Light suppresses the acoustically prompted predator-avoidance behaviour in moths

Urbanization leads to increased light exposure of wild animals. Especially nocturnal animals are affected by artificial light, which shifts balances of animals9 interactions. Predator-prey interactions, for example, can be shifted either in favour of the prey or the predator under the influence of light. In the interaction between echolocating bats and eared moths, bats often benefit from moths eliciting less last-ditch behaviour in response to close-by attacking bats when exposed to light. In contrast, it is unknown to which extent light also affects moths9 negative phonotoaxis, which moths elicit in response to distant bats. To quantify the overall effect of light on both last-ditch behaviour and negative phonotaxis, we counted over several nights the moths caught by two light traps, which were alternatingly equipping with speakers broadcasting ultrasonic simulations of hunting bats. Playbacks did not affect moth counts, indicating that light not only reduces the last-ditch behaviour of moths, but also their negative phonotaxis. The increasing light pollution therefore interferes with different aspects of anti-predator behaviour in moths, and possibly other eared insects. Our study emphasizes the negative effect of lights on insects and the need to further study the underlying mechanism.

• Publication year

  2019

• Venue

  bioRxiv

• Publication date

  2019-08-06

• Fields of study

  Biology, Environmental Science

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1101/727248
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

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