The Light and Biotic Response in Animals in the Periods of Climate Change

Abstract

Day light has direct effects to physiological changes and animal behaviors of the current climate change. The study use of day length by animals at physiological and genetic levels, beginning with a comparative experimental study that shows the preeminent role of light in determining fitness in seasonal environments. Seasonally appropriate times, light initiates a cascade of physiological events mediating the input and interpretation of day length to the output of specific hormones that ultimately determine whether animals prepare to develop, reproduce, hibernate, enter dormancy, or migrate. The mechanisms that form the basis of seasonal time keeping and their adjustment during climate change are reviewed at the physiological and genetic levels. This article shows that animal adaptations to climate change dependency on internal cues during adaptations for animal survival in periods of climatic stress.