ArticleEnvironmental pollution (Barking, Essex : 1987)2021
Effects of dim artificial light at night on locomotor activity, cardiovascular physiology, and circadian clock genes in a diurnal songbird.
Article in Environmental pollution (Barking, Essex : 1987), 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 22 papers.
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Who cites it
22 citing papers in PubMed, 48 citations in OpenAlex.
- Circadian rhythms and lung cancer biology and immunotherapy: Emerging opportunities and challenges.Chinese medical journal pulmonary and critical care medicine · 2026Review
- The ecological importance of natural dark nights for circadian organization, metabolism and reproduction in birds.BMC ecology and evolution · 2026Review
- Population structure based on whole-genome resequencing and adaptive evolutionary mechanisms of circadian entrainment in the endangered fish Percocypris pingi.BMC genomics · 2026Article
- Adaptation to Nighttime Light via Gene Expression Regulation inEcology and evolution · 2025Article
- Trajectories of night light exposure and risk of overweight and obesity: a 15-year longitudinal cohort study of 218,239 Chinese children.BMC medicine · 2025Article
- Birds of a feather flock together: social context exacerbates the effects of light pollution on circadian disruption.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2025Article
- Circadian clock and its effect on aging and lifespan.Biogerontology · 2025Review
- Behavioral and transcriptomic responses of wild least horseshoe bats to artificial light.iScience · 2025Article
- Melatonin as a treatment for atherosclerosis: focus on programmed cell death, inflammation and oxidative stress.Journal of cardiothoracic surgery · 2025Review
- A daily rhythm of cell proliferation in a songbird brain.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- 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
- Light at night exposure and risk of dementia conversion from mild cognitive impairment in a Northern Italy population.International journal of health geographics · 2024Article
- Artificial light at night affects the daily profile of pulse pressure and protein expression in the thoracic aorta of rats.Hypertension research : official journal of the Japanese Society of Hypertension · 2024Article
- Alterations inSleep and biological rhythms · 2024Article
- Artificial light at night suppresses the day-night cardiovascular variability: evidence from humans and rats.Pflugers Archiv : European journal of physiology · 2024Review
- What happens when the lights are left on? Transcriptomic and phenotypic habituation to light pollution.iScience · 2024Article
- Light pollution disrupts circadian clock gene expression in two mosquito vectors during their overwintering dormancy.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Overview of the Circadian Clock in the Hair Follicle Cycle.Biomolecules · 2023Review
- Ingrained city rhythms: flexible activity timing but more persistent circadian pace in urban birds.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2023Article
- Disturbances of Hormonal Circadian Rhythms by Light Pollution.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Review
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Artificial light is transforming the nighttime environment and quickly becoming one of the most pervasive pollutants on earth. Across taxa, light entrains endogenous circadian clocks that function to synchronize behavioral and physiological rhythms with natural photoperiod. Artificial light at night (ALAN) disrupts these photoperiodic cues and has consequences for humans and wildlife including sleep disruption, physiological stress and increased risk of cardiovascular disease. However, the mechanisms underlying organismal responses to dim ALAN, resembling light pollution, remain elusive. Light pollution exists in the environment at lower levels (<5 lux) than tested in many laboratory studies that link ALAN to circadian rhythm disruption. Few studies have linked dim ALAN to both the upstream regulators of circadian rhythms and downstream behavioral and physiological consequences. We exposed zebra finches (Taeniopygia gutatta) to dim ALAN (1.5 lux) and measured circadian expression of five pacemaker genes in central and peripheral tissues, plasma melatonin, locomotor activity, and biomarkers of cardiovascular health. ALAN caused an increase in nighttime activity and, for males, cardiac hypertrophy. Moreover, downstream effects were detectable after just short duration exposure (10 days) and at dim levels that mimic the intensity of environmental light pollution. However, ALAN did not affect circulating melatonin nor oscillations of circadian gene expression in the central clock (brain) or liver. These findings suggest that dim ALAN can alter behavior and physiology without strong shifts in the rhythmic expression of molecular circadian pacemakers. Approaches that focus on ecologically-relevant ALAN and link complex biological pathways are necessary to understand the mechanisms underlying vertebrate responses to light pollution.
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