An infrasound-based avian navigational “map”

2013 ◽  
Vol 133 (5) ◽  
pp. 3499-3499
Author(s):  
Jonathan T. Hagstrum
Keyword(s):  
Navigational Map

scholarly journals Infrasound and the Avian Navigational Map

2001 ◽  
Vol 54 (3) ◽  
pp. 377-391 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan T. Hagstrum
Keyword(s):  
Shock Waves ◽  
Magnetic Compass ◽  
Experimental Results ◽  
Supersonic Transport ◽  
Atmospheric Processes ◽  
Topographic Features ◽  
Navigational Map ◽  
The North ◽  
North Eastern ◽  
Eastern Usa

Birds can accurately navigate over hundreds to thousands of kilometres, and use celestial and magnetic compass senses to orient their flight. How birds determine their location in order to select the correct homeward bearing (map sense) remains controversial, and has been attributed to their olfactory or magnetic senses. Pigeons can hear infrasound down to 0·05 Hz, and an acoustic avian map is proposed consisting of infrasonic cues radiated from steep-sided topographic features. The source of these infrasonic signals is microseisms continuously generated by interfering oceanic waves. Atmospheric processes affecting the infrasonic map cues can explain perplexing experimental results from pigeon releases. Moreover, four recent disrupted pigeon races in Europe and the north-eastern USA intersected infrasonic shock waves from the Concorde supersonic transport. Having an acoustic map might also allow clock-shifted birds to test their homeward progress and select between their magnetic and solar compasses.

The avian hippocampus: Evidence for a role in the development of the homing pigeon navigational map.

1990 ◽  
Vol 104 (6) ◽  
pp. 906-911 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. P. Bingman ◽  
P. Ioalé ◽  
G. Casini ◽  
P. Bagnoli
Keyword(s):  
Homing Pigeon ◽  
Navigational Map ◽  
Avian Hippocampus

scholarly journals Olfactory cues perceived at the home loft are not essential for the formation of a navigational map in pigeons

1991 ◽  
Vol 155 (1) ◽  
pp. 643-660
Author(s):  
J. A. Waldvogel ◽  
J. B. Phillips
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Olfactory Cues ◽  
Visual Orientation ◽  
Sun Compass ◽  
Navigational Map ◽  
Long Term Study ◽  
Permanent Resident ◽  
Orientation Cues ◽  
Columbia Livia ◽  
Orientation Bias

Deflector lofts consist of a ‘pinwheel’ arrangement of four stationary deflector panels attached to the sides of a cube-shaped cage. These panels are made of wood and Plexiglas and rotate incoming winds in either a clockwise or counterclockwise direction. When released at a distant site, homing pigeons (Columbia livia) raised in deflector lofts exhibit a shift in orientation relative to controls which corresponds to the clockwise or counterclockwise rotation of winds in their loft, suggesting the involvement of wind-borne olfactory cues in pigeon navigation. As part of a long-term study designed to test whether orientation cues other than odors might also be involved in creating the deflector-loft effect, we carried out experiments in upstate New York, USA, in which deflector lofts were modified to reverse the direction of light reflected from the Plexiglas panels while leaving the rotation of winds unchanged. The results indicate that the orientation of pigeons raised as permanent residents of these altered deflector lofts is not influenced by reflected light cues; i.e. they exhibit the same orientation bias as birds raised in the lofts with normal panels. This is in direct contrast to our previous findings that non-resident pigeons kept in the altered lofts for short periods exhibit a reversal of initial orientation compared to birds from the lofts with normal panels. However, when permanent-resident birds are prevented from having a direct view of the horizon sky by the addition of ‘anti-cheating’ slats (which prevent the birds from seeing beyond the end of each panel), the deflections are either greatly reduced or eliminated entirely, contrary to the predictions of olfactory navigation models. This disappearance of the deflector-loft effect in the presence of anti-cheating slats suggests that the positions of the deflector panels in the two experimental lofts must be differentially influencing important visual orientation cues reaching the birds housed inside. We believe that these cues are probably derived from polarized skylight emanating from the horizon, and that the obstruction of specific regions of horizon skylight by the deflector panels in the two experimental lofts is responsible for a miscalibration of the pigeon's sun compass. This miscalibration, in turn, generates the orientation bias observed for deflector-loft birds. Our findings force us to conclude that, at least for pigeons raised in New York (and perhaps those from other geographical locations as well), olfactory cues perceived at the home loft do not contribute to the formation of the navigational map.

