A group of international scientists - including two from the University of Plymouth and Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML) - has developed a new method for examining the effects of Artificial Light at Night (ALAN) on two sandy beach crustacean species.
The study focused on sandhoppers (Orchestoidea tuberculate) and beach pillbugs (Tylos spinulosus), using tiny slices of their tissue and powerful microscope techniques to measure these species' visual systems and assess damage caused by artificial lighting.
In isopods such as the beach pillbug, which are naturally adapted to dimmer night lighting compared to amphipods like sandhoppers, the light-sensitive part of the eye (rhabdom) is 20 times larger and includes a reflective layer called a tapetum, which helps species in low-light environments.
A short exposure to artificial light caused between three and six times more damage to the beach pillbug's rhabdom compared to the sandhopper's, with no recovery after as much as 24 hours.
The isopod's rhabdom showed structural damage, while the amphipod's rhabdom was unaffected, suggesting that species adapted to darker environments are more severely and permanently affected by artificial light, potentially creating new challenges for their survival and evolution.
The study is published in the journal Science of the Total Environment, and was led by researchers from the Universidad Andrés Bello in Chile.
The researchers say its novel methodology has provided unprecedented insights into the microscopic world of marine crustacean photoreceptors, suggesting that ALAN can result in the disruption of natural behavioural patterns and potential genetic modifications in light-sensitive species.
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