Bioscientifica Proceedings

Circannual clocks drive rhythms in reproduction and many other seasonal characteristics but the underlying control of these long-term oscillators remains a mystery. Now, we propose that circannual timing involves mechanisms that are integral to the ontogenetic life-history programme where annual transitions are generated by cell birth, death and tissue regeneration throughout the life cycle ߝ the histogenesis hypothesis. The intrinsic cycle is then timed by cues...