The research shows that light pollution can impact the natural environment in complex ways that may be hard to predict.
Due to the global extent of artificial light at night, there are concerns that these ecological impacts may be widespread, researchers said.
Researchers from the University of Exeter simulated the effects of street lighting on artificial grassland plots containing a community of invertebrates at night, exposing them to two different types of light treatment - a 'white' light similar to newer commercial LED street lighting systems and an 'amber' light simulating the type of a sodium street lamp.
The low intensity amber light was shown to inhibit, rather than induce, flowering in greater bird's foot trefoil, a wild relative of peas and beans that is a key source of food for the pea aphid in grasslands and road verges.
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"Our results suggest that by lighting up our night time environment we trigger complex effects on natural food webs. While we are all aware that street lights often attract insects at night, we show that they may have more permanent, widespread impacts on wildlife and ecosystems," Dr Jonathan Bennie of the ESI added.