TY - JOUR
T1 - Artificial light at night causes reproductive failure in clownfish
AU - Fobert, Emily K.
AU - Da Silva, Karen Burke
AU - Swearer, Stephen E.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 The Author(s).
PY - 2019
Y1 - 2019
N2 - The Earth is getting brighter at night, as artificial light at night (ALAN) continues to increase and extend its reach. Despite recent recognition of the damaging impacts of ALAN on terrestrial ecosystems, research on ALAN in marine systems is comparatively lacking. To further our understanding of the impacts of ALAN on marine organisms, this study examines how the reproductive fitness of the common clownfish Amphiprion ocellaris is influenced by the presence of ALAN. We assessed how exposure to low levels of ALAN affects (i) frequency of spawning, (ii) egg fertilization success, and (iii) hatching success of A. ocellaris under control (12 : 12 day-night) and treatment (12 : 12 day-ALAN) light regimes. While we found exposure to ALAN had no impact on the frequency of spawning or fertilization success, ALAN had dramatic effects on hatching. Amphiprion ocellaris eggs incubated in the presence of ALAN simply did not hatch, resulting in zero survivorship of offspring. These findings suggest ALAN can significantly reduce reproductive fitness in a benthic-spawning reef fish. Further research in this field is necessary to fully understand the extent of this impact on population and community dynamics in the wild.
AB - The Earth is getting brighter at night, as artificial light at night (ALAN) continues to increase and extend its reach. Despite recent recognition of the damaging impacts of ALAN on terrestrial ecosystems, research on ALAN in marine systems is comparatively lacking. To further our understanding of the impacts of ALAN on marine organisms, this study examines how the reproductive fitness of the common clownfish Amphiprion ocellaris is influenced by the presence of ALAN. We assessed how exposure to low levels of ALAN affects (i) frequency of spawning, (ii) egg fertilization success, and (iii) hatching success of A. ocellaris under control (12 : 12 day-night) and treatment (12 : 12 day-ALAN) light regimes. While we found exposure to ALAN had no impact on the frequency of spawning or fertilization success, ALAN had dramatic effects on hatching. Amphiprion ocellaris eggs incubated in the presence of ALAN simply did not hatch, resulting in zero survivorship of offspring. These findings suggest ALAN can significantly reduce reproductive fitness in a benthic-spawning reef fish. Further research in this field is necessary to fully understand the extent of this impact on population and community dynamics in the wild.
KW - Amphiprion ocellaris
KW - Anthropogenic disturbance
KW - Light pollution
KW - Reproductive fitness
KW - Spawning
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85069323929&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1098/rsbl.2019.0272
DO - 10.1098/rsbl.2019.0272
M3 - Article
C2 - 31288686
AN - SCOPUS:85069323929
SN - 1744-9561
VL - 15
JO - Biology Letters
JF - Biology Letters
IS - 7
M1 - 20190272
ER -