Seasons of Life: The Biological Rhythms That Enable Living Things to Thrive and Survive - Hardcover

Foster, Russell G.; Kreitzman, Leon

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0300115563 ISBN 13: 9780300115567

Publisher: Yale Univ Pr, 2009

Synopsis

Just as daily events are timed by living creatures through circadian rhythms, so seasonal events are timed through an internal calendarthat signals birds to return to nesting grounds, salmon to spawn, plants to flower, squirrels to hibernate, kelp to stop growing.

In this fascinating book, Russell G. Foster and Leon Kreitzman draw on remarkable recent scientific advances to explain how seasonal change affects organisms, and how plants and animals over countless generations have evolved exquisite sensitivities and adaptations to the seasons. The authors also highlight the impact of seasonal change on human health and well-being. They conclude with a discussion of the dangers posed when climate changes disrupt the seasonal rhythms on which so much life depends.

Surprising facts from "Seasons of Life"
The timing of human birth has a small but significant effect on various later life attributes, such as handedness and the susceptibility to many illnesses, including multiple sclerosis and schizophrenia.
Plants have the ability to measure the length of a period of light, and they germinate, flower, and successfully reproduce by using this information.
Birds migrate not in response to weather changes but by using an internal calendar.
Until recently, human birth was tightly coupled to the seasons, peaking in many societies in the spring.
Just as internal 24-hour "circadian" clocks predict daily change, many animals have a "circannual" clock in their brains that predicts the seasons."

About this title

Review

"Well conceived and beautifully written, Seasons of Life is a lucid and engaging exploration of seasonal rhythms in all living things."-Jennifer Ackerman, author of Sex Sleep Eat Drink Dream: A Day in the Life of Your Body

Well conceived and beautifully written, Seasons of Life is a lucid and engaging exploration of seasonal rhythms in all living things.Jennifer Ackerman, author of Sex Sleep Eat Drink Dream: A Day in the Life of Your Body -- Jennifer Ackerman

"Well conceived and beautifully written, "Seasons of Life "is a lucid and engaging exploration of seasonal rhythms in all living things."--Jennifer Ackerman, author of "Sex Sleep Eat Drink Dream: A Day in the Life of Your Body"--Jennifer Ackerman

Finalist for the 2009 Book of the Year Award, presented by ForeWord magazine--Book of the Year Award"ForeWord Magazine" (01/01/2010)

"An excellent explanation of an original theme: how geophysical variation leads to biological adaptation and, in turn, to measurable behavioral and phenotypic consequences. This is an important causal chain that is rarely articulated."--Daniel Rock, Co-Director, Centre for Clinical Research in Neuropsychiatry, The University of Western Australia
--Daniel Rock

Well conceived and beautifully written, "Seasons of Life "is a lucid and engaging exploration of seasonal rhythms in all living things. Jennifer Ackerman, author of "Sex Sleep Eat Drink Dream: A Day in the Life of Your Body"--Jennifer Ackerman"

An excellent explanation of an original theme: how geophysical variation leads to biological adaptation and, in turn, to measurable behavioral and phenotypic consequences.This is an important causal chain that is rarely articulated." Daniel Rock, Co-Director, Centre for Clinical Research in Neuropsychiatry, The University of Western Australia
--Daniel Rock"

Book Description

The new world of chronobiology is popular science at its most exciting: understanding how the seasons regulate the life of every human, plant and animal on Earth.

About this edition

• Publisher: Yale Univ Pr
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0300115563
• ISBN 13: 9780300115567
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 303