Research overview: prey-mediated effects of light pollution on felid hunting

Artificial light alters the behaviour, abundance and detectability of the rodents, birds and insects that felids hunt, indirectly affecting predators through the prey base. This overview synthesises research on how light at night changes prey activity and predation risk, and how these shifts could cascade to urban felids by altering hunting success and prey availability in lit versus dark microhabitats. It examines the complexity of light effects that may help predators in some contexts and prey in others, and the resulting unpredictability for cats. The synthesis frames prey-mediated pathways as an important and underexplored route by which light pollution reshapes urban felid foraging.