2021/08/25 by Douglas Boyes, Darren M. Evans, Richard Fox +2 · 1 citation
Environmental Science · #Impact of Light on Environment and Health #Urban Green Space and Health
paper · doi:10.1126/sciadv.abi8322
openalex publication_date 2021/08/25 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/21
Reported declines in insect populations have sparked global concern, with artificial light at night (ALAN) identified as a potential contributing factor. Despite strong evidence that lighting disrupts a range of insect behaviors, the empirical evidence that ALAN diminishes wild insect abundance is limited. Using a matched-pairs design, we found that street lighting strongly reduced moth caterpillar abundance compared with unlit sites (47% reduction in hedgerows and 33% reduction in grass margins) and affected caterpillar development. A separate experiment in habitats with no history of lighting revealed that ALAN disrupted the feeding behavior of nocturnal caterpillars. Negative impacts were more pronounced under white light-emitting diode (LED) street lights compared to conventional yellow sodium lamps. This indicates that ALAN and the ongoing shift toward white LEDs (i.e., narrow- to broad-spectrum lighting) will have substantial consequences for insect populations and ecosystem processes.