Development of the navigational map in homing pigeons: effects of flight experience on orientation performance

2003 ◽  
Vol 66 (6) ◽  
pp. 1093-1099 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesca Odetti ◽  
Paolo Ioalè ◽  
Anna Gagliardo
Keyword(s):  
Homing Pigeons ◽  
Flight Experience ◽  
Navigational Map

Effect of Wavelength of Light and Pulse Magnetisation on Different Magnetoreception Systems in a Migratory Bird

1997 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 189 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ursula Munro ◽  
John A. Munro ◽  
John B. Phillips ◽  
Wolfgang Wiltschko
Keyword(s):  
Red Light ◽  
Green Light ◽  
Migratory Bird ◽  
Magnetic Compass ◽  
Magnetic Pulse ◽  
Full Spectrum ◽  
Migratory Direction ◽  
Navigational Map ◽  
Orientation Mechanism ◽  
Dependent Processes

Two hypotheses on magnetoreception in animals are currently discussed. The first hypothesis is based on light-dependent processes associated with the visual system, while the second hypothesis suggests that magnetoreception is based on biogenic magnetite. Both mechanisms are supported by experimental evidence, but whether the information they provide involves the magnetic compass or the ‘map’ is still open. In order to identify the relevance of light-dependent or magnetite-transduced processes in magnetoreception, juvenile migratory birds were tested for their orientation behaviour in the natural geomagnetic field as the only directional cue available to them. The test birds were juvenile Tasmanian silvereyes (Zosterops l. lateralis), which were caught on their native island soon after fledging, before they had an opportunity to establish a navigational ‘map’. (1) Under ‘white’ (full spectrum) and green light (571 nm), they were well oriented in their appropriate migratory direction, while they were disoriented under red light (633 nm). This coincides with previous findings on adult silvereyes and suggests that light-dependent processes are involved in an orientation mechanism used by both juvenile and adult migrants, namely the magnetic compass. (2) A short, high-intensity magnetic pulse, a treatment designed to alter the magnetisation of magnetite, did not affect the young birds´ orientation. They continued to select their seasonally appropriate migratory direction. In contrast, adult silvereyes from the same population had responded in a previous study with a 90° clockwise deflection from their normal migratory course. These results suggest that (a) magnetite is involved in an orientation mechanism used exclusively by adult migrants; and (b) a magnetite-based receptor is associated with the navigational ‘map’, which provides information on geographic position.

scholarly journals Measuring Navigational Map Reading Competencies: A Pilot Study with a location-based GeoGame

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janina Bistron ◽  
Angela Schwering
Keyword(s):  
Pilot Study ◽  
Real World ◽  
General Concept ◽  
Specific Location ◽  
Related Literature ◽  
Map Reading ◽  
Test Items ◽  
Navigational Map ◽  
Test Instrument ◽  
Professional Contexts

Navigational map reading (NMR) is relevant to people’s everyday life, in professional contexts, and in school education. Being interested in fostering children’s NMR competencies implies a test instrument for measuring potential learning progress. Related literature lacks an evaluated test for children that is focused on the spatial aspects of NMR and applicable at different locations. This paper fills this gap by presenting OriGami NMR Test – a test for measuring NMR competencies in children that is implemented in a digital geogame and played with a mobile device in the real-world. In order to enable a transfer of the test to different locations, we offer the reader the general concept of the test, the geogame, as well as a script that automatically scores the participants’ test performances and evaluates the test items for the specific location. In a pilot study, we successfully realized and evaluated the test for two different locations.

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