The map sense of pigeons

Avian navigation: the geomagnetic field provides compass cues but not a bicoordinate "map" plus a brief discussion of the alternative infrasound direction-finding hypothesis

The geomagnetic field (GMF) is a worldwide source of compass cues used by animals and humans alike. The inclination of GMF flux lines also provides information on geomagnetic latitude. A long-disputed question, however, is whether horizontal gradients in GMF intensity, in combination with changes in inclination, provide bicoordinate "map" information. Multiple sources contribute to the total GMF, the largest of which is the core field. The ubiquitous crustal field is much less intense, but in both land and marine settings is strong enough at low altitudes (< 700 m; sea level) to mask the core field's weak N-S intensity gradient (~ 3-5 nT/km) over 10 s to 100 s of km. Non-orthogonal geomagnetic gradients, the lack of consistent E-W gradients, and the local masking of core-field intensity gradients by the crustal field, therefore, are grounds for rejection of the bicoordinate geomagnetic "map" hypothesis. In addition, the alternative infrasound direction-finding hypothesis is briefly reviewed. The GMF's diurnal variation has long been suggested as a possible Zeitgeber (timekeeper) for circadian rhythms and could explain the GMF's non-compass role in the avian navigational system. Requirements for detection of this weaker diurnal signal (~ 20-50 nT) might explain the magnetic alignment of resting and grazing animals.

The amphibian magnetic sense(s)

Sensitivity to the earth's magnetic field is the least understood of the major sensory systems, despite being virtually ubiquitous in animals and of widespread interest to investigators in a wide range of fields from behavioral ecology to quantum physics. Although research on the use of magnetic cues by migratory birds, fish, and sea turtles is more widely known, much of our current understanding of the functional properties of vertebrate magnetoreception has come from research on amphibians. Studies of amphibians established the presence of a light-dependent magnetic compass, a second non-light-dependent mechanism involving particles of magnetite and/or maghemite, and an interaction between these two magnetoreception mechanisms that underlies the "map" component of homing. Simulated magnetic displacement experiments demonstrated the use of a high-resolution magnetic map for short-range homing to breeding ponds requiring a sampling strategy to detect weak spatial gradients in the magnetic field despite daily temporal variation at least an order of magnitude greater. Overall, reliance on a magnetic map for short-range homing places greater demands on the underlying sensory detection, processing, and memory mechanisms than comparable mechanisms used by long-distance migrants. Moreover, unlike sea turtles and migratory birds, amphibians are exceptionally well suited to serve as model organisms in which to characterize the molecular and biophysical mechanisms underlying the light-dependent 'quantum compass'.

Magnetic maps in animal navigation

In addition to providing animals with a source of directional or ‘compass’ information, Earth’s magnetic field also provides a potential source of positional or ‘map’ information that animals might exploit to assess location. In less than a generation, the idea that animals use Earth’s magnetic field as a kind of map has gone from a contentious hypothesis to a well-established tenet of animal navigation. Diverse animals ranging from lobsters to birds are now known to use magnetic positional information for a variety of purposes, including staying on track along migratory pathways, adjusting food intake at appropriate points in a migration, remaining within a suitable oceanic region, and navigating toward specific goals. Recent findings also indicate that sea turtles, salmon, and at least some birds imprint on the magnetic field of their natal area when young and use this information to facilitate return as adults, a process that may underlie long-distance natal homing (a.k.a. natal philopatry) in many species. Despite recent progress, much remains to be learned about the organization of magnetic maps, how they develop, and how animals use them in navigation.

Einstein, von Frisch and the honeybee: a historical letter comes to light

The work of the Nobel Laureate Karl von Frisch, the founder of this journal, was seminal in many ways. He established the honeybee as a key animal model for experimental behavioural studies on sensory perception, learning and memory, and first correctly interpreted its famous dance communication. Here, we report on a previously unknown letter by the Physicist and Nobel Laureate Albert Einstein that was written in October 1949. It briefly addresses the work of von Frisch and also queries how understanding animal perception and navigation may lead to innovations in physics. We discuss records proving that Einstein and von Frisch met in April 1949 when von Frisch visited the USA to present a lecture on bees at Princeton University. In the historical context of Einstein’s theories and thought experiments, we discuss some more recent discoveries of animal sensory capabilities alien to us humans and potentially valuable for bio-inspired design improvements. We also address the orientation of animals like migratory birds mentioned by Einstein 70 years ago, which pushes the boundaries of our understanding nature, both its biology and physics.

