ArticleScientific reports2016
Artificial light at night affects body mass but not oxidative status in free-living nestling songbirds: an experimental study.
Article in Scientific reports, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 22 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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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.
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Who cites it
22 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 90 citations in OpenAlex.
- A meta-analysis of biological impacts of artificial light at night.Nature ecology & evolution · 2021Pooled it
- The ecological importance of natural dark nights for circadian organization, metabolism and reproduction in birds.BMC ecology and evolution · 2026Review
- Dietary melatonin supplementation mitigates the negative effects of artificial light at night in the Pacific field cricket,Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2025Article
- Artificial light at night (ALAN) negatively affects nest site occupancy but does not influence breeding success in two sympatric owl species.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Artificial light at night weakens body condition but does not negatively affect physiological markers of health in great tits.The Journal of experimental biology · 2025Article
- Partial night lighting may reduce the physiological impact of artificial light at night on captive zebra finches.Frontiers in physiology · 2025Article
- 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
- Interactive effects of rising temperatures and urbanisation on birds across different climate zones: A mechanistic perspective.Global change biology · 2023Review
- Article
- Experimental manipulation of photoperiod influences migration timing in a wild, long-distance migratory songbird.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2021Article
- Impact of Oxidative Stress on Male Reproduction in Domestic and Wild Animals.Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Review
- Exposure to artificial light at night alters innate immune response in wild great tit nestlings.The Journal of experimental biology · 2021Article
- Slowly seeing the light: an integrative review on ecological light pollution as a potential threat for mollusks.Environmental science and pollution research international · 2021Review
- Light at night reduces digestive efficiency of developing birds: an experiment with king quail.Die Naturwissenschaften · 2021Article
- Dim artificial light at night reduces the cellular immune response of the black field cricket, Teleogryllus commodus.Insect science · 2020Article
- Exposure to Artificial Light at Night and the Consequences for Flora, Fauna, and Ecosystems.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2020Review
- Light at night disrupts nocturnal rest and elevates glucocorticoids at cool color temperatures.Journal of experimental zoology. Part A, Ecological and integrative physiology · 2018Article
- Effects of light at night on laboratory animals and research outcomes.Behavioral neuroscience · 2018Article
- Light at night as an environmental endocrine disruptor.Physiology & behavior · 2018Review
- Artificial light at night causes an unexpected increase in oxalate in developing male songbirds.Conservation physiology · 2018Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 1 institution in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Artificial light at night (ALAN), termed light pollution, is an increasingly important anthropogenic environmental pressure on wildlife. Exposure to unnatural lighting environments may have profound effects on animal physiology, particularly during early life. Here, we experimentally investigated for the first time the impact of ALAN on body mass and oxidative status during development, using nestlings of a free-living songbird, the great tit (Parus major), an important model species. Body mass and blood oxidative status were determined at baseline (=13 days after hatching) and again after a two night exposure to ALAN. Because it is very difficult to generalise the oxidative status from one or two measures we relied on a multi-biomarker approach. We determined multiple metrics of both antioxidant defences and oxidative damage: molecular antioxidants GSH, GSSG; antioxidant enzymes GPX, SOD, CAT; total non-enzymatic antioxidant capacity and damage markers protein carbonyls and TBARS. Light exposed nestlings showed no increase in body mass, in contrast to unexposed individuals. None of the metrics of oxidative status were affected. Nonetheless, our study provides experimental field evidence that ALAN may negatively affect free-living nestlings' development and hence may have adverse consequences lasting throughout adulthood.
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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.