Predator-prey interactions under artificial lighting at night and elevated turbidity

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Date

2023-12

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The Ohio State University

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Abstract

Artificial lighting at night (ALAN) is a widespread anthropogenic stressor with projected negative impacts on worldwide biodiversity. As a disruption of natural lighting, ALAN has been implicated as a key mechanism increasing predation rates on prey by eliminating dark refugia for prey. ALAN correlates with urban development that has a negative impact on stream water quality by increasing erosion and sediment input, which can impede the foraging success of visual predators. These two stressors co-occur with opposite expected effects, but it is unknown how they interact. For this study, predatory largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) and fathead minnows (Pimephales promelas) were used as a model predator-prey system given their widespread distributions and natural predator-prey relationship. A field mesocosm experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of experimentally manipulated ALAN (0, 0.5, 3, and 10 lux) and turbidity (clear, turbid) on predator-prey interactions using these species. We measured daily and overall minnow survival and the physiological response of largemouth bass by testing blood glucose as an indicator of stress. Our analysis elucidated that turbidity had a strong effect on predator-prey interactions while there was no observable effect of ALAN, evident in the prolonged survival of minnows in turbid conditions, despite variable light intensities. Further, largemouth bass showed a significant increase in glucose response to turbidity treatments whereas lighting had no effect. This study suggests that stream management should continue to focus on mitigating erosion and sediment inputs.

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3rd place in CFAES undergraduate research poster competition

Keywords

ALAN, Turbidity, Predator-prey interaction, Largemouth bass, Fathead minnow

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