Continuous versus discrete quantity discrimination in dune snail (Mollusca: Gastropoda) seeking thermal refuges

The ability of invertebrates to discriminate quantities is poorly studied, and it is unknown whether other phyla possess the same richness and sophistication of quantification mechanisms observed in vertebrates. The dune snail, Theba pisana, occupies a harsh habitat characterised by sparse vegetation and diurnal soil temperatures well above the thermal tolerance of this species. To survive, a snail must locate and climb one of the rare tall herbs each dawn and spend the daytime hours in an elevated refuge position. Based on their ecology, we predicted that dune snails would prefer larger to smaller groups of refuges. We simulated shelter choice under controlled laboratory conditions. Snails’ acuity in discriminating quantity of shelters was comparable to that of mammals and birds, reaching the 4 versus 5 item discrimination, suggesting that natural selection could drive the evolution of advanced cognitive abilities even in small-brained animals if these functions have a high survival value. In a subsequent series of experiments, we investigated whether snails used numerical information or based their decisions upon continuous quantities, such as cumulative surface, density or convex hull, which co-varies with number. Though our results tend to underplay the role of these continuous cues, behavioural data alone are insufficient to determine if dune snails were using numerical information, leaving open the question of whether gastropod molluscans possess elementary abilities for numerical processing.

Navigation by extrapolation of geomagnetic cues in a migratory songbird

Displacement experiments have demonstrated that experienced migratory birds translocated thousands of kilometers away from their migratory corridor can orient toward and ultimately reach their intended destinations.¹ This implies that they are capable of "true navigation," commonly defined^2-4 as the ability to return to a known destination after displacement to an unknown location without relying on familiar surroundings, cues that emanate from the destination, or information collected during the outward journey.^5-13 In birds, true navigation appears to require previous migratory experience^5-7,14,15 (but see Kishkinev et al.¹⁶ and Piersma et al.¹⁷). It is generally assumed that, to correct for displacements outside the familiar area, birds initially gather information within their year-round distribution range, learn predictable spatial gradients of environmental cues within it, and extrapolate from those to unfamiliar magnitudes-the gradient hypothesis.^6,9,18-22 However, the nature of the cues and evidence for actual extrapolation remain elusive. Geomagnetic cues (inclination, declination, and total intensity) provide predictable spatial gradients across large parts of the globe and could serve for navigation. We tested the orientation of long-distance migrants, Eurasian reed warblers, exposing them to geomagnetic cues of unfamiliar magnitude encountered beyond their natural distribution range. The birds demonstrated re-orientation toward their migratory corridor as if they were translocated to the corresponding location but only when all naturally occurring magnetic cues were presented, not when declination was changed alone. This result represents direct evidence for migratory birds' ability to navigate using geomagnetic cues extrapolated beyond their previous experience.

A sense of place: pink salmon use a magnetic map for orientation

The use of 'map-like' information from the Earth's magnetic field for orientation has been shown in diverse taxa, but questions remain regarding the function of such maps. We used a 'magnetic displacement' experiment to demonstrate that juvenile pink salmon (Oncorhynchus gorbuscha) use magnetic cues to orient. The experiment was designed to simultaneously explore whether their magnetic map is used to direct fish (i) homeward, (ii) toward the center of their broad oceanic range or (iii) along their oceanic migratory route. The headings adopted by these navigationally naive fish coincided remarkably well with the direction of the juveniles' migration inferred from historical tagging and catch data. This suggests that the large-scale movements of pink salmon across the North Pacific may be driven largely by their innate use of geomagnetic map cues. Key aspects of the oceanic ecology of pink salmon and other marine migrants might therefore be predicted from magnetic displacement experiments.

Effect of a magnetic pulse on orientation behavior in rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss)

Magnetoreception remains one of the most enigmatic of animal senses. Rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) represent an ideal species to study this sense, as magnetoreception based upon microscopic particles of magnetite is suspected to play an important role in their orientation and navigation. Here we found that compared with controls, a magnetic pulse (a treatment commonly used to demonstrate magnetite-based magnetoreception) can induce orientation behavior in juvenile rainbow trout on a specific experimental day. Multiple circular-linear regression also indicated that this effect could at least be partially explained by daily variation in solar electromagnetic activity (i.e., sunspot count and disturbance storm time index). These results are consistent with magnetite-based magnetoreception in rainbow trout and suggest that 1) solar activity may impact magnetic orientation and 2) researchers should be cognizant of its potential consequences on studies of magnetoreception.

Magnetic Gated Biomimetic Artificial Nanochannels for Controllable Ion Transportation Inspired by Homing Pigeon

The homing pigeon-inspired artificial nanochannel can be modulated by moderate magnetic field in a fast and noncontacting way. The ionic current, as well as rectifying ability and conductance is controlled by the magnetic field reversibly through elastic deformation of the nanochannel. Different gating effects are obtained at the two sides of the asymmetrically conical nanochannel due to the different response models. The magnetic gated nanochannel system also exhibits an excellent stability and a quick response in a noncontacting way, which may be promising in electronic devices related to biological or healthcare applications.

