When a year takes 18 months:evidence for a strong circannual clock in a shorebird
During the last three of 20 years kept as a pet, a red knot (Calidris canutus) went through two complete 'circannual' cycles of body mass and plumage. With a record cycle length of 18 months, this individual shore-bird provides evidence for an exceptionally strong circannual clock system....
| Published in: | Naturwissenschaften |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2002
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| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/11370/b5544244-0eb3-4d05-ae4b-1b2feada05c2 https://research.rug.nl/en/publications/b5544244-0eb3-4d05-ae4b-1b2feada05c2 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-002-0325-z https://pure.rug.nl/ws/files/6667078/2002NaturwissenschaftenPiersma.pdf |
| Summary: | During the last three of 20 years kept as a pet, a red knot (Calidris canutus) went through two complete 'circannual' cycles of body mass and plumage. With a record cycle length of 18 months, this individual shore-bird provides evidence for an exceptionally strong circannual clock system. The absence of synchronisation to outdoor but visible periodic cues suggests that the constant, socially-induced, day-night environment was of overriding importance. So far, only for songbirds is there firm experimental evidence that annual cycles are orchestrated by an endogenous circannual clock system. In constant environments the circannual cycles of these passerines tend to have periods that are shorter, rather than longer, than a year. |
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