Dramatic orientation shift of white-crowned sparrows displaced across longitudes in the high arctic
Advanced spatial-learning adaptations have been shown for migratory songbirds (1], but it is not well known how the simple genetic program encoding migratory distance and direction in young birds [2-4] translates to a navigation mechanism used by adults [2, 4-6]. A number of convenient cues are avai...
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Online Access: | https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/145137 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2005.07.027 |
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ftulundlup:oai:lup.lub.lu.se:49a23e45-8638-48b0-b06a-35431406c4e3 2023-05-15T14:57:49+02:00 Dramatic orientation shift of white-crowned sparrows displaced across longitudes in the high arctic Åkesson, Susanne Morin, J Muheim, Rachel Ottosson, Ulf 2005 https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/145137 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2005.07.027 eng eng Elsevier https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/145137 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2005.07.027 pmid:16139216 wos:000231865700031 scopus:24044540366 Current Biology; 15(17), pp 1591-1597 (2005) ISSN: 1879-0445 Zoology Biological Sciences contributiontojournal/article info:eu-repo/semantics/article text 2005 ftulundlup https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2005.07.027 2023-02-01T23:31:32Z Advanced spatial-learning adaptations have been shown for migratory songbirds (1], but it is not well known how the simple genetic program encoding migratory distance and direction in young birds [2-4] translates to a navigation mechanism used by adults [2, 4-6]. A number of convenient cues are available to define latitude on the basis of geomagnetic and celestial information [7-15], but very few are useful to defining longitude [12-15]. 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. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic North Pole Lund University Publications (LUP) Arctic North Pole Current Biology 15 17 1591 1597 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Lund University Publications (LUP) |
op_collection_id |
ftulundlup |
language |
English |
topic |
Zoology Biological Sciences |
spellingShingle |
Zoology Biological Sciences Åkesson, Susanne Morin, J Muheim, Rachel Ottosson, Ulf Dramatic orientation shift of white-crowned sparrows displaced across longitudes in the high arctic |
topic_facet |
Zoology Biological Sciences |
description |
Advanced spatial-learning adaptations have been shown for migratory songbirds (1], but it is not well known how the simple genetic program encoding migratory distance and direction in young birds [2-4] translates to a navigation mechanism used by adults [2, 4-6]. A number of convenient cues are available to define latitude on the basis of geomagnetic and celestial information [7-15], but very few are useful to defining longitude [12-15]. 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. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Åkesson, Susanne Morin, J Muheim, Rachel Ottosson, Ulf |
author_facet |
Åkesson, Susanne Morin, J Muheim, Rachel Ottosson, Ulf |
author_sort |
Åkesson, Susanne |
title |
Dramatic orientation shift of white-crowned sparrows displaced across longitudes in the high arctic |
title_short |
Dramatic orientation shift of white-crowned sparrows displaced across longitudes in the high arctic |
title_full |
Dramatic orientation shift of white-crowned sparrows displaced across longitudes in the high arctic |
title_fullStr |
Dramatic orientation shift of white-crowned sparrows displaced across longitudes in the high arctic |
title_full_unstemmed |
Dramatic orientation shift of white-crowned sparrows displaced across longitudes in the high arctic |
title_sort |
dramatic orientation shift of white-crowned sparrows displaced across longitudes in the high arctic |
publisher |
Elsevier |
publishDate |
2005 |
url |
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/145137 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2005.07.027 |
geographic |
Arctic North Pole |
geographic_facet |
Arctic North Pole |
genre |
Arctic North Pole |
genre_facet |
Arctic North Pole |
op_source |
Current Biology; 15(17), pp 1591-1597 (2005) ISSN: 1879-0445 |
op_relation |
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/145137 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2005.07.027 pmid:16139216 wos:000231865700031 scopus:24044540366 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2005.07.027 |
container_title |
Current Biology |
container_volume |
15 |
container_issue |
17 |
container_start_page |
1591 |
op_container_end_page |
1597 |
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1766329935931113472 |