Photoperiod is the proximate cue which times the reproductive period of the sheep and the role of daylength as a "zeitgeber" is evaluated in this report. Although sheep are regarded as a short-day breeding species, the reproductive period of the Suffolk ewe begins on daylengths which are on average 2.5 hours longer than those on which it ends. The reasons for this apparent anomaly are considere...

Temperate ectotherms, especially those at higher latitudes, are expected to benefit from climate warming, but few data yet exist to verify this prediction. Furthermore, most previous studies on the effects of climate change utilized a model of uniform annual change, which assumes that temperature increases are symmetric on diurnal or seasonal time scales. In this study, we simulated observed tr...

Circannual rhythms regulate seasonal reproduction in many vertebrates. The present study investigated whether circannual reproductive phenotypes (rhythms in growth of gonads and molt) were generated independently of the circadian clocks in the subtropical non-photoperiodic spotted munia (Lonchura punctulata). Birds were subjected to light:dark (LD) cycles with identical light but varying dark h...

Identification of the importance of habitats that are frequently used by any species is essential to a complete understanding of the species' biology and to incorporate their ecological role into conservation and management programmes. In this context, the present study investigated whether Tasmanian coastal waters have any reproductive relevance for the broadnose sevengill shark (Notorynchus c...

1. Understanding the interactions between different periods of the annual cycle in migratory animals has been constrained by our inability to track individuals across seasons. In seabirds, virtually nothing is known about how diet quality during the non-breeding period, away from the breeding grounds, might influence subsequent reproductive success. 2. We used stable nitrogen (delta(15)N) and c...