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Circadian rhythms in the blowfly, Phormia terraenovae: control of phase within the range of entrainment
Author(s) -
ASCHOFF JURGEN,
PAUL URSULA VON SAINT
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
physiological entomology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.693
H-Index - 57
eISSN - 1365-3032
pISSN - 0307-6962
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-3032.1990.tb00499.x
Subject(s) - biology , entrainment (biomusicology) , phormia regina , calliphoridae , circadian rhythm , light cycle , rhythm , zoology , light intensity , anatomy , endocrinology , medicine , ecology , larva , optics , physics
Locomotor activity of individual blowflies, Phormia (= Protophormia) terraenovae R.D. (Diptera, Calliphoridae) was recorded by means of running wheels. A few days after emergence, adult flies were placed in the wheels and exposed to at least two of four light‐dark cycles (LD) differing in cycle duration T (LD 11:11, 12:12, 13:13 and 14:14 h). The intensity of illumination was 400 lux in L and 2 lux in D. From the actograms, phase‐angle differences were read off between onset of activity and light‐on (ψ/ onset ), and between end of activity and light‐off (ψend)‐ Within the range of entrainment, ψ changed systematically from negative values in T =22 h to positive values in T =28 h: the mean change in ψ per hour change in T , expressed in degree of the full circadian cycles, was 20 o . Standard deviations of ψ around its mean were computed for ten‐cycle intervals; in ψ onset and in ψ end standard deviation was minimal when 4ψ was close to zero, and increased steadily with increasing negative or positive ψ ‐values.