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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Plant Abiotic Stress
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpls.2024.1392262

Artificial light at night decreases leaf herbivory in typical urban areas

Provisionally accepted
Yu Cao Yu Cao 1Shuang Zhang Shuang Zhang 2*Keming Ma Keming Ma 2
  • 1 University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
  • 2 Research Center for Eco-environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing, Beijing Municipality, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Artificial light at night (ALAN) is exerting growing pressure on natural ecosystems, but its impact on biological interactions remains unclear. This study aimed to assess how ALAN influences leaf functional traits and herbivory in two prevalent street tree species (Styphnolobium japonicum (L.) Schott and Fraxinus pennsylvanica) in the urban areas of Beijing, China. We found that ALAN led to increased leaf toughness and decreased levels of leaf herbivory. Additionally, ALAN showed species-specific effects on leaf nutrients, size as well as defense substances. The findings illustrate that ALAN can significantly alter some key functional traits and ecological processes (nutrient cycling, energy flow). In general, we suggest that high ALAN intensity will be detrimental to the energy flow from urban plants to higher trophic levels, posing a potential threat to the maintenance of biodiversity (e.g., arthropod diversity, bird diversity) in urban ecosystems.

    Keywords: Artificial light at night, Plant functional traits, Herbivory, Energy flow, Urban plant, Urban ecosystems

    Received: 27 Feb 2024; Accepted: 03 Jun 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Cao, Zhang and Ma. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Shuang Zhang, Research Center for Eco-environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing, 100085, Beijing Municipality, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.