Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health and Comparative Medicine, University of Glasgow, Graham Kerr Building, Glasgow G128QQ, UK
Department of Animal Ecology, Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW), PO 50, 6700 AB Wageningen, The Netherlands.
Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2017 Nov 19;372(1734). doi: 10.1098/rstb.2016.0246.
Most processes within organisms, and most interactions between organisms and their environment, have distinct time profiles. The temporal coordination of such processes is crucial across levels of biological organization, but disciplines differ widely in their approaches to study timing. Such differences are accentuated between ecologists, who are centrally concerned with a holistic view of an organism in relation to its external environment, and chronobiologists, who emphasize internal timekeeping within an organism and the mechanisms of its adjustment to the environment. We argue that ecological and chronobiological perspectives are complementary, and that studies at the intersection will enable both fields to jointly overcome obstacles that currently hinder progress. However, to achieve this integration, we first have to cross some conceptual barriers, clarifying prohibitively inaccessible terminologies. We critically assess main assumptions and concepts in either field, as well as their common interests. Both approaches intersect in their need to understand the extent and regulation of temporal plasticity, and in the concept of 'chronotype', i.e. the characteristic temporal properties of individuals which are the targets of natural and sexual selection. We then highlight promising developments, point out open questions, acknowledge difficulties and propose directions for further integration of ecological and chronobiological perspectives through Wild Clock research.This article is part of the themed issue 'Wild Clocks: integrating chronobiology and ecology to understand timekeeping in free-living animals'.
大多数生物体的过程以及生物体与其环境之间的大多数相互作用都具有独特的时间特征。这种过程的时间协调在生物组织的各个层次上都是至关重要的，但不同学科在研究时间的方法上存在广泛差异。这种差异在生态学家和计时生物学家之间更为明显，生态学家主要关注生物体与其外部环境的整体关系，而计时生物学家则强调生物体内部的计时以及其对环境的调整机制。我们认为，生态和计时生物学的观点是互补的，在交叉点进行的研究将使这两个领域能够共同克服当前阻碍进展的障碍。然而，要实现这种整合，我们首先必须跨越一些概念障碍，澄清那些难以理解的术语。我们批判性地评估了这两个领域的主要假设和概念，以及它们的共同兴趣。这两种方法都需要理解时间可塑性的程度和调节，以及“生物钟类型”的概念，即个体的特征时间属性是自然选择和性选择的目标。然后，我们强调了有希望的发展，指出了悬而未决的问题，承认了困难，并提出了通过 Wild Clock 研究进一步整合生态和计时生物学观点的方向。本文是主题为“Wild Clocks：将计时生物学和生态学整合起来，以了解自由生活动物的计时”的特刊的一部分。
