Abstract
In the urbanized world, the diurnal cycle of light and darkness has lost its accuracy due to artificial light at night (LAN). Because light is one of the most important zeitgebers for the synchronization of the endogenous clock, this loss of the night has serious implications for health and activity patterns. Although it is a well-known phenomenon that LAN advances the onset of dawn song of passerines, little is known ABOUT whether birds extend their activity into the evening hours and THUS may benefit from exploiting the night light niche. By observing wild urban Blackbirds (Turdus merula) under different LAN intensities, we found birds exposed to high levels of LAN to forage longer in the evening than their conspecifics in the darker areas. This difference was most pronounced during the short days in March, but decreased steeply towards the summer solstice. However, body condition of the Blackbirds did not correlate with the exposure to LAN, indicating that urban birds extending their activity under LAN might not benefit from the prolonged foraging times. Our findings further indicate that male Blackbirds are more sensitive to LAN than females. This study reveals that LAN plays a considerable role in the activity times of urban Blackbirds but, regarding their body condition, other urban factors may be more important than the influence of LAN.
Zusammenfassung
Nutze die Nacht: Amseln (Turdus merula) verlängern ihre Nahrungssuche unter künstlichem Nachlicht
Der tägliche Wechsel zwischen Hell und Dunkel hat in der urbanisierten Welt durch das künstliche Nachtlicht seine Präzision verloren. Da Licht einer der wichtigsten Zeitgeber der inneren Uhr ist, hat dieser Verlust der Nacht weitreichende Auswirkungen auf Gesundheit und Aktivitätsmuster. Der unter künstlichem Licht früher einsetzende Morgengesang von Singvögeln ist ein gut untersuchtes Phänomen, jedoch ist nur wenig darüber bekannt, ob Vögel ihre Aktivität auch in die Abendstunden ausweiten und so von der Nachlicht-Nische profitieren können. Wir beobachteten frei lebende Amseln unter verschiedenen Lichtintensitäten und fanden, dass sie bei hohen nächtlichen Lichtintensitäten ihre Nahrungssuche stärker in die Abendstunden ausweiteten als Artgenossen im dunkleren Gebieten. Dieser Unterschied war während der kurzen Tage im März besonders ausgeprägt, nahm aber zum Sommer hin stark ab. Einen Zusammenhang zwischen der Körperkondition der Vögel und der nächtlichen Lichtintensität konnten wir nicht finden, was darauf hinweist, dass Vögel mit lichtbedingt längeren Aktivitätszeiten nicht von der verlängerten Nahrungssuche profitieren. Darüber hinaus scheinen Amselhähne sensibler als Amselhennen auf künstliches Nachtlicht zu reagieren. Diese Studie deutet darauf hin, dass künstliches Nachtlicht einen bedeutenden Einfluss auf die Aktivitätszeiten von städtischen Amseln hat, aber hinsichtlich der Körperkondition andere urbane Faktoren eine wichtigere Rolle als künstliches Nachtlicht haben.
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Acknowledgments
We thank Diana Höhlig, Stephanie Ibsen, and Pia Schmitz for obtaining Blackbird observations, and Simon Dietzel, Sarah Effertz, Daniela Dunger, Diana Höhlig, Terezia Lucenicova, and Rebecca Thier-Lange, for their help in mistnetting. Without the support of these field assistants this work would not have been possible. Stephanie Ibsen and two anonymous reviewers provided useful comments on an earlier draft and considerably improved the manuscript. The project was funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF, http://www.bmbf.de/en/index.php, FKZ: 033L038E), additional financial support was provided by Helmholtz Impulse and Networking Fund through Helmholtz Interdisciplinary Graduate School for Environmental Research (http://www.higrade.ufz.de). Bird handling and observations were carried out under the permission of the relevant German agencies.
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Communicated by F. Bairlein.
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Russ, A., Rüger, A. & Klenke, R. Seize the night: European Blackbirds (Turdus merula) extend their foraging activity under artificial illumination. J Ornithol 156, 123–131 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-014-1105-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-014-1105-1