The fractal organization of ultradian rhythms in avian behavior
Date
2017Author
Guzmán, Diego Alberto
Flesia, Ana Georgina
Aon, Miguel A.
Pellegrini, Stefanía
Marin, Raúl Hector
Kembro, Jackelyn Melissa
ORCID
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6936-3764https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4355-5431
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9351-278X
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8161-4044
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1127-8975
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Living systems exhibit non-randomly organized biochemical, physiological, and behavioral processes that follow distinctive patterns. In particular, animal behavior displays both fractal dynamics and periodic rhythms yet the relationship between these two dynamic regimens remain unexplored. Herein we studied locomotor time series of visually isolated Japanese quails sampled every 0.5 s during 6.5 days (>106 data points). These high-resolution, week-long, time series enabled simultaneous evaluation of ultradian rhythms as well as fractal organization according to six different analytical methods that included Power Spectrum, Enright, Empirical Mode Decomposition, Wavelet, and Detrended Fluctuation analyses. Time series analyses showed that all birds exhibit circadian rhythms. Although interindividual differences were detected, animals presented ultradian behavioral rhythms of 12, 8, 6, 4.8, 4 h and/or lower and, irrespective of visual isolation, synchronization between these ultradian rhythms was observed. Moreover, all birds presented similar overall fractal dynamics (for scales ∼30 s to >4.4 h). This is the first demonstration that avian behavior presents fractal organization that predominates at shorter time scales and coexists with synchronized ultradian rhythms. This chronobiological pattern is advantageous for keeping the organism’s endogenous rhythms in phase with internal and environmental periodicities, notably the feeding, light-dark and sleep-wake cycles.
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Guzmán, D. A., Flesia, A. G., Aon, M. A. Pellegrini, S., Marin, R. H. y Kembro, J. M. (2017). The fractal organization of ultradian rhythms in avian behavior. Scientific Reports, 7, 684. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-00743-2