LAG-LEAD CORRELATIONS OF BAROMETRIC PRESSURE AND BIOLOGICAL ACTIVITY

¹ Department of Biological Sciences, Northwestern University; Department of Physiology and Bacteriology, Goucher College; and the Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, Mass.

1. Eight species of living things, ranging from lower to higher plants and lower to higher animals, in studies over a three-year period and including approximately 850 species-days have exhibited without exception a statistically significant leadcorrelation on barometric pressure with an over-all mean coefficient of about 0.5.

2. The correlation involved sometimes only the 5-6-7 A.M., sometimes only the 5-6-7 P.M., and other times the mean daily rates of O₂-consumption.

3. The sign of the correlation was sometimes positive and other times negative. Sign changes, when they occurred during a single period of study were abrupt, and correlated with a 180°-shift in the phase relationships of the concurrent mean solar-day cycles.

4. In twelve periods of study, ranging from one to four months each, the correlation in nine cases centered on day n + 2 of barometric pressure. In two cases it centered on day n + 1 and in one, on day n + 7.

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