Photoperiodism

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Photoperiod is the change of day length around the seasons. The rotation of the earth around its axis produces 24 hour changes in light (day) and dark (night) cycles on earth. The length of the light and dark in each phase varies across the seasons due to the tilt of the earth around its axis. The photoperiod defines the length of the light, for example a summer day the length of light could be 16 hours while the dark is 8 hours, whereas a winter day the length of day could be 8 hours, whereas the dark is 16 hours. Importantly, the seasons are different in the northern hemisphere than the southern hemisphere.

Photoperiodism is the physiological reaction of organisms to the length of light or a dark period. It occurs in plants and animals. Plant photoperiodism can also be defined as the developmental responses of plants to the relative lengths of light and dark periods. They are classified under three groups according to the photoperiods: short-day plants, long-day plants, and day-neutral plants.

In animals photoperiodism (sometimes called seasonality) is the suite of physiological changes that occur in response to changes in day length. This allows animals to respond to a temporally changing environment associated with changing seasons as the earth orbits the sun.