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Tidal and Lunar Rhythms

  • Chapter
Biological Rhythms

Abstract

Biological rhythms of locomotor activity, reproduction and other aspects of behavior can be observed in synchrony not only with daily and seasonal variations of environmental conditions but also with the tides and the lunar cycle. In the intertidal zone, animals are confronted with rising and falling water levels and, on some coasts, with the high amplitudes of spring tides recurring twice every lunar month. In terrestrial surroundings and in shallow fresh water, night-active species may be subjected to periodic changes in the brightness of moonlight, so that some of them synchronize their activities with the lunar day of 24.8 hr or even with specific phases of the lunar month. As a result of these influences of tides and moonlight, a variety of tidal and lunar rhythms have evolved. Interest in experimental studies of these rhythms has considerably increased during the last 20 years (for summaries, see DeCoursey, 1976; Enright, 1975; Naylor, 1976; Neumann, 1969, 1976c; Palmer, 1973). This chapter aims at compiling the results in the following aspects: (1) the adaptive significance of these rhythms in relation to environmental fluctuations; (2) the variety of timing mechanisms that synchronize the organism to specific characteristics of tides or moonlight; and (3) the combination of two different timing mechanisms resulting in a complex temporal program.

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  1. Zoologisches Institut der Universität Köln, 5000, Köln 41, West Germany

    Dietrich Neumann

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  1. Dietrich Neumann
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  1. Max-Planck Institut für Verhaltensphysiologie, Andechs, German Federal Republic

    Jürgen Aschoff

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© 1981 Plenum Press, New York

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Neumann, D. (1981). Tidal and Lunar Rhythms. In: Aschoff, J. (eds) Biological Rhythms. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-6552-9_19

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-6552-9_19

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