Circadian and circatidal clocks control the mechanism of semilunar foraging behaviour

Abstract

Abstract How animals precisely time behaviour over the lunar cycle is a decades-old mystery. Experiments on diverse species show this behaviour to be endogenous and under clock control but the mechanism has remained elusive. We present new experimental and analytical techniques to test the hypotheses for the semilunar clock and show that the rhythm of foraging behaviour in the intertidal isopod, Scyphax ornatus, can be precisely shifted by manipulating the lengths of the light/dark and tidal cycles. Using light T-cycles (Tcd) the resultant semilunar beat period undergoes shifts from 14.79 days to 6.47 days under T = 23 hours (h), or to 23.29 days under T = 24.3 h. In tidal T-cycles (Tt) of natural length Tt = 12.42 h, the semilunar rhythm is shifted to 24.5 days under Tt = 12.25 h and to 9.7 days under Tt = 12.65 h. The implications of this finding go beyond our model species and illustrate that longer period rhythms can be generated by shorter period clocks. Our novel analysis, in which periodic spline models are embedded within randomization tests, creates a new methodology for assessing long-period rhythms in chronobiology. Applications are far-reaching and extend to other species and rhythms, potentially including the human-ovarian cycle.