Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gxg78 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T17:41:55.494Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The entraining effect of turbulence on the circa-tidal activity rhythm and its semi-lunar modulation in Eurydice pulchra

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2009

M. H. Hastings
Affiliation:
Department of Marine Biology, University of Liverpool, Port Erin, Isle of Man

Extract

Turbulence measurements taken at the water's edge at Derbyhaven beach, Isle of Man, indicated that maximum turbulence on any particular tide predictably occurred at the time of high water. However, long term monitoring failed to record any predictable semi-lunar modulation of the intensity of turbulence. Laboratory experiments showed that cycles of mechanical agitation applied for 2 h every 12 h for 4 days could entrain the endogenous circa-tidal activity rhythm of adult Eurydice pulchra. The effect was the same with shaking in constant light or constant darkness. However, when applied at different phases of an imposed L/D cycle, the synchronizer had a varying effect. The strongest entrainment occurred when shaking was phased to ‘midday’ and ‘midnight’ - a phase relationship paralleled by the high water of spring tides. Minimal synchronizer effect occurred when shaking was applied at ‘dawn’ and ‘evening’, the phase relationship of neap tide high water to the solar day. The varying response is suggested to be the origin of the semi-lunar modulation of activity seen in Eurydice pulchra.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 1981

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alheit, J. & Naylor, E., 1976. The behavioural basis of inter-tidal zonation in Eurydice pulchra Leach. Journal ofExperimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 23, 135144.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Atkinson, R. J. A., Bailey, H. & Naylor, E., 1974. Some laboratory methods for recording and displaying temporal patterns of locomotor activity in marine animals. Marine Behaviour and Physiology, 3, 5170.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Enright, J. T., 1965. Entrainment of a tidal rhythm. Science, New York, 147, 864867.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fish, J. D. & Fish, S., 1972. The swimming rhythm of Eurydice pulchra and a possible explanation of intertidal migration. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 8, 195200.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hastings, M. H., 1980. Aspects of the Ecology of Sandy-shore Crustacea. Ph.D. Thesis, University of Liverpool.Google Scholar
Hastings, M. H. & Naylor, E., 1980. Ontogeny of an endogenous rhythm in Eurydice pulchra. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 46, 137145.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jones, D. A. & Naylor, E., 1967. The distribution of Eurydice [Crustacea: Isopoda] in British waters, including E. affinis new to Britain. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 47, 373382.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jones, D. A. & Naylor, E., 1970. The swimming rhythm of Eurydice pulchra. Journal of Experi-mental Marine Biology and Ecology, 4, 188199.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
King, C. A. M., 1951. The depth of disturbance of sand on sea beaches by waves. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology, 21,131140.Google Scholar
Klapow, L. A., 1972. Natural and artificial rephasing of a tidal rhythm. Journal of Comparative Physiology, 79, 233258.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morgan, E., 1973. On the pressure response of Eurydice. Marine Behaviour and Physiology, 1, 323339.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Neumann, D., 1978. Entrainment of a semi-lunar rhythm by simulated tidal cycles of mechanical disturbance. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 35, 6779.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Neumann, D. & Heimbach, F., 1978. Time cues for semi-lunar reproduction rhythms in European populations of Clunio marinus. I. The influence of tidal cycles of mechanical disturbance. In Cyclic Phenomena in Marine Plants and Animals. Proceedings of the 13th European Marine Biology Symposium, Isle of Man, 1978 (ed. E., Naylor and Hartnoll, R. G.), pp. 423433. Pergamon Press.Google Scholar