Theoretically possible spatial accuracy of geomagnetic maps used by migrating animals

Many migrating animals, belonging to different taxa, annually move across the globe and cover hundreds and thousands of kilometres. Many of them are able to show site fidelity, i.e. to return to relatively small migratory targets, from distant areas located beyond the possible range of direct sensory perception. One widely debated possibility of how they do it is the use of a magnetic map, based on the dependence of parameters of the geomagnetic field (total field intensity and inclination) on geographical coordinates. We analysed temporal fluctuations of the geomagnetic field intensity as recorded by three geomagnetic observatories located in Europe within the route of many avian migrants, to study the highest theoretically possible spatial resolution of the putative map. If migratory birds measure total field intensity perfectly and take the time of day into account, in northern Europe 81% of them may return to a strip of land of 43 km in width along one of coordinates, whereas in more southern areas such a strip may be narrower than 10 km. However, if measurements are performed with an error of 0.1%, the strip width is increased by approximately 40 km, so that in spring migrating birds are able to return to within 90 km of their intended goal. In this case, migrating birds would probably need another navigation system, e.g. an olfactory map, intermediate between the large-scale geomagnetic map and the local landscape cues, to locate their goal to within several kilometres.

Migratory Eurasian Reed Warblers Can Use Magnetic Declination to Solve the Longitude Problem

The longitude problem (determining east-west position) is a classical problem in human sea navigation. Prior to the use of GPS satellites, extraordinarily accurate clocks measuring the difference between local time and a fixed reference (e.g., GMT) [1] were needed to determine longitude. Birds do not appear to possess a time-difference clock sense [2]. Nevertheless, experienced night-migratory songbirds can correct for east-west displacements to unknown locations [3-9]. Consequently, migratory birds must solve the longitude problem in a different way, but how they do so has remained a scientific mystery [10]. We suggest that experienced adult Eurasian reed warblers (Acrocephalus scirpaceus) can use magnetic declination to solve the longitude problem at least under some circumstances under clear skies. Experienced migrants tested during autumn migration in Rybachy, Russia, were exposed to an 8.5° change in declination while all other cues remained unchanged. This corresponds to a virtual magnetic displacement to Scotland if and only if magnetic declination is a part of their map. The adult migrants responded by changing their heading by 151° from WSW to ESE, consistent with compensation for the virtual magnetic displacement. Juvenile migrants that had not yet established a navigational map also oriented WSW at the capture site but became randomly oriented when the magnetic declination was shifted 8.5°. In combination with latitudinal cues, which birds are known to detect and use [10-12], magnetic declination could provide the mostly east-west component for a true bi-coordinate navigation system under clear skies for experienced migratory birds in some areas of the globe.

Detection of magnetic field properties using distributed sensing: a computational neuroscience approach

Diverse taxa use Earth's magnetic field to aid both short- and long-distance navigation. Study of these behaviors has led to a variety of postulated sensory and processing mechanisms that remain unconfirmed. Although several models have been proposed to explain and understand these mechanisms' underpinnings, they have not necessarily connected a putative sensory signal to the nervous system. Using mathematical software simulation, hardware testing and the computational neuroscience tool of dynamic neural fields, the present work implements a previously developed conceptual model for processing magnetite-based magnetosensory data. Results show that the conceptual model, originally constructed to stimulate thought and generate insights into future physiological experiments, may provide a valid approach to encoding magnetic field information. Specifically, magnetoreceptors that are each individually capable of sensing directional information can, as a population, encode magnetic intensity and direction. The findings hold promise both as a biological magnetoreception concept and for generating engineering innovations in sensing and processing.

Multi-Modal Homing in Sea Turtles: Modeling Dual Use of Geomagnetic and Chemical Cues in Island-Finding

Sea turtles are capable of navigating across large expanses of ocean to arrive at remote islands for nesting, but how they do so has remained enigmatic. An interesting example involves green turtles (Chelonia mydas) that nest on Ascension Island, a tiny land mass located approximately 2000 km from the turtles' foraging grounds along the coast of Brazil. Sensory cues that turtles are known to detect, and which might hypothetically be used to help locate Ascension Island, include the geomagnetic field, airborne odorants, and waterborne odorants. One possibility is that turtles use magnetic cues to arrive in the vicinity of the island, then use chemical cues to pinpoint its location. As a first step toward investigating this hypothesis, we used oceanic, atmospheric, and geomagnetic models to assess whether magnetic and chemical cues might plausibly be used by turtles to locate Ascension Island. Results suggest that waterborne and airborne odorants alone are insufficient to guide turtles from Brazil to Ascension, but might permit localization of the island once turtles arrive in its vicinity. By contrast, magnetic cues might lead turtles into the vicinity of the island, but would not typically permit its localization because the field shifts gradually over time. Simulations reveal, however, that the sequential use of magnetic and chemical cues can potentially provide a robust navigational strategy for locating Ascension Island. Specifically, one strategy that appears viable is following a magnetic isoline into the vicinity of Ascension Island until an odor plume emanating from the island is encountered, after which turtles might either: (1) initiate a search strategy; or (2) follow the plume to its island source. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that sea turtles, and perhaps other marine animals, use a multi-modal navigational strategy for locating remote islands.

