Telling the Seasons Underground: The Circadian Clock and Ambient Temperature Shape Light Exposure and Photoperiodism in a Subterranean Rodent.

ABSTRACT: Living organisms anticipate the seasons by tracking the proportion of light and darkness hours within a day-photoperiod. The limits of photoperiod measurement can be investigated in the subterranean rodents tuco-tucos (Ctenomys aff. knighti), which inhabit dark underground tunnels. Their exposure to light is sporadic and, remarkably, results from their own behavior of surface emergence. Thus, we investigated the endogenous and exogenous regulation of this behavior and its consequences to photoperiod measurement. In the field, animals carrying biologgers displayed seasonal patterns of daily surface emergence, exogenously modulated by temperature. In the laboratory, experiments with constant lighting conditions revealed the endogenous regulation of seasonal activity by the circ

SUBMITTER: Flores DEFL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8517108 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature