season

Also known as seasons

A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and polar regions, the seasons are marked by changes in the intensity of sunlight that reaches the Earth's surface, variations of which may cause animals to undergo hibernation or to migrate, and plants to be dormant. Various cultures define the number and nature of seasons based on regional variations, and as such there are a number of both modern and historica

AI overview

A season is a period of the year defined by distinctive weather patterns, changes in plant and animal life, and varying amounts of daylight, caused by Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. Seasons matter because they trigger important natural cycles—like animal migration and hibernation, plant dormancy—and different cultures recognize seasons differently based on their local environment.

AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.

Research

299,713 papers

Season-of-birth phenomenon in health and longevity: epidemiologic evidence and mechanistic considerations.ReviewJournal of developmental origins of health and disease · 2021Vaiserman ADOI: 10.1017/S2040174420001221
Climate and season: the effects on ophthalmic diseases.ReviewClinical & experimental ophthalmology · 2017Qassim A, Viki M, Ng SK et al.DOI: 10.1111/ceo.12883
To Everything There Is a Season: Summer-to-Winter Food Webs and the Functional Traits of Keystone Species.ReviewIntegrative and comparative biology · 2017Humphries MM, Studd EK, Menzies AK et al.DOI: 10.1093/icb/icx119
Season of birth and primary central nervous system tumors: a systematic review of the literature with critical appraisal of underlying mechanisms.Annals of epidemiology · 2017Georgakis MK, Ntinopoulou E, Chatzopoulou D et al.DOI: 10.1016/j.annepidem.2017.08.016
Confounding by season in ecologic studies of seasonal exposures and outcomes: examples from estimates of mortality due to influenza.ReviewAnnals of epidemiology · 2009Jackson MLDOI: 10.1016/j.annepidem.2009.06.009
Season's eatings.Diabetes forecast · 2012Wahowiak L
Season specificity in the cold-induced calcium signal and the volatile chemicals in the atmosphere.Physiologia plantarum · 2020Hiraki H, Watanabe M, Uemura M et al.DOI: 10.1111/ppl.13019
Season-specific dominance broadly stabilizes polymorphism under symmetric and asymmetric multivoltinism.Genetics · 2025Brud EDOI: 10.1093/genetics/iyaf028

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Wikidata facts

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P8168: Matt Bouldin
Commons category: Seasons

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~40 min read

Article

29 sections

Contents

Causes and effects
Axial parallelism
Axial tilt
Elliptical Earth orbit
Maritime and hemispheric
Tropics
Mid-latitude thermal lag
{{anchor|Reckoning}}Four-season reckoning
Official
<span class="anchor" id="Meteorological"></span>Meteorological
Astronomical
Variation due to calendar misalignment
Change over time
Solar
Solar terms
Five-season reckoning
Six-season reckoning
Non-calendar-based reckoning
Modern mid-latitude ecological
Indigenous ecological
Tropical
Two seasons
Three seasons
Polar
Military campaigning seasons<span class="anchor" id="Military campaigning seasons"></span>
See also
Notes
References
External links

thumb|upright=1.3|The astronomical and meteorological periods of the four-seasons reckoning across the year at the Northern Hemisphere, displayed as segments of Earth's orbit. Astronomically a season encompasses the time between an [[equinox and solstice. Meteorologically seasons are quarters of the annual temperature cycle, centered on the season characteristic temperatures, which trail equinox and solstice.]]