| 1. |
- Boström, Jannika, et al.
(författare)
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Autumn migratory fuelling : a response to simulated magnetic displacement in juvenile wheatears, Oenathe oenathe
- 2010
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Ingår i: Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0340-5443 .- 1432-0762. ; 64:11, s. 1725-1732
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Recent experiments exposing migratory birds to altered magnetic fields simulating geographical displacements have shown that the geomagnetic field acts as an external cue affecting migratory fuelling behaviour. This is the first study investigating fuel deposition in relation to geomagnetic cues in long-distance migrants using the western passage of the Mediterranean region. Juvenile wheatears (Oenanthe oenanthe) were exposed to a magnetically simulated autumn migration from southern Sweden to West Africa. Birds displaced parallel to the west of their natural migration route, simulating an unnatural flight over the Atlantic Ocean, increased their fuel deposition compared to birds experiencing a simulated migration along the natural route. These birds, on the other hand, showed relatively low fuel loads in agreement with earlier data on wheatears trapped during stopover. The experimental displacement to the west, corresponding to novel sites in the Atlantic Ocean, led to a simulated longer distance to the wintering area, probably explaining the observed larger fuel loads. Our data verify previous results suggesting that migratory birds use geomagnetic cues for fuelling decisions and, for the first time, show that birds, on their first migration, can use geomagnetic cues to compensate for a displacement outside their normal migratory route, by adjusting fuel deposition.
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| 2. |
- Henshaw, Ian, et al.
(författare)
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Food intake and fuel deposition in a migratory bird is affected by multiple as well as single-step changes in the magnetic field
- 2008
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Ingår i: Journal of Experimental Biology. - : The Company of Biologists. - 0022-0949 .- 1477-9145. ; 211, s. 649-653
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Recent studies have shown that migratory thrush nightingales (Luscinia luscinia) experimentally treated with multiple changes of the magnetic field simulating a journey to their target stopover area in northern Egypt, increased fuel deposition as expected in preparation to cross the Sahara desert. To investigate the significance of food intake on the body mass changes observed, in the work described here we analysed food intake of the nightingales under study in those earlier experiments. Furthermore, to study whether a single change in the magnetic field directly to northern Egypt is sufficient to provide information for fuelling decisions, we performed a new experiment, exposing thrush nightingales trapped in Sweden, directly to a magnetic field of northern Egypt. Our results show that an experimentally induced magnetic field of northern Egypt, close to the barrier crossing, triggers the same response in fuel deposition as experiments with multiple changes of the magnetic field simulating a migratory journey from Sweden to Egypt, suggesting that migratory birds do not require successive changes in field parameters to incorporate magnetic information into their migratory program. Furthermore, irrespective of experimental set up (single or multiple changes of the magnetic field parameters) increase in food intake seems to be the major reason for the observed increase in fuelling rate compared with control birds, suggesting that geomagnetic information might trigger hormonal changes in migratory birds enabling appropriate fuelling behaviour during migration.
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| 3. |
- Henshaw, Ian, et al.
(författare)
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Geomagnetic field affects spring migratory direction in a long distance migrant
- 2010
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Ingår i: Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0340-5443 .- 1432-0762. ; 64:8, s. 1317-1323
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Night-migrating song birds travel to and from their wintering and breeding areas often separated thousands of kilometers apart and are clearly capable of finding intended goal areas from a distant location. Displacement experiments provide a useful way to highlight orientation and navigational skills in migrants. To investigate which cues birds actually use to compensate for displacement and the exact mechanism of each cue, experiments with manipulation of single cues are required. We conducted a simulated displacement of lesser whitethroats Sylvia curruca on spring migration. Birds were displaced not geographically but in geomagnetic space only, north and south of their breeding area to test whether they incorporate information from the geomagnetic field to find their breeding area. Lesser whitethroats held in southeast Sweden but experiencing a simulated displacement north of their breeding area (Norway) failed to show a consistent direction of orientation, whereas birds displaced south of their breeding area (Czech Republic) exhibited consistent northerly orientation, close to the expected seasonally appropriate direction, after displacement toward the trapping location. The absence of a clear compensatory direction in birds displaced north might be due to unfamiliar magnetic information or lack of sufficient information such as a magnetic gradient when moving around. By isolating one orientation cue, the geomagnetic field, we have been able to show that lesser whitethroats might incorporate geomagnetic field information to determine latitude during spring migration.
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| 4. |
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| 5. |
- Henshaw, Ian, et al.
(författare)
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Information from the geomagnetic field triggers a reduced adrenocortical response in a migratory bird
- 2009
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Ingår i: Journal of Experimental Biology. - : The Company of Biologists. - 0022-0949 .- 1477-9145. ; 212, s. 2902-2907
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Long-distance migrants regularly pass ecological barriers, like the Sahara desert, where extensive fuel loads are necessary for a successful crossing. A central question is how inexperienced migrants know when to put on extensive fuel loads. Beside the endogenous rhythm, external cues have been suggested to be important. Geomagnetic information has been shown to trigger changes in foraging behaviour and fuel deposition rate in migratory birds. The underlying mechanism for these adjustments, however, is not well understood. As the glucocorticoid hormone corticosterone is known to correlate with behaviour and physiology related to energy regulation in birds, we here investigated the effect of geomagnetic cues on circulating corticosterone levels in a long-distance migrant. Just as in earlier studies, juvenile thrush nightingales (Luscinia luscinia) caught during autumn migration and exposed to the simulated geomagnetic field of northern Egypt increased food intake and attained higher fuel loads than control birds experiencing the ambient magnetic field of southeast Sweden. Our results further show that experimental birds faced a reduced adrenocortical response compared with control birds, thus for the first time implying that geomagnetic cues trigger changes in hormonal secretion enabling appropriate behaviour along the migratory route.
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| 6. |
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| 7. |
- Kullberg, Cecilia, et al.
(författare)
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Fuelling decisions in migratory birds: geomagnetic cues override the seasonal effect.
- 2007
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Ingår i: Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B. - : The Royal Society. - 0962-8452 .- 1471-2954. ; 274:1622, s. 2145-2151
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Recent evaluations of both temporal and spatial precision in bird migration have called for external cues in addition to the inherited programme defining the migratory journey in terms of direction, distance and fuelling behaviour along the route. We used juvenile European robins (Erithacus rubecula) to study whether geomagnetic cues affect fuel deposition in a medium-distance migrant by simulating a migratory journey from southeast Sweden to the wintering area in southern Spain. In the late phase of the onset of autumn migration, robins exposed to the magnetic treatment attained a lower fuel load than control birds exposed to the ambient magnetic field of southeast Sweden. In contrast, robins captured in the early phase of the onset of autumn migration all showed low fuel deposition irrespective of experimental treatment. These results are, as expected, the inverse of what we have found in similar studies in a long-distance migrant, the thrush nightingale (Luscinia luscinia), indicating that the reaction in terms of fuelling behaviour to a simulated southward migration varies depending on the relevance for the species. Furthermore, we suggest that information from the geomagnetic field act as an important external cue overriding the seasonal effect on fuelling behaviour in migratory birds.
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