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Rate of Activity as a Function of Intertidal Height within Populations of some Littoral Molluscs

Nature volume 172, pages 1108–1109 (1953)Cite this article

Abstract

THE physiological reality and profound ecological significance of the phenomenon of regulation of rate functions towards a constant, in response to maintained temperature differences, within the species in poikilotherms, has been widely recognized in recent times. Much attention has been directed in this connexion to a study of populations spatially separated by a wide range of latitude1–3 or temporally separated by the annual cycle of seasons4,5. Indications of the existence of similar intraspecific differences between high and low members of populations of intertidal invertebrates are reported in the present communication.

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References

  1. Bullock, T. H., “To What Degree are Aquatic Cold Bloods Independent of Temperature?”, unpublished paper read at symposium on Factors in Distribution of Intertidal Organisms, Western Society of Naturalists Meeting, Claremont, California (1951).

  2. Scholander, P. F., Flagg, W., Walters, V., and Irving, L., Physiol. Zool., 26, 67 (1953).

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  7. Rao, K. P., and Bullock, T. H. (in preparation).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departments of Zoology, University of California, Los Angeles and Berkeley

    EARL SEGAL, K. PAMPAPATHI RAO & THOMAS W. JAMES

Authors
  1. EARL SEGAL
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  2. K. PAMPAPATHI RAO
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  3. THOMAS W. JAMES
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SEGAL, E., RAO, K. & JAMES, T. Rate of Activity as a Function of Intertidal Height within Populations of some Littoral Molluscs. Nature 172, 1108–1109 (1953). https://doi.org/10.1038/1721108b0

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