For wild animals, food availability usually exhibits considerable seasonal fluctuations and as a result dramatic seasonal variations in body weight, fatness and food intake are often observed. Birds and mammals living in the temperate zones or higher latitudes, therefore, time the onset of reproductive activity each year with great precision so that young are produced at the most propitious tim...

Introduction Conclusions References Tables Figures Back Close Full Screen / Esc Abstract Introduction Conclusions References Tables Figures Back Close Full Screen / Esc Abstract Superimposed on the continued increase in the atmospheric CO 2 concentration is a prominent seasonal cycle. Ground-based and aircraft-based observation records show that the amplitude of this seasonal cycle has increase...

BACKGROUND Domesticated horses adapt to environmental conditions through seasonal fluctuations in their metabolic rate. The seasonal change of metabolic rates of domesticated horses in pastures is documented. However, there are few investigations on seasonal body weight change of domesticated horses housed in stables, which are provided constant energy intake throughout the year. Both seasonal ...

Seasonal control of reproduction is critical for the perpetuation of species living in temperate zones that display major changes in climatic environment and availability of food resources. In mammals, seasonal cues are mainly provided by the annual change in the 24-h light/dark ratio (i.e., photoperiod), which is translated into the nocturnal production of the pineal hormone melatonin. The ann...

This article reviews research on selected biomarkers of cardiovascular risk - cholesterol and other lipids, C-reactive protein (CRP), fibrinogen, homocysteine - in the attempt to determine the existence of a predictable seasonal chronobiological pattern of variation. Studies dating as far back as the 1930s have reported seasonal variations in cholesterol levels. Statistically significant season...

Integrated, interdisciplinary crop performance forecasting systems, linked with appropriate decision and discussion support tools, could substantially improve operational decision making in agricultural management. Recent developments in connecting numerical weather prediction models and general circulation models with quantitative crop growth models offer the potential for development of integ...

Climate change may affect human health, particularly for elderly individuals who are vulnerable to temperature changes. While many studies have investigated the acute effects of heat, only a few have dealt with the chronic ones. We have examined the effects of seasonal temperatures on survival of the elderly in the Southeastern USA, where a large fraction of subpopulation resides. We found that...

Organisms adjust to seasonal variability in the environment by responding to cues that indicate environmental change. As most studies of seasonal phenotypic plasticity test only the effect of a single environmental cue, how animals may integrate information from multiple cues to fine-tune plastic responses remains largely unknown. We examined the interaction between correlated (seasonally match...

Examination of variation in ecological communities can lead to an understanding of the forces that structure communities, the consequences of change at the ecosystem level, and the relevant scales involved. This study details spatial and seasonal variability in the composition of nitrogen-fixing and cyanobacterial (i.e., oxygenic photosynthetic) functional groups of a benthic, hypersaline micro...

[1] In maritime mountainous regions, the phase of winter precipitation is elevation dependent, and in watersheds receiving both rain and snow, hydrologic impacts of climate change are less straightforward than in snowmelt‐dominated systems. Here, 29 Pacific Northwest watersheds illustrate how distribution of seasonal snow, transient snow, and winter rain mediates sensitivity to 20th century war...