Ecological artificial light at night (ALAN) has been increasingly associated with negative effects on the behavior and ecology of wild birds. However, the impacts of short-term bright ALAN on the temporal biology of companion animals and the underlying mediating mechanism are unknown. We evaluated impacts of 1X60-min/middle night ALAN (200 lux, λ_Dominant = 460 nm) nightly with or without melatonin administration on growth performance, reproductive capacity, food and water intake, and stress responses in Australian budgerigars (Melopsittacus undulatus) under captivity. 36 birds were housed in pairs under natural photoperiod and were equally divided into three groups: control, natural conditions; ALAN, control + ALAN; and melatonin, ALAN + melatonin in the drinking water during the dark period. Birds were regularly monitored for body mass, egg production, and hatchability over four months. Food intake, water consumption, and daily rhythm of fecal corticosterone were also evaluated. ALAN increased mass gain, food intake, water consumption, and drastically decreased reproductive capacity, whereas stress responses were markedly augmented. Melatonin restored food and water intake to control levels but partly reversed mass gain. Melatonin failed to ameliorate the impaired reproductive capacity despite reducing the stress responses to basal levels. These results suggest that the ALAN-induced negative impacts cannot be attributed solely to direct effects of melatonin suppression or/and exacerbated stress responses and the involvement of other photoperiodic pathway components warrant further studies. Finally, the results of our study may be of importance for improving the housing conditions of companion animals at least as concern bright ALAN exposures.

夜间生态人造光（ALAN）与野生鸟类行为和生态的负面影响日益相关。但是，短期明亮的ALAN对伴侣动物的时间生物学及其潜在的介导机制的影响尚不清楚。我们评价了1X60分钟/中间夜ALAN影响（200勒克司，λ_占优 = 460 nm）的夜间具有或不具有生长性能，生殖能力，在澳大利亚虎皮食物和水的摄入，和应激反应的褪黑激素给药（虎皮波状）被囚禁。将36只鸟在自然光周期下成对圈养，并平均分为三组：对照，自然条件；ALAN，控制+ ALAN；在黑暗时期，饮用水中含有褪黑激素，ALAN +褪黑激素。在四个月内定期监测禽类的体重，产卵量和孵化率。还评估了粪便皮质酮的食物摄入量，水消耗量和每日节律。ALAN增加了体重增加，食物摄入，水消耗，并且生殖能力大大降低，而应激反应明显增强。褪黑激素使食物和水的摄入量恢复到控制水平，但部分抵消了质量增加。尽管将应激反应降低至基础水平，褪黑激素仍未能改善受损的生殖能力。这些结果表明，ALAN诱导的负面影响不能仅仅归因于褪黑激素抑制的直接作用或/和加剧的应激反应，其他光周期途径成分的参与值得进一步研究。最后，我们的研究结果对于改善伴侣动物的居住条件至少对于明亮的ALAN暴露而言可能是重要的。