Bird Navigation: what type of information does the magnetite-based receptor provide?

Title
Bird Navigation: what type of information does the magnetite-based receptor provide?
Publication Date
2006
Author(s)
Wiltschko, W
Munro, U
Ford, HA
Wiltschko, R
Type of document
Journal Article
Language
en
Entity Type
Publication
Publisher
The Royal Society Publishing
Place of publication
United Kingdom
DOI
10.1098/rspb.2006.3651
UNE publication id
une:587
Abstract
Previous experiments have shown that a short, strong magnetic pulse caused migratory birds to change their headings from their normal migratory direction to an easterly direction in both spring and autumn. In order to analyse the nature of this pulse effect, we subjected migratory Australian silvereyes, Zosterops lateralis, to a magnetic pulse and tested their subsequent response under different magnetic conditions. In the local geomagnetic field, the birds preferred easterly headings as before, and when the horizontal component of the magnetic field was shifted 90° anticlockwise, they altered their headings accordingly northwards. In a field with the vertical component inverted, the birds reversed their headings to westwards, indicating that their directional orientation was controlled by the normal inclination compass. These findings show that although the pulse strongly affects the magnetite particles, it leaves the functional mechanism of the magnetic compass intact. Thus, magnetite-based receptors seem to mediate magnetic 'map'-information used to determine position, and when affected by a pulse, they provide birds with false positional information that causes them to change their course.
Link
Citation
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 273(1603), p. 2815-2820
ISSN
1471-2954
0962-8452
Start page
2815
End page
2820

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