Premium
Direct and indirect effects of light pollution on the performance of an herbivorous insect
Author(s) -
Grenis Kylee,
Murphy Shan M.
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
insect science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.991
H-Index - 45
eISSN - 1744-7917
pISSN - 1672-9609
DOI - 10.1111/1744-7917.12574
Subject(s) - herbivore , biology , light pollution , trophic level , insect , pollution , ecology , vertebrate , indirect effect , biochemistry , physics , optics , gene , political science , law
Light pollution is a global disturbance with resounding impacts on a wide variety of organisms, but our understanding of these impacts is restricted to relatively few higher vertebrate species. We tested the direct effects of light pollution on herbivore performance as well as indirect effects mediated by host plant quality. We found that artificial light from streetlights alters plant toughness. Additionally, we found evidence of both direct and indirect effects of light pollution on the performance of an herbivorous insect, which indicates that streetlights can have cascading impacts on multiple trophic levels. Our novel findings suggest that light pollution can alter plant–insect interactions and thus may have important community‐wide consequences.