Is the geomagnetic map imprinted in pre-emergent egg?

Although it is well-accepted that the geomagnetic field (GMF) plays an important role in animal navigation and migration, key problems remain unanswered. To explain the puzzling ability of hatchlings to embark on unexplored migrational journeys we hypothesize that mothers who have previously navigated the trip enable their offspring by direct transfer of route information to their eggs prior to hatching. The freshly hatched animal registers the local GMF as a reference point before embarking on the journey the mother has prepared for it. This process represents a novel type of biological cycle that finesses the need to treat questions such as natal homing and route parameters separately.

Evidence for geomagnetic imprinting and magnetic navigation in the natal homing of sea turtles

Natal homing is a pattern of behavior in which animals migrate away from their geographic area of origin and then return to reproduce in the same location where they began life [1-3]. Although diverse long-distance migrants accomplish natal homing [1-8], little is known about how they do so. The enigma is epitomized by loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta), which leave their home beaches as hatchlings and migrate across entire ocean basins before returning to nest in the same coastal area where they originated [9, 10]. One hypothesis is that turtles imprint on the unique geomagnetic signature of their natal area and use this information to return [1]. Because Earth's field changes over time, geomagnetic imprinting should cause turtles to change their nesting locations as magnetic signatures drift slightly along coastlines. To investigate, we analyzed a 19-year database of loggerhead nesting sites in the largest sea turtle rookery in North America. Here we report a strong association between the spatial distribution of turtle nests and subtle changes in Earth's magnetic field. Nesting density increased significantly in coastal areas where magnetic signatures of adjacent beach locations converged over time, whereas nesting density decreased in places where magnetic signatures diverged. These findings confirm central predictions of the geomagnetic imprinting hypothesis and provide strong evidence that such imprinting plays an important role in natal homing in sea turtles. The results give credence to initial reports of geomagnetic imprinting in salmon [11, 12] and suggest that similar mechanisms might underlie long-distance natal homing in diverse animals.

Geomagnetic imprinting predicts spatio-temporal variation in homing migration of pink and sockeye salmon

Animals navigate using a variety of sensory cues, but how each is weighted during different phases of movement (e.g. dispersal, foraging, homing) is controversial. Here, we examine the geomagnetic and olfactory imprinting hypotheses of natal homing with datasets that recorded variation in the migratory routes of sockeye (Oncorhynchus nerka) and pink (Oncorhynchus gorbuscha) salmon returning from the Pacific Ocean to the Fraser River, British Columbia. Drift of the magnetic field (i.e. geomagnetic imprinting) uniquely accounted for 23.2% and 44.0% of the variation in migration routes for sockeye and pink salmon, respectively. Ocean circulation (i.e. olfactory imprinting) predicted 6.1% and 0.1% of the variation in sockeye and pink migration routes, respectively. Sea surface temperature (a variable influencing salmon distribution but not navigation, directly) accounted for 13.0% of the variation in sockeye migration but was unrelated to pink migration. These findings suggest that geomagnetic navigation plays an important role in long-distance homing in salmon and that consideration of navigation mechanisms can aid in the management of migratory fishes by better predicting movement patterns. Finally, given the diversity of animals that use the Earth's magnetic field for navigation, geomagnetic drift may provide a unifying explanation for spatio-temporal variation in the movement patterns of many species.

A model for navigational errors in complex environmental fields

Many animals are believed to navigate using environmental signals such as light, sound, odours and magnetic fields. However, animals rarely navigate directly to their target location, but instead make a series of navigational errors which are corrected during transit. In previous work, we introduced a model showing that differences between an animal׳s 'cognitive map' of the environmental signals used for navigation and the true nature of these signals caused a systematic pattern in orientation errors when navigation begins. The model successfully predicted the pattern of errors seen in previously collected data from homing pigeons, but underestimated the amplitude of the errors. In this paper, we extend our previous model to include more complicated distortions of the contour lines of the environmental signals. Specifically, we consider the occurrence of critical points in the fields describing the signals. We consider three scenarios and compute orientation errors as parameters are varied in each case. We show that the occurrence of critical points can be associated with large variations in initial orientation errors over a small geographic area. We discuss the implications that these results have on predicting how animals will behave when encountering complex distortions in any environmental signals they use to navigate.

