Visual perception of the Earth's magnetic field and night vision in songbirds
Final Report Abstract
Over the funding period, we have substantially advanced our understanding of the magnetic senses in birds. It is now clear that birds have at least two independent magnetic senses. A lightdependent magnetic compass in their eyes and a magnetic map-related sense associated with the ophthalmic branch of the trigeminal nerve. For both senses, the primary sensory molecules are currently unknown. However, for the light-dependent compass in the birds’ eyes, it is very likely that the primary sensory molecules are one or more cryptochrome proteins. In contrast, no convincing candidate molecules are known at present for the trigeminal-nerve-related map sense. In addition to the planned investigation of the magnetic senses in birds, the present funding also resulted in important new insights into polarized light-detection in night-migratory songbirds (electrophysiology manuscript described above), and led to the surprising discovery that nightmigratory European robins are sensitive to omnipresent anthropogenic electromagnetic noise down to an intensity 1000 times lower than the current WHO guideline levels. These findings provide important information about the exact biophysical nature of the underlying mechanisms and have major consequences for a number of different fields, including migratory bird conservation and potentially for human exposure limits. The published papers included four papers in Nature of which 2 directly appeared at least in part from the DFG project.
Publications
- (2009) Visual but not trigeminal mediation of magnetic compass information in a migratory bird. Nature 461, 1274-1277
Zapka, M., Heyers, D., Hein, C. M., Engels, S., Schneider, N.-L., Hans, J., Weiler, S., Dreyer, D., Kishkinev, D., Wild, J. M. & Mouritsen, H.
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1038/nature08528) - (2010) Acuity of a cryptochrome and vision-based magnetoreception system in birds. Biophysical Journal 99, 40-49
Solov’yov, I. A. Mouritsen, H. & Schulten, K.
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bpj.2010.03.053) - (2010) Cryptochromes – a potential magnetoreceptor: what do we know and what do we want to know? J. Royal. Soc. Interface 7, S147-S162
Liedvogel M. & Mouritsen, H.
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2009.0411.focus) - (2010) Night-migratory garden warblers can orient with their magnetic compass using the left, the right or both eyes. J. Royal. Soc. Interface 7, S227-S233
Hein, C. M., Zapka, M., Heyers, D., Kutzschbauch, S., Schneider, N.-L. & Mouritsen, H.
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2009.0376.focus) - (2010) Night-time neuronal activation of Cluster N in a day- and night-migrating songbird. European Journal of Neuroscience 32, 619-624
Zapka, M., Heyers, D., Liedvogel, M., Jarvis, E.D. & Mouritsen, H.
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-9568.2010.07311.x) - (2011) Robins have a magnetic compass in both eyes. Nature 471, E11-E12
Hein, C. M., Engels, S., Kishkinev, D. & Mouritsen, H.
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1038/nature09875) - (2012) Night-Migratory Songbirds Possess a Magnetic Compass in Both Eyes. PLOS ONE 7, e43271
Engels, S., Hein, C.M., Lefeldt, N., Prior, H. & Mouritsen, H.
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0043271) - (2012) The magnetic retina: light-dependent and trigeminal magnetoreception in migratory birds. Current Opinion in Neurobiology 22, 343-352
Mouritsen, H. & Hore, P. J.
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conb.2012.01.005) - (2014) Anthropogenic electromagnetic noise disrupts magnetic compass orientation in a migratory bird. Nature 509, 353-356
Engels, S., Schneider, N.-L., Lefeldt, N., Hein, C. M., Zapka, M., Michalik, A., Elbers, D., Kittel, A., Hore, P. J. & Mouritsen, H.
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1038/nature13290) - (2014) Magnetic field-driven induction of ZENK in the trigeminal system of pigeons (Columba livia). J. Royal Soc. Interface 11, 20140777
Lefeldt, N., Heyers, D., Schneider, N.-L., Engels, S., Elbers, D. & Mouritsen, H.
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2014.0777) - (2015) Migratory blackcaps tested in Emlen funnels can orient at 85 but not at 88 degrees magnetic inclination. J. Exp. Biol. 218, 206-211
Lefeldt, N., Dreyer, D., Steenken, F., Schneider, N.-L. & Mouritsen, H.
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.107235) - (2015) Re-calibration of the magnetic compass in hand-raised European robins (Erithacus rubecula). Scientific Reports 5, 14323
Alert, B., Michalik, A., Thiele, N., Bottesch, M., Mouritsen, H.
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1038/srep14323) - (2016) The Neural Basis of Long-Distance Navigation in Birds. Annual Reviews in Physiology 76, 10.1-10.22
Mouritsen, H., Heyers, D., Güntürkün, O.
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-physiol-021115-105054)
