MSGID: 1:317/3 64718767   
   PID: hpt/lnx 1.9.0-cur 2019-01-08   
   TID: hpt/lnx 1.9.0-cur 2019-01-08   
    Bird brains can flick switch to perceive Earth's magnetic field    
    Research on how animals move around the world helps determine the   
   influence of human activity    
      
     Date:   
         May 26, 2023   
     Source:   
         University of Western Ontario   
     Summary:   
         Study from researchers at Western's Advanced Facility for Avian   
         Research (AFAR), home to the world's first hypobaric climatic wind   
         tunnel for bird flight, explores a brain region called cluster N   
         that migratory birds use to perceive Earth's magnetic field. The   
         team discovered the region is activated very flexibly, meaning   
         these birds have an ability to process, or ignore, geomagnetic   
         information, just as you may attend to music when you are interested   
         or tune it out when you are not.   
      
      
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   FULL STORY   
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   Earth's magnetic field, generated by the flow of molten iron in the   
   planet's inner core, extends out into space and protects us from cosmic   
   radiation emitted by the Sun. It is also, remarkably, used by animals   
   like salmon, sea turtles and migratory birds for navigation.   
      
   But how? And why? A new study from researchers at Western's Advanced   
   Facility for Avian Research (AFAR), home to the world's first hypobaric   
   climatic wind tunnel for bird flight, explores a brain region called   
   cluster N that migratory birds use to perceive Earth's magnetic field. The   
   team discovered the region is activated very flexibly, meaning these   
   birds have an ability to process, or ignore, geomagnetic information,   
   just as you may attend to music when you are interested or tune it out   
   when you are not.   
      
   More specifically, the research team led by psychology PhD candidate   
   Madeleine Brodbeck and AFAR co-director Scott MacDougall-Shackleton   
   studied white- throated sparrows and found they were able to activate   
   cluster N at night when they were motivated to migrate (to avoid prey and   
   fly during cooler periods) and make it go dormant when they were resting   
   at a stopover site This is the first demonstration of this brain region   
   functioning in a North American bird species, as all prior research in   
   this area was completed in Europe.   
      
   "This brain region is super important for activating the geomagnetic   
   compass, especially for songbirds when they migrate at night," said   
   Brodbeck. "Almost all previous work on this specific brain function was   
   done at one lab in Europe, so it was great to replicate it in a North   
   American bird like the white-throated sparrow."  Earth's magnetic field,   
   likely first investigated and identified by German mathematician Carl   
   Friedrich Gauss in the 1830s, has long fascinated physicists, aerospace   
   engineers and even science fiction writers like Frank Herbert and Stephen   
   King. Brodbeck, a bird psychologist, is equally intrigued.   
      
   "Magnetic fields are really fun to think about because they're invisible   
   to humans. We can't see them or sense them, but most animals perceive   
   them in some way," said Brodbeck. "For birds, using Earth's magnetic   
   field to know if they're going towards a pole or towards the equator   
   is obviously really helpful for orientation and migration. It's   
   incredible that they can activate their brain in this way, and we   
   can't."  Understanding the physical mechanisms of how animals make   
   their way around in the world is a fundamentally important question   
   for researchers, says MacDougall-Shackleton, a psychology professor and   
   cognitive neuroscientist.   
      
   "If we want to understand bird migration or how other animals move   
   from one place to another, we need to know how they do it. And more   
   importantly, we need to know what we're doing, as humans, that might   
   influence them," said MacDougall-Shackleton.   
      
   The findings were published in the journal, European Journal of   
   Neuroscience.   
      
   "Birds don't just use their magnetic compass. We know they pay attention   
   to the Sun and the stars as cues too. And we also know that things like   
   lights at night, or windows in buildings, and all these things that we put   
   in the world disrupt their migrations," said MacDougall-Shackleton. "This   
   type of basic research informs us and lets us know the full suite of   
   ways that animals perceive the world when they're migrating and what we   
   as humans need to do to minimize our impact."   
       * RELATED_TOPICS   
             o Health_&_Medicine   
                   # Bird_Flu # Influenza # Nervous_System #   
                   Medical_Devices # Psychology_Research # Medical_Imaging #   
                   Diseases_and_Conditions # Cold_and_Flu   
       * RELATED_TERMS   
             o Avian_flu o Pandemic o Global_spread_of_H5N1 o Carpal_tunnel o   
             Global_spread_of_H5N1_in_2006 o Hypothalamus o Cluster_headache   
             o Psychopathology   
      
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   Story Source: Materials provided by   
   University_of_Western_Ontario. Original written by Jeff Renaud. Note:   
   Content may be edited for style and length.   
      
      
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   Journal Reference:   
      1. Madeleine I. R. Brodbeck, Verner P. Bingman, Lauren J. Cole,   
      David F.   
      
         Sherry, Scott A. MacDougall‐Shackleton. Neuronal activation   
         in the geomagnetic responsive region Cluster N covaries with   
         nocturnal migratory restlessness in white‐throated sparrows   
         ( Zonotrichia albicollis ).   
      
         European Journal of Neuroscience, 2023; DOI: 10.1111/ejn.15995   
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   Link to news story:   
   https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/05/230526183214.htm   
      
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