An inherited magnetic map guides ocean navigation in juvenile Pacific salmon

Migratory marine animals exploit resources in different oceanic regions at different life stages, but how they navigate to specific oceanic areas is poorly understood. A particular challenge is explaining how juvenile animals with no prior migratory experience are able to locate specific oceanic feeding habitats that are hundreds or thousands of kilometers from their natal sites. Although adults reproducing in the vicinity of favorable ocean currents can facilitate transport of their offspring to these habitats, variation in ocean circulation makes passive transport unreliable, and young animals probably take an active role in controlling their migratory trajectories. Here we experimentally demonstrate that juvenile Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) respond to magnetic fields like those at the latitudinal extremes of their ocean range by orienting in directions that would, in each case, lead toward their marine feeding grounds. We further show that fish use the combination of magnetic intensity and inclination angle to assess their geographic location. The "magnetic map" of salmon appears to be inherited, as the fish had no prior migratory experience. These results, paired with findings in sea turtles, imply that magnetic maps are phylogenetically widespread and likely explain the extraordinary navigational abilities evident in many long-distance underwater migrants.

Conditioned discrimination of magnetic inclination in a spatial-orientation arena task by homing pigeons (Columba livia)

It has been well established that homing pigeons are able to use the Earth’s magnetic field to obtain directional information when returning to their loft and that their magnetic compass is based, at least in part, on the perception of magnetic inclination. Magnetic inclination has also been hypothesized in pigeons and other long-distance navigators, such as sea turtles, to play a role providing positional information as part of a map. Here we developed a behavioural paradigm which allows us to condition homing pigeons to discriminate magnetic inclination cues in a spatial-orientation arena task. Six homing pigeons were required to discriminate in a circular arena between feeders located either in a zone with a close to 0º inclination cue or in a zone with a rapidly changing inclination cue (-3º to +85º when approaching the feeder and +85º to -3º when moving away from the feeder) to obtain a food reward. The pigeons consistently performed this task above chance level. Control experiments, during which the coils were turned off or the current was running anti-parallel through the double-wound coils system, confirmed that no alternative cues were used by the birds in the discrimination task. The results show that homing pigeons can be conditioned to discriminate differences in magnetic field inclination, enabling investigation into the peripheral and central neural processing of geomagnetic inclination under controlled laboratory conditions.

Detection of magnetic field intensity gradient by homing pigeons (Columba livia) in a novel "virtual magnetic map" conditioning paradigm

It has long been thought that birds may use the Earth's magnetic field not only as a compass for direction finding, but that it could also provide spatial information for position determination analogous to a map during navigation. Since magnetic field intensity varies systematically with latitude and theoretically could also provide longitudinal information during position determination, birds using a magnetic map should be able to discriminate magnetic field intensity cues in the laboratory. Here we demonstrate a novel behavioural paradigm requiring homing pigeons to identify the direction of a magnetic field intensity gradient in a “virtual magnetic map” during a spatial conditioning task. Not only were the pigeons able to detect the direction of the intensity gradient, but they were even able to discriminate upward versus downward movement on the gradient by differentiating between increasing and decreasing intensity values. Furthermore, the pigeons typically spent more than half of the 15 second sampling period in front of the feeder associated with the rewarded gradient direction indicating that they required only several seconds to make the correct choice. Our results therefore demonstrate for the first time that pigeons not only can detect the presence and absence of magnetic anomalies, as previous studies had shown, but are even able to detect and respond to changes in magnetic field intensity alone, including the directionality of such changes, in the context of spatial orientation within an experimental arena. This opens up the possibility for systematic and detailed studies of how pigeons could use magnetic intensity cues during position determination as well as how intensity is perceived and where it is processed in the brain.

Hypothetical superparamagnetic magnetometer in a pigeon's upper beak probably does not work

We reanalysed the role of superparamagnetic magnetite clusters observed in a pigeon's upper beak to decide if this matter can be a component of some sort of pigeon magnetometer for Earth orientation. We investigated the mutual interaction of the magnetite clusters induced by the geomagnetic field. The force sensitivity of the hypothetical magnetometer in a pigeon's upper beak was estimated considering the previously presented threshold magnetic sensitivity of pigeons, measured in electrophysiological and behavioural investigations. The typical intercluster magnetic force seems to be 10(-19)N well above the threshold magnetic sensitivity. To strengthen our results, we measured the magnetic susceptibility of superparamagnetic magnetite using a vibrating sample magnetometer. Finally we performed theoretical kinematic analysis of the motion of magnetite clusters in cell plasma. The results indicate that magnetite clusters, constituted by superparamagnetic nanoparticles and observed in a pigeon's upper beak, may not be a component of a measuring system providing the magnetic map.

