Predation of the white‐lined sphinx moth ( Hyles lineata ) is dependent upon time of day but not human disturbance

作者：Brett Seymoure, Braulio A. Sanchez, Kajaya J. Pollard, L. Miles Horne, Elizabeth H. Field, Ashlee D. Portz, Jackson Savage, Colby Smith, Spencer Duffendack, Elise Cotty, Oliver Neria, Alexander Moore, Sol Saenz‐Arreola, Andrea Olivas, Océane Da Cunha · 发表于：Ecological Entomology · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.1111/een.13421 · 被引用次数：3 · 研究领域：Impact of Light on Environment and Health、Urban Green Space and Health、Land Use and Ecosystem Services

Abstract Human settlements and urbanisation are increasing globally, with more than half of the Earth's terrestrial surface being impacted by humans. This development has resulted in numerous anthropogenic stressors including nocturnal sensory pollution (i.e. light pollution), which is a key driver of insect declines. Nocturnality is hypothesized to reduce predation risk from visually‐guided diurnal predators. More than half of all insect species, and 80% of Lepidoptera, are estimated to be nocturnal. Predation rates on insects are likely a result of habitat, time of day and the local predator composition. We investigated how predation rates on plasticine moth replicas differed between urban and rural sites, and between night and day. Visually matching paper‐winged, clay‐bodied replicas of the white‐lined sphinx moth, Hyles lineata , were placed in a natural area within the city of El Paso, Texas, and in remote Chihuahuan Desert with minimal human disturbance. These replicas were checked during dawn and dusk for 3 days. Predation rates were significantly lower at night than during the day regardless of location, and predator composition differed between sites. Insectivorous birds were the primary diurnal predators in both locations, whereas nocturnal predators were represented primarily by insects at the rural site and by mammals at the urban site. These findings support the hypothesis that visually‐guided predators, such as birds, exert higher predation pressures during the ...