Artificial light pollution increases nocturnal vigilance in peahens
Artificial light pollution is drastically changing the sensory environments of animals. Even though many animals are now living in these changed environments, the effect light pollution has on animal behavior is poorly understood. We investigated the effect of light pollution on nocturnal vigilance...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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PeerJ Inc.
2015-08-01
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| Series: | PeerJ |
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| Online Access: | https://peerj.com/articles/1174.pdf |
| _version_ | 1797418564400971776 |
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| author | Jessica L. Yorzinski Sarah Chisholm Sydney D Byerley Jeanee R. Coy Aisyah Aziz Jamie A. Wolf Amanda C. Gnerlich |
| author_facet | Jessica L. Yorzinski Sarah Chisholm Sydney D Byerley Jeanee R. Coy Aisyah Aziz Jamie A. Wolf Amanda C. Gnerlich |
| author_sort | Jessica L. Yorzinski |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Artificial light pollution is drastically changing the sensory environments of animals. Even though many animals are now living in these changed environments, the effect light pollution has on animal behavior is poorly understood. We investigated the effect of light pollution on nocturnal vigilance in peahens (Pavo cristatus). Captive peahens were exposed to either artificial lighting or natural lighting at night. We employed a novel method to record their vigilance behavior by attaching accelerometers to their heads and continuously monitoring their large head movements. We found that light pollution significantly increases nocturnal vigilance in peahens. Furthermore, the birds faced a trade-off between vigilance and sleep at night: peahens that were more vigilant spent less time sleeping. Given the choice, peahens preferred to roost away from high levels of artificial lighting but showed no preference for roosting without artificial lighting or with low levels of artificial lighting. Our study demonstrates that light pollution can have a substantial impact on animal behavior that can potentially result in fitness consequences. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T06:35:43Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-ee7f81b8adb243ec83176a767efe7856 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2167-8359 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T06:35:43Z |
| publishDate | 2015-08-01 |
| publisher | PeerJ Inc. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PeerJ |
| spelling | doaj.art-ee7f81b8adb243ec83176a767efe78562023-12-03T11:00:05ZengPeerJ Inc.PeerJ2167-83592015-08-013e117410.7717/peerj.1174Artificial light pollution increases nocturnal vigilance in peahensJessica L. Yorzinski0Sarah Chisholm1Sydney D Byerley2Jeanee R. Coy3Aisyah Aziz4Jamie A. Wolf5Amanda C. Gnerlich6Department of Biological Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, United StatesCentre of Computational Statistics and Machine Learning, University College London, London, United KingdomDepartment of Animal Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, United StatesDepartment of Animal Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, United StatesDepartment of Animal Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, United StatesDepartment of Biological Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, United StatesDepartment of Animal Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, United StatesArtificial light pollution is drastically changing the sensory environments of animals. Even though many animals are now living in these changed environments, the effect light pollution has on animal behavior is poorly understood. We investigated the effect of light pollution on nocturnal vigilance in peahens (Pavo cristatus). Captive peahens were exposed to either artificial lighting or natural lighting at night. We employed a novel method to record their vigilance behavior by attaching accelerometers to their heads and continuously monitoring their large head movements. We found that light pollution significantly increases nocturnal vigilance in peahens. Furthermore, the birds faced a trade-off between vigilance and sleep at night: peahens that were more vigilant spent less time sleeping. Given the choice, peahens preferred to roost away from high levels of artificial lighting but showed no preference for roosting without artificial lighting or with low levels of artificial lighting. Our study demonstrates that light pollution can have a substantial impact on animal behavior that can potentially result in fitness consequences.https://peerj.com/articles/1174.pdfLight pollutionAntipredator behaviorSensory ecologyPredator–preyPavo cristatus |
| spellingShingle | Jessica L. Yorzinski Sarah Chisholm Sydney D Byerley Jeanee R. Coy Aisyah Aziz Jamie A. Wolf Amanda C. Gnerlich Artificial light pollution increases nocturnal vigilance in peahens PeerJ Light pollution Antipredator behavior Sensory ecology Predator–prey Pavo cristatus |
| title | Artificial light pollution increases nocturnal vigilance in peahens |
| title_full | Artificial light pollution increases nocturnal vigilance in peahens |
| title_fullStr | Artificial light pollution increases nocturnal vigilance in peahens |
| title_full_unstemmed | Artificial light pollution increases nocturnal vigilance in peahens |
| title_short | Artificial light pollution increases nocturnal vigilance in peahens |
| title_sort | artificial light pollution increases nocturnal vigilance in peahens |
| topic | Light pollution Antipredator behavior Sensory ecology Predator–prey Pavo cristatus |
| url | https://peerj.com/articles/1174.pdf |
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