Longitude perception and bicoordinate magnetic maps in sea turtles

Long-distance animal migrants often navigate in ways that imply an awareness of both latitude and longitude. Although several species are known to use magnetic cues as a surrogate for latitude, it is not known how any animal perceives longitude. Magnetic parameters appear to be unpromising as longitudinal markers because they typically vary more in a north-south rather than an east-west direction. Here we report, however, that hatchling loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) from Florida, USA, when exposed to magnetic fields that exist at two locations with the same latitude but on opposite sides of the Atlantic Ocean, responded by swimming in different directions that would, in each case, help them advance along their circular migratory route. The results demonstrate for the first time that longitude can be encoded into the magnetic positioning system of a migratory animal. Because turtles also assess north-south position magnetically, the findings imply that loggerheads have a navigational system that exploits the Earth's magnetic field as a kind of bicoordinate magnetic map from which both longitudinal and latitudinal information can be extracted.

Analysis of magnetic elements in otoliths of the macula lagena in homing pigeons with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry

OBJECTIVE

The macula lagena in birds is located at the apical end of the cochlea and contains many tiny otoliths. The macula lagena is innervated and has neural projections to the brainstem, but its physiological function is still unclear. It remains disputable that it is because otoliths in the lagena are rich in elements Fe and Zn that birds can obtain geomagnetic information for homing. To clarify this issue, we carried out a study to determine whether or not otoliths in the lagena of homing pigeons are richer in magnetic elements than those in the saccule and the utricle.

METHODS

The contents of ferromagnetic elements (Fe, Co, Ni) and other metal elements in lagenal otoliths of adult homing pigeons were precisely analyzed with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) of high sensitivity, and then they were compared with those in saccular and utricular otoliths (all the contents were normalized to Ca).

RESULTS

In adult homing pigeons, the contents of ferromagnetic elements (Fe, Co, Ni) in lagenal otoliths were less than 0.7% (normalized to Ca element) and were the same order in magnitude as those in saccular and utricular otoliths. The content of Fe in lagenal otoliths was not significantly different from that in utricular otoliths and was even lower than that in saccular otoliths. The content of Co in lagenal otoliths was lower than that in saccular otoliths and higher than that in utricular otoliths. The content of Ni in lagenal otoliths was not significantly different from that in saccular otoliths and was higher than that in utricular otoliths. The contents of other metal elements Na, Mg, K, Al, Mn and Pb in lagenal otoliths were not significantly different from those in utricular and saccular otoliths. The contents of metal elements Zn, Ba and Cu in lagenal otoliths were lower than those in saccular otoliths.

CONCLUSION

The contents of magnetic elements in lagenal otoliths of homing pigeons are not much higher than those in utricular and saccular otoliths, which does not support the hypothesis that birds depend on high contents of Fe and Zn in lagenal otoliths for sensation of geomagnetic information. Similarities in morphology, element ingredient and element content between lagenal otoliths and utricular otoliths suggest that the two types of otolithic organs may play similar roles in sensing gravitational and acceleration signals.

Activational effects of odours on avian navigation

The sensory basis of the navigational map remains one of the most important and intriguing questions in animal behaviour. In birds, odours have been hypothesized to provide the primary source of map information. Convincing tests have shown that experienced homing pigeons rely on map information obtained at sites where they are exposed to natural odours, even if subsequently released (without additional olfactory information) at a different site. These findings have been interpreted as support for the olfactory map hypothesis. Using this 'false-release-site' (FRS) approach, we compared the effects of exposure to natural odours with that of exposure to a series of artificial odours lacking spatial information. Our findings show that olfactory exposure to either natural or artificial odours at an FRS caused pigeons to rely on map information obtained at the FRS, even if subsequently released at the true-release site in the opposite direction from the home loft. Because artificial odours did not provide map information, however, the findings clearly demonstrate that olfactory exposure provides no navigational information to pigeons whatsoever; instead it activates an independent non-olfactory map system. This test decisively contradicts the olfactory map hypothesis, which predicts that olfactory cues are the primary source of navigational information used by birds.

Animal navigation: a wake-up call for homing

Many animals seem to know their location even when far from home. Evidence variously implicates odors or magnetic fields. The most consistent olfactory results, however, may not mean what we think.

Under cover of darkness: nocturnal life of diurnal birds

Songbirds are generally considered diurnal, although many species show periodic nocturnal activity during migration seasons. From a breeding-range perspective, such migratory species appear to be diurnal because they are observed to nest and feed their young during the day. But are they really exclusively diurnal? The authors tested how a passerine long-distance migrant, the Eurasian reed warbler, schedules movements during the breeding period by tracking birds in 2 experimental situations: 1) Birds experienced simulated nest loss and were monitored during their search for alternative locations, and 2) birds were translocated to reed beds at distances from 2 to 21 km and tracked during homing. The simulated unpredictable events disrupted normal breeding, forced birds to move over relatively long distances, and triggered rapid change in diel activity. In all but 1 case, birds resorted to nocturnality to find their way home and to search for new places to breed. Nocturnality during the breeding season indicates that songbird schedules are far more flexible than previously assumed. The reasons for nocturnal movements are poorly understood. Among the presumed advantages, the reduced predation pressure at night stands out because it is advantageous for movements on local as well as global scales. Predation may be particularly relevant for inhabitants of fragmented habitats, which encounter unfavorable conditions when crossing gaps in their preferred habitat. Therefore, similar selection pressures around the year may have favored the evolution of a general circadian mechanism for switches to nocturnality. Furthermore, the novel finding of homing and dispersal at night may give leads toward understanding the still enigmatic navigational abilities of songbirds.

