Behavioural and physiological mechanisms of polarized light sensitivity in birds.
(2011) In Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 366(1565). p.763-771- Abstract
- Polarized light (PL) sensitivity is relatively well studied in a large number of invertebrates and some fish species, but in most other vertebrate classes, including birds, the behavioural and physiological mechanism of PL sensitivity remains one of the big mysteries in sensory biology. Many organisms use the skylight polarization pattern as part of a sun compass for orientation, navigation and in spatial orientation tasks. In birds, the available evidence for an involvement of the skylight polarization pattern in sun-compass orientation is very weak. Instead, cue-conflict and cue-calibration experiments have shown that the skylight polarization pattern near the horizon at sunrise and sunset provides birds with a seasonally and... (More)
- Polarized light (PL) sensitivity is relatively well studied in a large number of invertebrates and some fish species, but in most other vertebrate classes, including birds, the behavioural and physiological mechanism of PL sensitivity remains one of the big mysteries in sensory biology. Many organisms use the skylight polarization pattern as part of a sun compass for orientation, navigation and in spatial orientation tasks. In birds, the available evidence for an involvement of the skylight polarization pattern in sun-compass orientation is very weak. Instead, cue-conflict and cue-calibration experiments have shown that the skylight polarization pattern near the horizon at sunrise and sunset provides birds with a seasonally and latitudinally independent compass calibration reference. Despite convincing evidence that birds use PL cues for orientation, direct experimental evidence for PL sensitivity is still lacking. Avian double cones have been proposed as putative PL receptors, but detailed anatomical and physiological evidence will be needed to conclusively describe the avian PL receptor. Intriguing parallels between the functional and physiological properties of PL reception and light-dependent magnetoreception could point to a common receptor system. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/1832427
- author
- Muheim, Rachel LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2011
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- polarized light, sun compass, magnetic compass, orientation, homing, birds
- in
- Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
- volume
- 366
- issue
- 1565
- pages
- 763 - 771
- publisher
- Royal Society Publishing
- external identifiers
-
- wos:000286721400019
- scopus:79952348571
- pmid:21282180
- ISSN
- 1471-2970
- DOI
- 10.1098/rstb.2010.0196
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- c282b49e-738f-418d-9a23-63a2a26ba04f (old id 1832427)
- date added to LUP
- 2016-04-01 14:38:12
- date last changed
- 2022-04-22 04:24:14
@article{c282b49e-738f-418d-9a23-63a2a26ba04f,
abstract = {{Polarized light (PL) sensitivity is relatively well studied in a large number of invertebrates and some fish species, but in most other vertebrate classes, including birds, the behavioural and physiological mechanism of PL sensitivity remains one of the big mysteries in sensory biology. Many organisms use the skylight polarization pattern as part of a sun compass for orientation, navigation and in spatial orientation tasks. In birds, the available evidence for an involvement of the skylight polarization pattern in sun-compass orientation is very weak. Instead, cue-conflict and cue-calibration experiments have shown that the skylight polarization pattern near the horizon at sunrise and sunset provides birds with a seasonally and latitudinally independent compass calibration reference. Despite convincing evidence that birds use PL cues for orientation, direct experimental evidence for PL sensitivity is still lacking. Avian double cones have been proposed as putative PL receptors, but detailed anatomical and physiological evidence will be needed to conclusively describe the avian PL receptor. Intriguing parallels between the functional and physiological properties of PL reception and light-dependent magnetoreception could point to a common receptor system.}},
author = {{Muheim, Rachel}},
issn = {{1471-2970}},
keywords = {{polarized light; sun compass; magnetic compass; orientation; homing; birds}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{1565}},
pages = {{763--771}},
publisher = {{Royal Society Publishing}},
series = {{Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences}},
title = {{Behavioural and physiological mechanisms of polarized light sensitivity in birds.}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2010.0196}},
doi = {{10.1098/rstb.2010.0196}},
volume = {{366}},
year = {{2011}},
}