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Biological Clocks and Rhythms in Polar Organisms

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POLAR NIGHT Marine Ecology

Part of the book series: Advances in Polar Ecology ((AVPE,volume 4))

Abstract

Biological clocks are universal to all living organisms on Earth. Their ubiquity is testament to their importance to life: from cells to organs and from the simplest cyanobacteria to plants and primates, they are central to orchestrating life on this planet. Biological clocks are usually set by the day–night cycle, so what happens in polar regions during the Polar Night or Polar Day when there are periods of 24 hours of darkness or light? How would a biological clock function without a timekeeper cycle? This chapter details evidence that biological clocks are central to structuring daily and seasonal activities in organisms at high latitudes. Importantly, despite a strongly reduced or absent day–night cycle, biological clocks in the Polar Night still appear to be regulated by background illumination. Here we explore evidence for highly cyclic activity, from behaviour patterns to clock gene expression, in copepods, krill and bivalves. The ultimate goal will be to understand the role of endogenous clocks in driving important daily and seasonal life cycle functions and to determine scope for plasticity in a rapidly changing environment.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Scottish Association for Marine Science, Scottish Marine Institute, Oban, Argyll, UK

    Kim S. Last & Vicki J. Hendrick

  2. University of Vienna, Max Perutz Labs, Vienna, Austria

    N. Sören Häfker

  3. Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, Section Polar Biological Oceanography, Bremerhaven, Germany

    Bettina Meyer & Fabio Piccolin

  4. Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg, Institute for Chemistry and Biology of the Marine Environment (ICBM), Oldenburg, Germany

    Bettina Meyer

  5. Helmholtz Institute for Functional Marine Biodiversity (HIFMB) at the University of Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Germany

    Bettina Meyer

  6. UMR EPOC 5805, CNRS & University of Bordeaux, Marine Station of Arcachon, Arcachon, France

    Damien Tran

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  1. Kim S. Last
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  2. N. Sören Häfker
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  3. Vicki J. Hendrick
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  4. Bettina Meyer
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  5. Damien Tran
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  6. Fabio Piccolin
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Correspondence to Kim S. Last .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Arctic and Marine Biology, Faculty for Bioscience, Fisheries and Economy, UiT the Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway The University Centre in Svalbard, Longyearbyen, Centre for Autonomous Marine Operations & Systems (AMOS), Trondhjem Biological Station, Department of Biology, Norwegian University of Science & Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, Norway

    Jørgen Berge

  2. Centre for Autonomous Marine Operations & Systems (AMOS), Trondhjem Biological Station, Department of Biology, Norwegian University of Science & Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, The University Centre in Svalbard, Longyearbyen, Norway

    Geir Johnsen

  3. School of Marine Science and Policy, University of Delaware, Lewes, DE, USA

    Jonathan H. Cohen

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Last, K.S., Häfker, N.S., Hendrick, V.J., Meyer, B., Tran, D., Piccolin, F. (2020). Biological Clocks and Rhythms in Polar Organisms. In: Berge, J., Johnsen, G., Cohen, J. (eds) POLAR NIGHT Marine Ecology. Advances in Polar Ecology, vol 4. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-33208-2_8

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