Time is a fundamental dimension of all biological events and it is often assumed that animals have the capacity to track the duration of experienced events (known as interval timing). Animals can potentially use temporal information as a cue during foraging, communication, predator avoidance, or navigation. Interval timing has been traditionally investigated in controlled laboratory conditions but its ecological relevance in natural environments remains unclear. While animals may time events in artificial and highly controlled conditions, they may not necessarily use temporal information in natural environments where they have access to other cues that may have more relevance than temporal information. Herein we critically evaluate the ecological contexts where interval timing has been suggested to provide adaptive value for animals. We further discuss attributes of interval timing that are rarely considered in controlled laboratory studies. Finally, we encourage consideration of ecological relevance when designing future interval-timing studies and propose future directions for such experiments.

中文翻译：

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动物时间感的生态意义

时间是所有生物事件的基本维度，通常假设动物有能力跟踪经历事件的持续时间（称为间隔计时）。在觅食、交流、躲避捕食者或导航期间，动物可能会使用时间信息作为提示。传统上一直在受控实验室条件下研究间隔时间，但其在自然环境中的生态相关性仍不清楚。虽然动物可能会在人工和高度控制的条件下为事件计时，但它们可能不一定在自然环境中使用时间信息，在那里它们可以访问可能比时间信息更相关的其他线索。在这里，我们批判性地评估了建议间隔时间为动物提供适应性价值的生态环境。我们进一步讨论了在受控实验室研究中很少考虑的间隔时间属性。最后，我们鼓励在设计未来的间隔时间研究时考虑生态相关性，并为此类实验提出未来的方向。