ArticlePhilosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences2023
Artificial light at night decreases plant diversity and performance in experimental grassland communities.
Article in Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.
What it found
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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.
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.
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Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed, 16 citations in OpenAlex.
- Analyzing night illumination in dependency of cloud coverage and altitude.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Integrated of metabolome and transcriptome analysis reveals the effect of artificial light at night on Platanus orientalis L.BMC plant biology · 2025Article
- Concurrent anthropogenic stressors affect plant-soil systems with different plant diversity levels.The New phytologist · 2025Article
- Ecological Correlates of Ecological Specialization of Avian Communities in University Campuses of China.Biology · 2025Article
- Light pollution in complex ecological systems.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2023Article
- Artificial light at night decreases plant diversity and performance in experimental grassland communities.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2023Article
- Artificial light at night (ALAN) causes shifts in soil communities and functions.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
10 authors at 5 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Artificial light at night (ALAN) affects many areas of the world and is increasing globally. To date, there has been limited and inconsistent evidence regarding the consequences of ALAN for plant communities, as well as for the fitness of their constituent species. ALAN could be beneficial for plants as they need light as energy source, but they also need darkness for regeneration and growth. We created model communities composed of 16 plant species sown, exposed to a gradient of ALAN ranging from 'moonlight only' to conditions like situations typically found directly underneath a streetlamp. We measured plant community composition and its production (biomass), as well as functional traits of three plant species from different functional groups (grasses, herbs, legumes) in two separate harvests. We found that biomass was reduced by 33% in the highest ALAN treatment compared to the control, Shannon diversity decreased by 43% and evenness by 34% in the first harvest. Some species failed to establish in the second harvest. Specific leaf area, leaf dry matter content and leaf hairiness responded to ALAN. These responses suggest that plant communities will be sensitive to increasing ALAN, and they flag a need for plant conservation activities that consider impending ALAN scenarios. This article is part of the theme issue 'Light pollution in complex ecological systems'.
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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.