incidence of ecological species. First, we study the impact of ALAN on larval development in a capital breeding moth with day-active larvae. We show increased larval mortality, accelerated development due to diapause inhibition, and decreased female pupal mass under ALAN. We also address how larval development in two noctuid moths, from populations with different skyglow levels, was affected by dynamic and continuous ALAN. ALAN accelerated development and increased adult body mass. Next, we explore whether flight-related morphology is related to flight-to-light behaviour. We show evidence for smaller wings in urban moths and a positive relationship of wing size with flight-to-light response. Development under ALAN altered sexual dimorphism in both size and wing colouration. Furthermore, a higher proportion of body mass was allocated to the abdomen and less to the thorax. Finally, in a full-factorial study design of streetlight pollution and skyglow, we show a negative impact of ALAN on moth communities and relationships with several ecological species traits. Our results show evidence for the negative impact of ALAN on moths, which likely affects their multiple ecosystem functions. ALAN is a significant challenge for insect conservation in anthropogenic landscapes.
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Citations
Van De Schoot, E. (2025). Moths under bright nights : impact of light pollution on development, morphology and communities.