Abstract

Photoperiod plays an important role in controlling the annual reproductive cycle of the male lizardAnolis carolinensis. Groups of anoles were exposed to various experimental lighting regimens to determine how the lizards were measuring the length of the day. The experimental regimens were designed to discriminate between the following two general classes of hypotheses: (1) Photoperiodic time measurement is based on an “hourglass” or interval timer which measures the length of the light or dark or (2) Photoperiodic time measurement is based on an endogenous circadian rhythm of photoperiodic photosensitivity. The experiments demonstrated thatAnolis uses an hourglass mechanism which measures the absolute length of the light period. This is in contrast to the higher vertebrates (birds and mammals) which measure photoperiodic time by means of a circadian oscillation of responsiveness to light.

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