A new study led by PhD candidate Ashley Kim and Professor James Nieh has found that artificial light is not only a health concern for humans, it also affects the sleep patterns of honeybees and poses a threat to their essential role as pollinators (传粉者).

“Our research shows just how sensitive honeybees are to changes in their environment, particularly to something as seemingly harmless as artificial light,” said. Kim of the study: “By disturbing their sleep patterns, we see clear evidence of reduced sleep periods. This raises significant concerns, not only for bee health but also for the health of ecosystems that depend on them for pollination.”

Honeybees generally prefer to nest in dark environments, although a small-amount of light can enter from the entrance. Sleeping bees typically remain immobile but exhibit certain movements if disturbed by nestmates.

Like us, when bees experience a poor night’s sleep, problems in behavior and function emerge. Sleep is crucial for the health and fitness of groups of bees since they depend on a complicated system of communication known as the “waggle dance” that informs nestmates about the location of food sources in the environment. Bees dance more poorly and therefore do not communicate as well if they do not get enough sleep.

Through a series of experiments, researchers compared groups of bees that underwent normal sleep in the dark with others that were subjected to continuous artificial light. The results clearly showed that prolonged (长期的) exposure to light significantly affected the sleep pattern of honeybees, leading to bad behaviors.

Among the details described in the paper, bees exposed to continuous light slept less and were more frequently disturbed by other bees compared to those kept in normal darkness. Also, bees exposed to continuous light exhibited a preference for darker areas within their experimental cages.

“Understanding the factors that affect bee health, such as light pollution, is essential for developing strategies to protect pollinator populations. With artificial light increasing, this research throws light on how such disturbances may be harming pollinators.” said Nieh.