Results
Title

The interactive effects of artificial light at night and ground-dwelling arthropods on leaf herbivory in urban ecosystems.

Authors

Yu Cao; Shuang Zhang; Wei-Qi Zhou; Ke-Ming Ma

Abstract

Artificial light at night (ALAN) is an increasingly intensified disturbance in urban ecosystems, but its effects on ground-dwelling arthropods' biodiversity and their biotic interactions remain unclear. Here, we evaluated the response of ground-dwelling arthropods and leaf herbivory of two common street tree species (Styphnolobium japonicum (L.) Schott and Fraxinus pennsylvanica) to ALAN in the urban areas of Beijing, China. We found that 1) ALAN was associated with increased ants' activity in areas dominated by F. pennsylvanica, but there were no detectable effects on beetles and spiders. 2) Ground-dwelling arthropods and their interactions with ALAN were linked to variations in leaf herbivory in both two tree species. These results suggested that the response of ground-dwelling arthropods to ALAN is species-specific and that high levels of ALAN can affect top-down ecological processes in arthropods. The findings confirmed that the ALAN-caused effects on ground-dwelling arthropods can lead to cascading effects on some key ecological effects in urban ecosystems.

Subjects

URBAN ecology; URBAN biodiversity; ECOLOGICAL disturbances; URBAN trees; CITIES & towns; SPIDERS

Publication

Entomologia Generalis, 2024, Vol 44, Issue 6, p1537

ISSN

0171-8177

Publication type

Academic Journal

DOI

10.1127/entomologia/2024/2573