Abstract:  Since the widespread adoption of electric lighting in the early 20th century, the excessive or improper use of artificial light at night (ALAN) has led to increasingly severe light pollution worldwide, emerging as an emerging environmental issue of growing concerns in the context of global change. Light pollution disrupts insects’ accurate perception of spatial location, direction and time by significantly altering the key parameters of the natural nocturnal light environments, such as light intensity, light spectral composition, light-dark cycles, and polarized light characteristics. Research indicates that light pollution exerts multi-level negative impacts on insects, ranging from individuals to ecosystems, including disrupted phototactic behavior, orientation and navigation impairment, biological rhythm disorder, development and reproduction inhibition, population decline, and alterations in community structure. These effects pose a serious threat to insect diversity and ecosystem functioning. Given the current limitations and gaps in light pollution research in China, in this article we reviewed the progress in this field from three aspects, including the characteristics and ecological impacts of light pollution, its effects on insect behaviors, growth, development and reproduction, and its influence on insect populations and community structure. Additionally, we proposed the following key research directions: (1) the long-term cumulative ecological effects of light pollution; (2) the trade-offs between ecological risk and benifits of pest control technologies using light; (3) the cross-scale regulatory mechanisms of ALAN on insect physiology and behaviors; (4) the adaptation mechanisms of insects to light pollution; and (5) the interactive effects of light pollution and climate warming on insects. The aim of this article is to provide important references and new insights for the ecological risk assessment of light pollution and the development of pest control strategies.

Key words:  Insects, light pollution, artificial light, phototactic behavior, biological rhythm, ecological effects