Chronobiology of interspecific interactions in a changing world
Kronfeld-Schor, N.; Visser, M.E.; Salis, L.; van Gils, J.A. (2017). Chronobiology of interspecific interactions in a changing world. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. (B Biol. Sci.) 372(1734): 20160248. https://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2016.0248 In: Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences. Royal Society: London. ISSN 0962-8436; e-ISSN 1471-2970, more |  |
| Author keywords | temporal partitioning; biological rhythms; light pollution; global warming; urbanization |
| Authors | | Top | - Kronfeld-Schor, N.
- Visser, M.E.
- Salis, L.
- van Gils, J.A., more
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| Abstract | Animals should time activities, such as foraging, migration and reproduction,as well as seasonal physiological adaptation, in a way that maximizes fitness.The fitness outcome of such activities depends largely on their interspecificinteractions; the temporal overlap with other species determines when theyshould be active in order to maximize their encounters with food and to minimizetheir encounters with predators, competitors and parasites. To cope withthe constantly changing, but predictable structure of the environment, organismshave evolved internal biological clocks, which are synchronized mainlyby light, the most predictable and reliable environmental cue (but which canbe masked by other variables), which enable them to anticipate and preparefor predicted changes in the timing of the species they interact with, on topof responding to them directly. Here, we review examples where the internaltiming system is used to predict interspecific interactions, and howthese interactionsaffect the internal timing system and activity patterns. We then askhow plastic these mechanisms are, how this plasticity differs between andwithin species and how this variability in plasticity affects interspecific interactionsin a changing world, in which light, the major synchronizer of thebiological clock, is no longer a reliable cue owing to the rapidly changingclimate, the use of artificial light and urbanization.This article is part of the themed issue ‘Wild clocks: integrating chronobiologyand ecology to understand timekeeping in free-living animals |
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