Dataset Information

What happens when the lights are left on? Transcriptomic and phenotypic habituation to light pollution.

ABSTRACT: Artificial light at night (ALAN) is a ubiquitous pollutant worldwide. Exposure can induce immediate behavioral and physiological changes in animals, sometimes leading to severe health consequences. Nevertheless, many organisms persist in light-polluted environments and may have mechanisms of habituating, reducing responses to repeated exposure over time, but this has yet to be tested experimentally. Here, we tested whether zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata) can habituate to dim (0.3 lux) ALAN, measuring behavior, physiology (oxidative stress and telomere attrition), and gene expression in a repeated measures design, over 6 months. We present evidence of tolerance to chronic exposure, persistent behavioral responses lasting 8 weeks post-exposure, and attenuation of responses to re-exposure. Oxidative stress decreased under chronic ALAN. Changes in the blood transcriptome revealed unique responses to past exposure and re-exposure. Results demonstrate organismal resilience to chronic stressors and shed light on the capacity of birds to persist in an increasingly light-polluted world.

SUBMITTER: Alaasam VJ

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10839644 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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What happens when the lights are left on? Transcriptomic and phenotypic habituation to light pollution.

Alaasam Valentina J VJ Hui Cassandra C Lomas Johnathan J Ferguson Stephen M SM Zhang Yong Y Yim Won Cheol WC Ouyang Jenny Q JQ

iScience 20240112 2

Artificial light at night (ALAN) is a ubiquitous pollutant worldwide. Exposure can induce immediate behavioral and physiological changes in animals, sometimes leading to severe health consequences. Nevertheless, many organisms persist in light-polluted environments and may have mechanisms of habituating, reducing responses to repeated exposure over time, but this has yet to be tested experimentally. Here, we tested whether zebra finches (<i>Taeniopygia guttata</i>) can habituate to dim (0.3 lux) ...[more]

PMID: 38318353

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Project description:Plants are often exposed to shade over different time scales and this may substantially affect not only their own growth, but also development and functioning of the energetically dependent organisms. Among those, the root symbionts such as arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi and rhizobia represent particularly important cases-on the one hand, they consume a significant share of plant carbon (C) budget and, on the other, they generate a number of important nutritional feedbacks on their plant hosts, often resulting in a net positive effect on their host growth and/or fitness. Here we discuss our previous results comparing mycorrhizal performance under different intensities and durations of shade (Konvalinková et al., 2015) in a broader context of previously published literature. Additionally, we review publicly available knowledge on the root colonization and mycorrhizal growth responses in AM plants under light deprivation. Experimental evidence shows that sudden and intensive decrease of light availability to a mycorrhizal plant triggers rapid deactivation of phosphorus transfer from the AM fungus to the plant already within a few days, implying active and rapid response of the AM fungus to the energetic status of its plant host. When AM plants are exposed to intensive shading on longer time scales (weeks to months), positive mycorrhizal growth responses (MGR) are often decreasing and may eventually become negative. This is most likely due to the high C cost of the symbiosis relative to the C availability, and failure of plants to fully compensate for the fungal C demand under low light. Root colonization by AM fungi often declines under low light intensities, although the active role of plants in regulating the extent of root colonization has not yet been unequivocally demonstrated. Quantitative information on the rates and dynamics of C transfer from the plant to the fungus is mostly missing, as is the knowledge on the involved molecular mechanisms. Therefore, these subjects deserve particular attention in the future.

Dataset Information

What happens when the lights are left on? Transcriptomic and phenotypic habituation to light pollution.

Publications

What happens when the lights are left on? Transcriptomic and phenotypic habituation to light pollution.

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