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Abstract
Subterranean cave ecosystems are characterized by perpetual darkness, almost constant ambient temperature, limited source of food supply and relatively high humidity. The occurrence of circadian rhythms in organisms living in such an ecosystem always attracts chronobiologists to understand the phenomena of time-measuring mechanisms. Few attempts have been made to correlate such rhythmic patterns of the organism with the putative periodicities in weak zeitgebers. In the present study, the effects of periodic feeding schedules on the characteristics of circadian rhythm in the vertical swimming activity of the cave loach Nemacheilus evezardi were examined. Results reveal that periodic feeding at 18:00 has the ability to synchronize the vertical swimming activity rhythm. It seems that periodic restricted feeding could act as a powerful zeitgeber of circadian rhythms in subterranean organisms.
Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful to Professor Atanu Kumar Pati ([email protected]) for his valuable suggestions and for critically reading an earlier version of this manuscript. We thank the head of the School of Life Sciences, Pt. Ravishankar Shukla University, Raipur, for providing us with laboratory facilities. Thanks to Dr. Arvind Agrawal for helping us to provide the samples from Kotumsar Cave. We thank Ms. Anjana Kar and Rakesh Kumar Soni (Research Fellows), Chronobiology Laboratory, School of Life Sciences, Pt. Ravishankar Shukla University, Raipur for their assistance in statistical analysis.