ArticleScientific reports2015
Light pollution disrupts sleep in free-living animals.
Article in Scientific reports, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 67 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
67 citing papers in PubMed, 247 citations in OpenAlex.
- Sound and light levels in intensive care units in a large urban hospital in the United States.Chronobiology international · 2023Trial
- The Effect of a Photochromic Contact Lens on Visual Function Indoors: A Randomized, Controlled Trial.Optometry and vision science : official publication of the American Academy of Optometry · 2020Trial
- Constant light disrupts biological rhythms and worsens sleep quality but does not elevate blood pressure in female rats.Hypertension research : official journal of the Japanese Society of Hypertension · 2026Article
- Behavioral convergence under urbanization: An overlooked dimension of biotic homogenization.PLoS biology · 2026Article
- Fair game: urban free-ranging dogs balance resource use and risk aversion at seasonal fairs.Current zoology · 2026Article
- Dim light at night disrupts the sleep-wake cycle and exacerbates abnormal EEG activity in Cntnap2 knockout mice: implications for autism spectrum disorders.Molecular autism · 2025Article
- Midnight darkness and evening melatonin pre-treatment reverse night-light-induced neurobehavioural disruptions in a diurnal corvid.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- The Effects of Light on Vertebrate Welfare: A Review.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2025Review
- Article
- Female chronotype is not related to annual and lifetime reproductive success in a free-living songbird.Royal Society open science · 2025Article
- Experimental noise and light pollution alter prey detection in a nocturnal bird of prey.The Journal of animal ecology · 2025Article
- Urban effects on timing and variability of diel activity differ across passerine species and seasons.The Journal of animal ecology · 2025Article
- Ecology of timekeeping: feeding times effect clock-controlled behavior, metabolism and reproduction in diurnal vertebrates.Npj biological timing and sleep · 2025Review
- Zebra finches (Taeniopygia castanotis) display varying degrees of stress resilience in response to constant light.General and comparative endocrinology · 2025Review
- Dimly illuminated nights alter behavior and negatively affect fat metabolism in adult male zebra finches.Photochemical & photobiological sciences : Official journal of the European Photochemistry Association and the European Society for Photobiology · 2024Article
- Artificial Light at Night Advances the Onset of Vocal Activity in Both Male and Female Great Tits During the Breeding Season, While Noise Pollution Has Less Impact and Only in Females.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2024Article
- Crickets in the spotlight: exploring the impact of light on circadian behavior.Journal of comparative physiology. A, Neuroethology, sensory, neural, and behavioral physiology · 2024Review
- Artificial light at night reduces earthworm activity but increases growth of invasive ragweed.BMC ecology and evolution · 2024Article
- Outdoor nighttime light exposure (light pollution) is associated with Alzheimer's disease.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2024Article
- Artificial night illumination disrupts sleep, and attenuates mood and learning in diurnal animals: evidence from behavior and gene expression studies in zebra finches.Photochemical & photobiological sciences : Official journal of the European Photochemistry Association and the European Society for Photobiology · 2023Article
7 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Artificial lighting can alter individual behaviour, with often drastic and potentially negative effects on biological rhythms, daily activity and reproduction. Whether this is caused by a disruption of sleep, an important widespread behaviour enabling animals to recover from daily stress, is unclear. We tested the hypothesis that light pollution disrupts sleep by recording individual sleep behaviour of great tits, Parus major, that were roosting in dark nest-boxes and were exposed to light-emitting diode light the following night. Their behaviour was compared to that of control birds sleeping in dark nest-boxes on both nights. Artificial lighting caused experimental birds to wake up earlier, sleep less (-5%) and spent less time in the nest-box as they left their nest-box earlier in the morning. Experimental birds did not enter the nest-box or fall asleep later than controls. Although individuals in lit nest-boxes did not wake up more often nor decreased the length of their sleep bouts, females spent a greater proportion of the night awake. Our study provides the first direct proof that light pollution has a significant impact on sleep in free-living animals, in particular in the morning, and highlights a mechanism for potential effects of light pollution on fitness.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.