Flight-induced compass representation in the monarch butterfly heading network
Beetz, M. Jerome ; Kraus, Christian ; Franzke, Myriam ; Dreyer, David LU ; Strube-Bloss, Martin F. ; Rössler, Wolfgang ; Warrant, Eric J. LU
; Merlin, Christine
and el Jundi, Basil
LU
(2022)
In Current Biology
32(2).
p.5-349
- Abstract
For navigation, animals use a robust internal compass. Compass navigation is crucial for long-distance migrating animals like monarch butterflies, which use the sun to navigate over 4,000 km to their overwintering sites every fall. Sun-compass neurons of the central complex have only been recorded in immobile butterflies, and experimental evidence for encoding the animal's heading in these neurons is still missing. Although the activity of central-complex neurons exhibits a locomotor-dependent modulation in many insects, the function of such modulations remains unexplored. Here, we developed tetrode recordings from tethered flying monarch butterflies to reveal how flight modulates heading representation. We found that, during flight,... (More)
For navigation, animals use a robust internal compass. Compass navigation is crucial for long-distance migrating animals like monarch butterflies, which use the sun to navigate over 4,000 km to their overwintering sites every fall. Sun-compass neurons of the central complex have only been recorded in immobile butterflies, and experimental evidence for encoding the animal's heading in these neurons is still missing. Although the activity of central-complex neurons exhibits a locomotor-dependent modulation in many insects, the function of such modulations remains unexplored. Here, we developed tetrode recordings from tethered flying monarch butterflies to reveal how flight modulates heading representation. We found that, during flight, heading-direction neurons change their tuning, transforming the central-complex network to function as a global compass. This compass is characterized by the dominance of processing steering feedback and allows for robust heading representation even under unreliable visual scenarios, an ideal strategy for maintaining a migratory heading over enormous distances.
(Less)
- author
- Beetz, M. Jerome
; Kraus, Christian
; Franzke, Myriam
; Dreyer, David
LU
; Strube-Bloss, Martin F.
; Rössler, Wolfgang
; Warrant, Eric J.
LU
; Merlin, Christine
and el Jundi, Basil
LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2022-01-24
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- central complex, heading coding, migration, navigation, octopamine, orientation, state-dependence, sun compass, tetrode recordings
- in
- Current Biology
- volume
- 32
- issue
- 2
- pages
- 5 - 349
- publisher
- Elsevier
- external identifiers
-
- pmid:34822766
- scopus:85123180274
- ISSN
- 0960-9822
- DOI
- 10.1016/j.cub.2021.11.009
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 15c1b50d-96e5-41e7-a5ca-3d74af4cc994
- date added to LUP
- 2022-05-12 12:38:20
- date last changed
- 2024-04-18 07:21:58
@article{15c1b50d-96e5-41e7-a5ca-3d74af4cc994,
abstract = {{<p>For navigation, animals use a robust internal compass. Compass navigation is crucial for long-distance migrating animals like monarch butterflies, which use the sun to navigate over 4,000 km to their overwintering sites every fall. Sun-compass neurons of the central complex have only been recorded in immobile butterflies, and experimental evidence for encoding the animal's heading in these neurons is still missing. Although the activity of central-complex neurons exhibits a locomotor-dependent modulation in many insects, the function of such modulations remains unexplored. Here, we developed tetrode recordings from tethered flying monarch butterflies to reveal how flight modulates heading representation. We found that, during flight, heading-direction neurons change their tuning, transforming the central-complex network to function as a global compass. This compass is characterized by the dominance of processing steering feedback and allows for robust heading representation even under unreliable visual scenarios, an ideal strategy for maintaining a migratory heading over enormous distances.</p>}},
author = {{Beetz, M. Jerome and Kraus, Christian and Franzke, Myriam and Dreyer, David and Strube-Bloss, Martin F. and Rössler, Wolfgang and Warrant, Eric J. and Merlin, Christine and el Jundi, Basil}},
issn = {{0960-9822}},
keywords = {{central complex; heading coding; migration; navigation; octopamine; orientation; state-dependence; sun compass; tetrode recordings}},
language = {{eng}},
month = {{01}},
number = {{2}},
pages = {{5--349}},
publisher = {{Elsevier}},
series = {{Current Biology}},
title = {{Flight-induced compass representation in the monarch butterfly heading network}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2021.11.009}},
doi = {{10.1016/j.cub.2021.11.009}},
volume = {{32}},
year = {{2022}},
}