Abstract: Small mammals often moderate their foraging behaviour in response to cues indicating a high local predation risk. We assessed the ability of cues associated with a high predation risk to reduce the consumption of bait by non-target small mammal species in a tropical rainforest, without inhibiting bait-take by feral pigs (Sus scrofa). The illumination of feeding stations with a low power light source caused small mammals to reduce their foraging intensity on sunflower seeds mixed through sand by 25% (P< 0.001) and on unprocessed corn-based feral pig bait by 80% (P< 0.001). Illumination also reduced the intensity with which small mammals fed on commercially manufactured baits (odds ratio. = 6.17, P= 0.009). Illumination did not cause pigs to reduce their intake of corn bait (P= 0.43). Neither pig nor dingo (Canis lupus dingo) vocalisations had any detectable effect on the foraging intensity of small mammals (P> 0.05 for all treatments). We conclude that site illumination was an effective method of selectively deterring small mammals from consuming feral pig baits in our study region, but had no effect on consumption of those baits by pigs.

Abstract: Most studies in chronobiology focus on solar cycles (daily and annual). Moonlight and the lunar cycle received considerably less attention by chronobiologists. An exception are rhythms in intertidal species. Terrestrial ecologists long ago acknowledged the effects of moonlight on predation success, and consequently on predation risk, foraging behaviour and habitat use, while marine biologists have focused more on the behaviour and mainly on reproduction synchronization with relation to the Moon phase. Lately, several studies in different animal taxa addressed the role of moonlight in determining activity and studied the underlying mechanisms. In this paper, we review the ecological and behavioural evidence showing the effect of moonlight on activity, discuss the adaptive value of these changes, and describe possible mechanisms underlying this effect. We will also refer to other sources of night-time light ('light pollution') and highlight open questions that demand further studies.

Abstract: 1. Artificial night lighting threatens to disrupt strongly conserved light-dependent processes in animals and may have cascading effects on ecosystems as species interactions become altered. Insectivorous bats and their prey have been involved in a nocturnal, co-evolutionary arms race for millions of years. Lights may interfere with anti-bat defensive behaviours in moths, and disrupt a complex and globally ubiquitous interaction between bats and insects, ultimately leading to detrimental consequences for ecosystems on a global scale.
2. We combined experimental and mathematical approaches to determine effects of light pollution on a free-living bat–insect community. We compared prey selection by Cape serotine bats Neoromicia capensis in naturally unlit and artificially lit conditions using a manipulative field experiment, and developed a probabilistic model based on a suite of prey-selection factors to explain differences in observed diet.
3.Moth consumption by N. capensis was low under unlit conditions (mean percentage volume ± SD: 5·91 ± 6·25%), while moth consumption increased sixfold (mean percentage volume ± SD: 35·42 ± 17·90%) under lit conditions despite a decrease in relative moth abundance. Predictive prey-selection models that included high-efficacy estimates for eared-moth defensive behaviour found most support given diet data for bats in unlit conditions. Conversely, models that estimated eared-moth defensive behaviour as absent or low found more support given diet data for bats in lit conditions. Our models therefore suggest the increase in moth consumption was a result of light-induced, decreased eared-moth defensive behaviour.
4. Policy implications. In the current context of unyielding growth in global light pollution, we predict that specialist moth-eating bats and eared moths will face ever-increasing challenges to survival through increased resource competition and predation risk, respectively. Lights should be developed to be less attractive to moths, with the goal of reducing effects on moth behaviour. Unfortunately, market preference for broad-spectrum lighting and possible effects on other taxa make development of moth-friendly lighting improbable. Mitigation should therefore focus on the reduction of temporal, spatial and luminance redundancy in outdoor lighting. Restriction of light inside nature reserves and urban greenbelts can help maintain dark refugia for moth-eating bats and moths, and may become important for their persistence.