Do release-site biases reflect response to the Earth's magnetic field during position determination by homing pigeons?

How homing pigeons (Columba livia) return to their loft from distant, unfamiliar sites has long been a mystery. At many release sites, untreated birds consistently vanish from view in a direction different from the home direction, a phenomenon called the release-site bias. These deviations in flight direction have been implicated in the position determination (or map) step of navigation because they may reflect local distortions in information about location that the birds obtain from the geophysical environment at the release site. Here, we performed a post hoc analysis of the relationship between vanishing bearings and local variations in magnetic intensity using previously published datasets for pigeons homing to lofts in Germany. Vanishing bearings of both experienced and naïve birds were strongly associated with magnetic intensity variations at release sites, with 90 per cent of bearings lying within +/-29 degrees of the magnetic intensity slope or contour direction. Our results (i) demonstrate that pigeons respond in an orderly manner to the local structure of the magnetic field at release sites, (ii) provide a mechanism for the occurrence of release-site biases and (iii) suggest that pigeons may derive spatial information from the magnetic field at the release site that could be used to estimate their current position relative to their loft.

The relation between the migration function of birds and fishes and their lagenal function

CONCLUSION

The lagena of pigeons is a unique organ and it is concluded that it is a key element in the magnetic sensor system of pigeons and migrating birds. The lagenal otolith in pigeons contains more iron than saccular and utricular otoliths. The function of the lagena of pigeons was clarified because the homing ability of pigeons was largely disrupted after unilateral lagenal nerve section and attachment of magnetic balls with a magnetic field strength under 5 Gauss. The lagena of pigeons may have a navigational function as a geomagnetic sensor.

OBJECTIVE

Otoliths of many kinds of fishes and birds were analyzed.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The otoliths of fish and birds were analyzed using synchrotron X-ray fluorescence analysis. Behavioral experiments concerning homing ability of pigeons were done by sectioning their lagenal nerves or interfering with the function of the lagena using a magnet. Twenty-one birds were treated in this way and 30 birds from the same loft of racing pigeons were used as controls.

RESULTS

By comparing the compositions of the three different kinds of otoliths among several species of sea fish and birds, it was found that the saccular and utricular otoliths contain scarcely detectable levels of iron but that iron is present in significant quantities in the lagenal otoliths of the birds and sea fish. The results of homing tests clearly revealed a magnetic influence on the function of the lagena in terms of navigation ability of pigeons. The treated pigeons were either lost or significantly delayed while the controls returned within 30 min of release.

Magnetic maps in animals: nature's GPS

Diverse animals detect the Earth's magnetic field and use it as a cue in orientation and navigation. Most research on magnetoreception has focused on the directional or ;compass' information that can be extracted from the Earth's field. Because the field varies predictably across the surface of the globe, however, it also provides a potential source of positional or 'map' information, which some animals use to steer themselves along migratory pathways or to navigate toward specific target areas. The use of magnetic positional information has been demonstrated in several diverse animals including sea turtles, spiny lobsters, newts and birds, suggesting that such systems are phylogenetically widespread and can function over a wide range of spatial scales. These ;magnetic maps' have not yet been fully characterized. They may be organized in several fundamentally different ways, some of which bear little resemblance to human maps, and they may also be used in conjunction with unconventional navigational strategies.

Evidence that pigeons orient to geomagnetic intensity during homing

The influence of the Earth's magnetic field on locomotory orientation has been studied in many taxa but is best understood for homing pigeons (Columba livia). Effects of experimentally induced and naturally occurring perturbations in the geomagnetic field suggest that pigeons are sensitive to changes in geomagnetic parameters. However, whether pigeons use the Earth's magnetic field for position determination remains unknown. Here we report an apparent orientation to the intensity gradient of the geomagnetic field observed in pigeons homing from sites in and around a magnetic anomaly. From flight trajectories recorded by GPS-based tracking devices, we noted that many pigeons released at unfamiliar sites initially flew, in some cases up to several kilometres, in directions parallel and/or perpendicular to the bearing of the local intensity field. This behaviour occurred irrespective of the homeward direction and significantly more often than what was expected by random chance. Our study describes a novel behaviour which provides strong evidence that pigeons when homing detect and respond to spatial variation in the Earth's magnetic field--information of potential use for navigation.

Animal navigation: northern exposure

A recent study has found that sparrows moved gradually east above the Arctic Circle completely altered their migration strategy after encountering the massive natural change in declination near the magnetic pole. This should not happen--or should it?

