Corneal sensitivity is required for orientation in free-flying migratory bats
The exact anatomical location for an iron particle-based magnetic sense remains enigmatic in vertebrates. For mammals, findings from a cornea anaesthesia experiment in mole rats suggest that it carries the primary sensors for magnetoreception. Yet, this has never been tested in a free-ranging mammal...
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ftleibnizopen:oai:oai.leibnizopen.de:GBY4iIcBdbrxVwz6au6F 2023-06-06T11:58:35+02:00 Corneal sensitivity is required for orientation in free-flying migratory bats Lindecke, Oliver Holland, Richard A. Pētersons, Gunārs Voigt, Christian C. 2021 https://repository.publisso.de/resource/frl:6434299 https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-021-02053-w https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8100159/ https://www.nature.com/articles/s42003-021-02053-w#Sec12 eng eng CC BY 4.0 Communications biology, 4(1):522 Animal behaviour Visual system 2021 ftleibnizopen https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-021-02053-w 2023-04-16T23:08:01Z The exact anatomical location for an iron particle-based magnetic sense remains enigmatic in vertebrates. For mammals, findings from a cornea anaesthesia experiment in mole rats suggest that it carries the primary sensors for magnetoreception. Yet, this has never been tested in a free-ranging mammal. Here, we investigated whether intact corneal sensation is crucial for navigation in migrating Nathusius’ bats, Pipistrellus nathusii, translocated from their migratory corridor. We found that bats treated with corneal anaesthesia in both eyes flew in random directions after translocation and release, contrasting bats with a single eye treated, and the control group, which both oriented in the seasonally appropriate direction. Using a Y-maze test, we confirmed that light detection remained unaffected by topical anaesthesia. Therefore our results suggest the cornea as a possible site of magnetoreception in bats, although other conceivable effects of the anaesthetic are also explored. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the corneal based sense is of bilateral nature but can function in a single eye if necessary. Other/Unknown Material Pipistrellus nathusii LeibnizOpen (The Leibniz Association) Communications Biology 4 1 |
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Open Polar |
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LeibnizOpen (The Leibniz Association) |
op_collection_id |
ftleibnizopen |
language |
English |
topic |
Animal behaviour Visual system |
spellingShingle |
Animal behaviour Visual system Lindecke, Oliver Holland, Richard A. Pētersons, Gunārs Voigt, Christian C. Corneal sensitivity is required for orientation in free-flying migratory bats |
topic_facet |
Animal behaviour Visual system |
description |
The exact anatomical location for an iron particle-based magnetic sense remains enigmatic in vertebrates. For mammals, findings from a cornea anaesthesia experiment in mole rats suggest that it carries the primary sensors for magnetoreception. Yet, this has never been tested in a free-ranging mammal. Here, we investigated whether intact corneal sensation is crucial for navigation in migrating Nathusius’ bats, Pipistrellus nathusii, translocated from their migratory corridor. We found that bats treated with corneal anaesthesia in both eyes flew in random directions after translocation and release, contrasting bats with a single eye treated, and the control group, which both oriented in the seasonally appropriate direction. Using a Y-maze test, we confirmed that light detection remained unaffected by topical anaesthesia. Therefore our results suggest the cornea as a possible site of magnetoreception in bats, although other conceivable effects of the anaesthetic are also explored. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the corneal based sense is of bilateral nature but can function in a single eye if necessary. |
author |
Lindecke, Oliver Holland, Richard A. Pētersons, Gunārs Voigt, Christian C. |
author_facet |
Lindecke, Oliver Holland, Richard A. Pētersons, Gunārs Voigt, Christian C. |
author_sort |
Lindecke, Oliver |
title |
Corneal sensitivity is required for orientation in free-flying migratory bats |
title_short |
Corneal sensitivity is required for orientation in free-flying migratory bats |
title_full |
Corneal sensitivity is required for orientation in free-flying migratory bats |
title_fullStr |
Corneal sensitivity is required for orientation in free-flying migratory bats |
title_full_unstemmed |
Corneal sensitivity is required for orientation in free-flying migratory bats |
title_sort |
corneal sensitivity is required for orientation in free-flying migratory bats |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://repository.publisso.de/resource/frl:6434299 https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-021-02053-w https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8100159/ https://www.nature.com/articles/s42003-021-02053-w#Sec12 |
genre |
Pipistrellus nathusii |
genre_facet |
Pipistrellus nathusii |
op_source |
Communications biology, 4(1):522 |
op_rights |
CC BY 4.0 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-021-02053-w |
container_title |
Communications Biology |
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4 |
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1 |
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1767947320341561344 |