Artificial Light At Night (ALAN) is a major urban perturbation, which can have detrimental effects on wildlife. Recent urban planning has led to an increased use of white light emission diodes (LEDs) in cities. However, little is known about the effects of this type of ALAN on wild vertebrates, especially during reproduction. We designed an experiment to test the impact of ALAN on the activity rhythms (daily time of first activity (TFA) and time of last activity (TLA)) of captive House sparrows () during several reproductive stages (from pre-breeding to post-breeding). We also tested the impact of ALAN on reproductive performance (laying date, clutch size, hatching and fledging success). Experimental birds were active earlier in the morning (earlier TFA) relative to controls although experimental and control birds did not differ in their TLA. The effect of ALAN on TFA was apparent during specific stages only (pre-breeding and chick-rearing stages), suggesting that sparrows actively adjust their activity in response to ALAN only during specific periods. This impact of ALAN on activity did not persist through the whole breeding season, suggesting that sparrows may habituate to ALAN. Alternatively, they may not be able to sustain a long-term increased activity in response to ALAN because of sleep deprivation and related physiological costs. Finally, we did not find any impact of ALAN on the reproductive performance of captive house sparrows held under optimal conditions. This suggests that ALAN may not be dramatically detrimental to the reproduction of this urban exploiter, at least when food availability is not constraining.

中文翻译：

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光污染对城市剥削者不同繁殖阶段的活动的影响存在差异：对家麻雀（Passer Domesticus）进行的实验


夜间人造光 (ALAN) 是一种主要的城市扰动，可能对野生动物产生不利影响。最近的城市规划导致城市中白光发射二极管 (LED) 的使用增加。然而，人们对这种 ALAN 对野生脊椎动物的影响知之甚少，尤其是在繁殖过程中。我们设计了一个实验来测试ALAN对圈养麻雀在几个繁殖阶段（从繁殖前到繁殖后）的活动节律（每日首次活动时间（TFA）和最后一次活动时间（TLA））的影响。配种）。我们还测试了 ALAN 对繁殖性能的影响（产蛋日期、窝数、孵化和雏鸟成功率）。相对于对照组，实验鸟在早上较早（较早的 TFA）活跃，尽管实验鸟和对照鸟的 TLA 没有差异。 ALAN 对 TFA 的影响仅在特定阶段（配种前和雏鸡饲养阶段）才明显，这表明麻雀仅在特定时期主动调整其活动以响应 ALAN。 ALAN 对活动的这种影响并没有持续整个繁殖季节，这表明麻雀可能习惯了 ALAN。或者，由于睡眠不足和相关的生理成本，他们可能无法维持对 ALAN 的长期增加的活动。最后，我们没有发现 ALAN 对最佳条件下圈养麻雀的繁殖性能有任何影响。这表明，ALAN 可能不会对这种城市剥削者的繁殖造成极大的损害，至少在食物供应不受到限制的情况下是这样。