Natural light cycles are being eroded over large areas of the globe by the direct emissions and sky brightening that result from sources of artificial night-time light. This is predicted to affect wild organisms, particularly because of the central role that light regimes play in determining the timing of biological activity. Although many empirical studies have reported such effects, these have focused on particular species or local communities and have thus been unable to provide a general evaluation of the overall frequency and strength of these impacts. Using a new database of published studies, we show that exposure to artificial light at night induces strong responses for physiological measures, daily activity patterns and life history traits. We found particularly strong responses with regards to hormone levels, the onset of daily activity in diurnal species and life history traits, such as the number of offspring, predation, cognition and seafinding (in turtles). So far, few studies have focused on the impact of artificial light at night on ecosystem functions. The breadth and often strength of biological impacts we reveal highlight the need for outdoor artificial night-time lighting to be limited to the places and forms—such as timing, intensity and spectrum—where it is genuinely required by the people using it to minimize ecological impacts.

人工夜间光源产生的直接辐射和天空增亮正在侵蚀全球大部分地区的自然光循环。预计这会影响野生生物，特别是因为光照条件在确定生物活动的时间方面发挥着核心作用。尽管许多实证研究报告了此类影响，但这些研究侧重于特定物种或当地社区，因此无法对这些影响的总体频率和强度进行总体评估。使用已发表研究的新数据库，我们表明在夜间暴露于人造光会引起对生理测量、日常活动模式和生活史特征的强烈反应。我们发现对激素水平的反应特别强烈，昼夜物种和生活史特征的日常活动的开始，例如后代数量、捕食、认知和寻海（在海龟中）。迄今为止，很少有研究关注夜间人造光对生态系统功能的影响。我们揭示的生物影响的广度和强度强调了户外人工夜间照明的需要仅限于时间、强度和光谱等地点和形式——使用它的人们真正需要它以最大限度地减少生态影响。