| Summary: | Artificial light at night (ALAN) demonstrated a new ecological factor that influences organisms through a multi-approach. Yet, the impacts of ALAN on understory plants remain largely unknown. We evaluated whether ALAN would affect the leaf mass per area (LMA) of understory plants through a two-year field light experiment in a tropical rubber plantation in south China. We hypothesized that ALAN could impact the understory in two ways: by directly supplementing light to aboveground plant parts (which increases LMA) and indirectly affecting soil nutrient composition by attracting insects (which decreases LMA). We selected two species: <i>Colocasia gigantea</i>, representing shade-tolerant species, and <i>Melastoma candidum</i>, representing light-demanding species. We measured canopy openness, LMA, soil nutrients, and individual distance away from light resources. Our Bayesian linear mixed model showed a negative relationship between LMA and the strength of ALAN, indicating that ALAN may influence LMA more indirectly by enhancing soil nutrient availability rather than directly acting as a light resource. This relationship was significant for <i>Colocasia gigantea</i> but not for <i>Melastoma candidum</i>. These results suggest that ALAN might have complex and species-specific impacts on the understory ecosystem. Our study underscores the need for continued research and informed management of anthropogenic ecosystems.
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