Introducing Biological Rhythms - W. Kokkari, biologia
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Introducing Biological Rhythms
INTRODUCING
BIOLOGICAL RHYTHMS
A Primer on the Temporal Organization of Life,
with Implications for Health, Society, Reproduction
and the Natural Environment
Willard L. Koukkari and Robert B. Sothern
College of Biological Sciences
University of Minnesota
St. Paul, MN, USA
Willard L. Koukkari
Robert B. Sothern
Plant Biology
Plant Biology & Laboratory Medicine
University of Minnesota
and Pathology
250 Bio Sciences Building
University of Minnesota
1445 Gortner Avenue
250 Bio Sciences Building
St. Paul, MN 55108
1445 Gortner Avenue
USA
St. Paul, MN 55108
koukk001@umn.edu
USA
sothe001@umn.edu
Library of Congress Control Number: 2005926926
ISBN-10: 1-4020-3691-4
ISBN-13: 978-1-4020-3691-0
Printed on acid-free paper.
© 2006 Springer Science
Business Media, Inc.
All rights reserved. This work may not be translated or copied in whole or in part without the written
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“Be ruled by time, the wisest counselor of all.”
—Plutarch (~46–120 AD)
Greek essayist and biographer
DEDICATION
To my family, colleagues and friends
and all who endured the many inquiries and requests
and otherwise offered their patience, understanding,
advice and support during the creation of this text (
RBS
).
Preface
Reading this book will not necessarily make you a better student of life. It will,
however, help you to see, to hear, and to observe “that” which would otherwise
escape your attention. In the present context, “that” represents the rhythms of life,
which occur within us and around us.
This book has been written for students and others, including teachers in the life
sciences, clinical personnel, biomedical researchers, and the general public, who
are interested in the topic of biological rhythms. It is not a comprehensive treatise,
but a “primer” that serves to introduce individuals to the important and fascinat-
ing topic regarding the rhythmic changes that affect all living organisms. During
the more than three decades that we have been engaged in research and teaching
the subject of biological rhythms, our students have depleted the available supply
of different books
1
that provided supplemental reading material for these courses.
Discussions with students, colleagues, and others often led to the question “
Where
can I find out more about this topic?
” Faced with such a situation, we embarked
upon the journey of writing this book, first putting fingers to the keyboard in the
fall of 1998. Since biological rhythms are a fundamental property of all life and
encompass a wide range of frequencies, from seconds to a century or more, we
chose to write a book that is broad in scope, covers all major groups of organisms,
and discusses rhythms with periods that span the ultradian, circadian, and infra-
dian domains.
In many educational institutions, a biological rhythms course serves as an elec-
tive for satisfying a science requirement, as a seminar or for continuing education
credit. Even for those who are outside the academic disciplines, the book serves
as a primer that introduces the major characteristics of biological rhythms, cites
scientific results and references, and discusses the implications and applications
of rhythms. Essays provide in-depth historic and other background information
that relate to the main topics.
1
E. Bünning (1958)
The Physiological Clock.
Berlin: Springer-Verlag.
Moore-Ede MC, Sulzman FM, Fuller CA. (1982).
The Clocks That Time Us. Physiology
of the Circadian Timing System.
Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
vii
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