The physics and neurobiology of magnetoreception

Diverse animals can detect magnetic fields but little is known about how they do so. Three main hypotheses of magnetic field perception have been proposed. Electrosensitive marine fish might detect the Earth's field through electromagnetic induction, but direct evidence that induction underlies magnetoreception in such fish has not been obtained. Studies in other animals have provided evidence that is consistent with two other mechanisms: biogenic magnetite and chemical reactions that are modulated by weak magnetic fields. Despite recent advances, however, magnetoreceptors have not been identified with certainty in any animal, and the mode of transduction for the magnetic sense remains unknown.

Dramatic Orientation Shift of White-Crowned Sparrows Displaced across Longitudes in the High Arctic

Advanced spatial-learning adaptations have been shown for migratory songbirds, but it is not well known how the simple genetic program encoding migratory distance and direction in young birds translates to a navigation mechanism used by adults. A number of convenient cues are available to define latitude on the basis of geomagnetic and celestial information, but very few are useful to defining longitude. To investigate the effects of displacements across longitudes on orientation, we recorded orientation of adult and juvenile migratory white-crowned sparrows, Zonotrichia leucophrys gambelii, after passive longitudinal displacements, by ship, of 266-2862 km across high-arctic North America. After eastward displacement to the magnetic North Pole and then across the 0 degrees declination line, adults and juveniles abruptly shifted their orientation from the migratory direction to a direction that would lead back to the breeding area or to the normal migratory route, suggesting that the birds began compensating for the displacement by using geomagnetic cues alone or together with solar cues. In contrast to predictions by a simple genetic migration program, our experiments suggest that both adults and juveniles possess a navigation system based on a combination of celestial and geomagnetic information, possibly declination, to correct for eastward longitudinal displacements.

Magnetic pulse affects a putative magnetoreceptor mechanism

Clusters of superparamagnetic (SP) magnetite crystals have recently been identified in free nerve endings in the upper-beak skin of homing pigeons and are interpreted as being part of a putative magnetoreceptor system. Motivated by these findings, we developed a physical model that accurately predicts the dynamics of interacting SP clusters in a magnetic field. The main predictions are: 1), under a magnetic field, a group of SP clusters self-assembles into a chain-like structure that behaves like a compass needle under slowly rotating fields; 2), in a frequently changing field as encountered by a moving bird, a stacked chain is a structurally more stable configuration than a single chain; 3), chain-like structures of SP clusters disrupt under strong fields applied at oblique angles; and 4), reassemble on a timescale of hours to days (assuming a viscosity of the cell plasma eta approximately 1 P). Our results offer a novel mechanism for magnetic field perception and are in agreement with the response of birds observed after magnetic-pulse treatments, which have been conducted in the past to specifically test if ferrimagnetic material is involved in magnetoreception, but which have defied explanation so far. Our theoretical results are supported by experiments on a technical SP model system using a high-speed camera. We also offer new predictions that can be tested experimentally.

Olfaction and the homing ability of pigeons raised in a tropical area in Brazil

Several workers have investigated the effect of anosmia on pigeon navigation in different geographical locations because it has been suggested that homing behavior is based on different cues, such as olfactory cues, the Earth's magnetic field or infrasound, and that in the absence of one cue another would be used. In this situation, no cue is universally indispensable, including olfactory ones. In order to extend such observations to a novel biome, we observed the behaviour of 192 young inexperienced birds raised in southeastern Brazil, a tropical area where olfactory tests had never been run before. The birds were released from eight symmetrically distributed sites 17 to 44 km from the loft. Half of these birds (experimentals) had been made temporarily anosmic by washing their olfactory mucosae with 4% solution of ZnSO4 the day before release, while controls were treated with Ringer solution. The results of release tests showed that anosmia totally impaired the navigational performance of experimental birds, which were unable to home from sites at relatively short distances from home (34-44 km) and whose pooled initial bearings produced a (negative) homeward component not significantly different from 0. Homing performance of controls was significantly better, and their pooled vanishing bearings had a significant homeward component, in spite of much scatter in individual releases. We conclude that pigeon homing in the study area depends on olfactory information, even though local environmental conditions in the interior of the State of Sao Paulo, as in several other parts of the world, do not appear to be as favorable as Italy for the development of efficient olfactory navigation.

Geomagnetic map used in sea-turtle navigation

Migratory animals capable of navigating to a specific destination, and of compensating for an artificial displacement into unfamiliar territory, are thought to have a compass for maintaining their direction of travel and a map sense that enables them to know their location relative to their destination. Compasses are based on environmental cues such as the stars, the Sun, skylight polarization and magnetism, but little is known about the sensory mechanism responsible for the map sense. Here we show that the green sea-turtle (Chelonia mydas) has a map that is at least partly based on geomagnetic cues.