Data from: Artificial light at night desynchronises strictly seasonal reproduction in a wild mammal

Change in day length is an important cue for reproductive activation in seasonally breeding animals to ensure that the timing of greatest maternal investment (e.g. lactation in mammals) coincides with favourable environmental conditions (e.g. peak productivity). However, artificial light at night has the potential to interfere with the perception of such natural cues. Following a 5-year study on two populations of wild marsupial mammals exposed to different night-time levels of anthropogenic light, we show that light pollution in urban environments masks seasonal changes in ambient light cues, suppressing melatonin levels and delaying births in the tammar wallaby. These results highlight a previously unappreciated relationship linking artificial light at night with induced changes in mammalian reproductive physiology, and the potential for larger-scale impacts at the population level.

对于季节性繁殖的动物而言，日照时长变化是触发生殖激活的重要环境线索，从而确保母体投入最大的时期（例如哺乳动物的泌乳期）与最优环境条件（例如生产力峰值期）相契合。然而，夜间人工光可能会干扰动物对这类自然环境线索的感知。本研究针对两个暴露于不同夜间人为光照水平的野生有袋类哺乳动物种群开展了为期5年的调查，结果显示城市环境中的光污染会掩盖环境光的季节性变化，进而抑制塔马尔沙袋鼠的褪黑素水平并延迟其分娩时间。本研究结果揭示了此前未被认知的关联：夜间人工光与哺乳动物生殖生理学的诱导性变化存在联系，且这种影响可能在种群层面产生更为广泛的效应。