Mangrove forests are influenced by tidal flooding and ebbing for a period of approximately 12.4 hours (tidal cycle). Insects that live on the ground of mangrove forests show an activity rhythm that synchronize with the tidal cycle. Larvae of tiger beetles, Callytron yuasai okinawense (Coleoptera: Cicindelidae), which dig burrows in the ground, plug their burrow opening before submergence at high tide. Mangrove crickets, Apteronemobius asahinai (Orthoptera: Trigonidiidae), are active on the ground surface at low tide, and rest in a place where is not flooded at high tide. I and my collaborators demonstrated that these activity rhythms are controlled by the biological clock with a period of approximately 12.4 h, i.e. the circatidal clock. I summarized our attempts to reveal the molecular and physiological bases of the circatidal clock.
展开▼
