Title
Tracking the seasons: the internal calendars of vertebrates
PubMed ID
17686736
UMMS Affiliation
Department of Neurology
Date
8-10-2007
Document Type
Article
Subjects
Adaptation, Physiological; Animals; Biological Clocks; Environment; *Seasons; Vertebrates
Disciplines
Life Sciences | Medicine and Health Sciences
Abstract
Animals have evolved many season-specific behavioural and physiological adaptations that allow them to both cope with and exploit the cyclic annual environment. Two classes of endogenous annual timekeeping mechanisms enable animals to track, anticipate and prepare for the seasons: a timer that measures an interval of several months and a clock that oscillates with a period of approximately a year. Here, we discuss the basic properties and biological substrates of these timekeeping mechanisms, as well as their reliance on, and encoding of environmental cues to accurately time seasonal events. While the separate classification of interval timers and circannual clocks has elucidated important differences in their underlying properties, comparative physiological investigations, especially those regarding seasonal prolactin secretions, hint at the possibility of common substrates.
Rights and Permissions
Citation: Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2008 Jan 27;363(1490):341-61. Link to article on publisher's site