Honors Program
Honors in Biology
Date of Award
5-2020
Thesis Professor(s)
Thomas C. Jones, Darrell Moore
Thesis Professor Department
Biological Sciences
Thesis Reader(s)
Thomas C. Jones, Darrell Moore, Karl H. Joplin
Abstract
Circadian rhythms are endogenous cycles that control physiological and behavioral changes that can be affected by environmental factors which allow most eukaryotic organisms to synchronize their daily activities with the 24-hour day. Parasteatoda tepidariorum,the common house spider, demonstrates a short-period circadian clock averaging 21.6 hours when left in constant darkness, yet they are able to entrain to a 24-hour light cycle. We tested whether these spiders were able to use non-photic Zeitgebers to entrain to the 24-hour day. Periodic presentation of food and disturbance were not found to be effective cues for the spiders’ entrainment. A few individuals were clearly able to entrain to an 8 oC amplitude temperature cycle, while most did not.
Publisher
East Tennessee State University
Document Type
Honors Thesis - Withheld
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Garmany, Mattea; Moore, Darrell; and Jones, Thomas C., "Effects of Non-photic Zeitgebers on the Circadian Clock in the Common House Spider, Parasteatoda tepidariorum (Araneae: Theridiidae)" (2020). Undergraduate Honors Theses. Paper 590. https://dc.etsu.edu/honors/590
Copyright
Copyright by the authors.