SynthesisNature ecology & evolution2021
A meta-analysis of biological impacts of artificial light at night.
Synthesis in Nature ecology & evolution, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 118 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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
118 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Artificial Light at Night Consistently Impacts Avian Physiology and Behaviour: A Meta-Analysis.Ecology letters · 2026Pooled it
- The impact of urbanization on health depends on the health metric, life stage and level of urbanization: a global meta-analysis on avian species.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2024Pooled it
- Artificial light at night and risk of depression: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Environmental health and preventive medicine · 2024Pooled it
- Meta-analysis reveals less sensitivity of non-native animals than natives to extreme weather worldwide.Nature ecology & evolution · 2023Pooled it
- Artificial Light at Night Alters Both of Nocturnal and Diurnal Pollination Networks in Alpine Meadows.Ecology and evolution · 2026Article
- Artificial Light at Night Drives Asymmetric Biological Allocation of Soil Carbon and Nitrogen by Fragmenting Micro-Food Webs.Global change biology · 2026Article
- Color change, background choice, and camouflage in a nocturnal treefrog: implications for circadian adaptation.Zoological research · 2026Article
- Nocturnal Dim Blue Light Is Associated with Splenic Immune Dysregulation and Altered CORT-GR Signalling in High-Fat-Diet-Fed Mice.Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- The circadian clock gene CYCLE as a potential target for disrupting blood-feeding behavior in the mosquito Culex pipiens.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2026Article
- Impact of dam-induced hydrological fluctuations on the behavior of the endangered scaly-sided Merganser (Current zoology · 2026Article
- Metropolitan coastal night lighting aligns with ecological and plastic divergence in closely relatedPNAS nexus · 2026Article
- Outdoor night light exposure and sleep structure, a panel study using consumer-grade wearables.BMC public health · 2026Article
- Artificial light at night suppresses the metabolic response of a coral reef fish to a virtual predator.Conservation physiology · 2026Article
- Engineering glowing plants: recent progress and future directions for application-oriented design.Frontiers in bioengineering and biotechnology · 2026Review
- Historical Exposure to Artificial Light at Night ShapesEcology and evolution · 2025Article
- Association between nighttime light and cardiometabolic multimorbidity: a prospective cohort study of UK Biobank.BMC public health · 2025Article
- The Effects of Light on Vertebrate Welfare: A Review.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2025Review
- Dietary melatonin supplementation mitigates the negative effects of artificial light at night in the Pacific field cricket,Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2025Article
- Habitat and land-use intensity shape moth community structure across temperate forest and grassland.The Journal of animal ecology · 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
58 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
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Natural light cycles are being eroded over large areas of the globe by the direct emissions and sky brightening that result from sources of artificial night-time light. This is predicted to affect wild organisms, particularly because of the central role that light regimes play in determining the timing of biological activity. Although many empirical studies have reported such effects, these have focused on particular species or local communities and have thus been unable to provide a general evaluation of the overall frequency and strength of these impacts. Using a new database of published studies, we show that exposure to artificial light at night induces strong responses for physiological measures, daily activity patterns and life history traits. We found particularly strong responses with regards to hormone levels, the onset of daily activity in diurnal species and life history traits, such as the number of offspring, predation, cognition and seafinding (in turtles). So far, few studies have focused on the impact of artificial light at night on ecosystem functions. The breadth and often strength of biological impacts we reveal highlight the need for outdoor artificial night-time lighting to be limited to the places and forms-such as timing, intensity and spectrum-where it is genuinely required by the people using it to minimize ecological impacts.
Indexed as
Identifiers
33139919What 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.