Ecological light pollution affects anuran calling season, daily calling period, and sensitivity to light in natural Brazilian wetlands

Ecological light pollution alters an environment’s light cycle, potentially affecting photoperiod-controlled behavior. Anurans, for example, generally breed nocturnally, and the influence of light pollution on their natural history may therefore be especially strong. In this study, we tested this hy...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Die Naturwissenschaften 2019-08, Vol.106 (7-8), p.46-10, Article 46
Main Authors: Dias, Karina Soares, Dosso, Elisa Stuani, Hall, Alexander S., Schuch, André Passaglia, Tozetti, Alexandro Marques
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acclimatization
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Breeding sites
Calling behavior
Ecology
Environment
Exposure
Frogs
Life Sciences
Light
Light pollution
Light sources
Natural history
Night
Original Paper
Pollution
Seasons
Wetlands
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Summary:Ecological light pollution alters an environment’s light cycle, potentially affecting photoperiod-controlled behavior. Anurans, for example, generally breed nocturnally, and the influence of light pollution on their natural history may therefore be especially strong. In this study, we tested this hypothesis by measuring male calling behavior of anuran communities in natural wetlands in southern Brazil exposed or not exposed to street lights. We recorded seasonal and diel calling activity and calling response to a light pulse. The peak calling season differed between continuously lit and unlit locations with most species in illuminated wetlands shortening their calling season and calling earlier in the year. In unlit breeding sites, Boana pulchella , Pseudis minuta , and Pseudopaludicola falcipes confined their calling activity to well-defined hours of the night, but in continuously lit areas, these species called more continuously through the night. A 2-minute light pulse inhibited calling, but only in unlit wetlands. After a light pulse, frogs quickly resumed calling—suggesting acclimatization to brief artificial light exposure. Our field experiment presents a convincing example of ecological light pollution showing that artificial light alters the seasonal and diel calling time of some South American wetland anurans. It also documents their acclimatization to brief lighting when being continuously exposed to light.
ISSN:0028-1042
1432-1904
DOI:10.1007/s00114-019-1640-y