Linking magnetic and other orientation cues to global migration patterns (Nav04)

• Subject Area: Sensory and Behavioural Biology ; Ecology and Biodiversity of Animals and Ecosystems, Organismic Interactions
• Term: since 2019
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 395940726

To achieve a comprehensive understanding of magnetoreception and vertebrate navigation, it is important to consider the consequences of proposed navigational capacities and behaviour and related sensory mechanisms at spatial and temporal scales beyond those observable in the lab or in field experiments. To this end, we developed a modelling framework to assess orientation strategies based on geophysical compass cues, focusing on performance among compass courses on a global scale. The logical extension through enhanced SFB-collaborations is to model true navigation, collective migration of fish and bats versus solitary migratory birds and how migration routes evolve based on input from magnetic sensors.

• DFG Programme: Collaborative Research Centres
• Subproject of: SFB 1372: Magnetoreception and navigation in vertebrates: from biophysics to brain and behaviour
• Applicant Institution: Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg
• Project Heads: Professor Dr. Bernd Blasius; Professor Dr. Heiko Schmaljohann