How photoperiod influences body temperature selection in Lacerta viridis.

European green lizards, Lacerta viridis, show a distinct annual cycle in their day and nighttime selected body temperature (T ) levels when monitored under natural photoperiod. The amplitude between daily photophase and scotophase temperatures varies throughout the year. Highest body temperatures with smallest day/night variation are selected from May through July. Throughout fall, the difference between day and nighttime selected T levels increases. Lizards inevitably enter a state of winter dormancy which terminates daily rhythmicity patterns. Under natural photoperiodic conditions, cessation of dormancy occurs spontaneously by mid-March, regardless whether high temperatures are available or not. Lacerta viridis respond to an artificial long photoperiod (16 h light, 8 h dark) at all times of the year with modifications in both diel patterns and levels of selected T to summer-like conditions. When, however, the natural photoperiod at different phases in the annual cycle is held constant for six to eight weeks, T selection of Lacerta viridis also remains stable at the level corresponding to the prevailing photoperiod. These results implicate that the photoperiod is a more prominent Zeitgeber for seasonal cueing of temperature selection than has been surmised in the past. Further, we suggest that the large variations recorded in daily T cycles do not imply that this lizard is an "imprecise" thermoregulator, but rather indicates an important integral process necessary for seasonal acclimatization.