Biological Rhythms
Animals
Definitions
Biological clock is an internal timing system which
continues without external time clues, and controls
the time of activities of plants and animals
Period of the rhythm the time it takes to complete
one cycle of activity
Phase shift when the onset of the period of the
rhythm is changed either earlier or later. This
occurs when you travel around the earth into
different time zones. It can be artificially induced by
controlling the light and dark periods
Definitions cont….
Free running period this is the time when the
clock is running without any clues from the
environment, so it ‘runs free’
Entrainment this is the resetting of the clock
on a regular basis, forcing it to take up the
period of the environment
Zeitgeber – the environmental agent that
resets the biological clock eg light or temp
Definitions cont….
Circa – because each of the rhythms is not
exactly the time length stated, eg daily is not
24 hours, their names start with circa (which
means ‘about’)
Photoperiod – the responses of plants and
animals to the lengths of day and night
Biological Timing responses to
the abiotic world
All organisms respond to various cues
The responses can be:
Annual cycles – yearly changes of the season
Daily – night and day
Lunar – monthly, often related to the moon
Tidal – related to the ebb and flow of the tides
It is to an individual’s advantage to
synchronise its activities to these rhythms
There are three basic ways to do this
Synchronising to rhythms
Exogenous - A rhythm that is control by the
external, environmental stimulai detected by
the organisms
Endogenous – A rhythm that is controlled by
an internal biological clock
Combination – of both endogenous and
exogenous
Endogenous
Sometimes it is hard to tell if a rhythm is
endogenous or exogenous. It is endogenous if it
can be shown that one of the following criteria apply:
The rhythm may have a frequency that is not exactly the
same as the period of an external environmental factor, eg
light, temperature etc
The period of the endogenous rhythm usually deviates from
the natural rhythm when studied under constant laboratory
conditions
The rhythm may persist when the organism is moved from
one part of the world to another
Biological Clocks
The existence of circadian and circannual rhythms
means that animals must have a way of keeping
track of time
They have an internal clock which lets them predict
and prepare for changes to come
The biological clock in animals is found in the
hypothalamus of the brain
It is
Sensitive to environmental cues
Can be stopped and reset
Is very accurate
Is inherited
Biological Clocks Cont…
Biological clocks are used for:
Control of the daily rhythms of the body
Reproduction timing
Preparing for migration by eating of plenty of food
Preparing for winter by storing of food, increasing
thickness of coat and hibernating
Navigating by the sun or stars
Circadian Rhythms
Animals are active at different times of the
day
Diurnal – active during the day, inactive at night
Nocturnal – active at night, inactive during the day
Crepuscular – active at dawn and dusk
Arrhythmic – no regular pattern – tend to be found
were changes in the microclimate are negligible
Examples of circadian rhythms
Periods of activity
Periods of sleep
Physiological processes
Endocrine system rhythms
Temperature changes
Heart rate rhythms
Pain rhythms
Alcohol metabolism rhythms
Times of births and deaths, etc
Circamonthly Rhythms
Some animals synchronise their behaviour
with the phases of the moon
Changes associated with tidal patterns are
also considered circamonthly (lunar)
The spawning behaviour of some marine
worms is synchronised by the moon so that
the egg and sperm are released at the same
time
Grunion fish also work on this method of
spawning, using the tides
Circannual Rhythms
These result from the rotation of the earth
around the sun
Also a factor is seasonal changes caused by
the tilt of the earth and the seasons produced
as it rotates around the sun
Examples of circannual rhythms are:
Migration to and from breeding sites
Hibernation
Reproduction cycles
Hibernation
Aestivation
Circannual Rhythms cont….
Hibernation - This is the way some animals
survive over winter by slowing their metabolic
rate
Aestivation – this is a form of hibernation over
summer when the weather gets too dry or
temperature gets too hot
Reproduction – the method by which most
animals reproduce when conditions are most
favourable, ie spring
