'Fixed Direction'-responses of Birds in the Geomagnetic Field

Overview

Journal Commun Integr Biol

Specialty Biology

Date 2009 Aug 26

PMID 19704901

Citations 6

Authors

Roswitha Wiltschko

Wolfgang Wiltschko

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

IN A RECENT PAPER, WE DESCRIBED THE ORIENTATION BEHAVIOR OF TWO PASSERINE MIGRANTS UNDER DIM RED LIGHT: the birds headed westward in spring as well as in autumn, displaying a 'fixed direction'-response. 'Fixed direction'-responses in other directions were observed under abnormal light regimes. Here, we point out the characteristic features of the 'fixed direction'-responses, in particular their differences to normal compass orientation, and discuss their implications. The conditions under which they are observed suggest complex interactions between magnetoreception and the visual system.

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