There is more to biological rhythms than circadian clocks. This book aims at promoting the
exciting potential of a deeper understanding of circannual circatidal and circalunar clocks.
It highlights new developments summarizes existing knowledge and integrates different
perspectives with the tools and ideas of diverse fields of current biology.For predominantly
pragmatic reasons research in recent decades was mostly concerned with circadian clocks.
Clocks on other timescales however have been largely neglected and therefore still appear
enigmatic. Thanks to the rapid development of methods in molecular biology as well as in
ecology we are now able to re-approach these clocks. Laboratories around the world are showing
fresh interest and substantial progress is being made in many independent projects.The book's
two sections address the moon-derived circatidal circasemilunar and lunar cycles on the one
hand (10 chapters) and the sun-derived circannual cycles on the other (6 chapters). This work
brings together authors with an expansive array of expertise and study systems ranging from
tidal cycles of marine invertebrates to annual cycles of birds and mammals and from behavioral
to genetic and epigenetic backgrounds. While great challenges remain to be mastered the book
aims at conveying the excitement of unraveling broadly the rhythms of life.
