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Circadian organization in reindeer

Nature volume 438, pages 1095–1096 (2005)Cite this article

These Arctic animals abandon their daily rhythms when it is dark all day or light all night.

Abstract

The light/dark cycle of day and night synchronizes an internal ‘biological clock’ that governs daily rhythms in behaviour, but this form of regulation is denied to polar animals for most of the year. Here we demonstrate that the continuous lighting conditions of summer and of winter at high latitudes cause a loss in daily rhythmic activity in reindeer living far above the Arctic Circle. This seasonal absence of circadian rhythmicity may be a ubiquitous trait among resident polar vertebrates.

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Figure 1: Activity patterns in reindeer under polar light conditions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Arctic Biology and Institute of Medical Biology, University of Tromsø, Tromsø, 9037, Norway

    Bob E. H. van Oort, Lars Folkow, Arnoldus Schytte Blix & Karl-Arne Stokkan

  2. Centre for Sámi Studies, University of Tromsø, Tromsø, 9037, Norway

    Nicholas J. C. Tyler

  3. Department of Chronobiology, University of Groningen, AA Haren, 9750, The Netherlands

    Menno P. Gerkema

Authors
  1. Bob E. H. van Oort
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  2. Nicholas J. C. Tyler
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  3. Menno P. Gerkema
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  4. Lars Folkow
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  5. Arnoldus Schytte Blix
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  6. Karl-Arne Stokkan
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Karl-Arne Stokkan.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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van Oort, B., Tyler, N., Gerkema, M. et al. Circadian organization in reindeer. Nature 438, 1095–1096 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/4381095a

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