Many animal species are capable of migrating or homing over great distances, but understanding how they are able to find their way has been one of the biggest unsolved mysteries in the fields of animal behavior and sensory perception. It has been long suspected that homing pigeons, and possibly other animals, have a map based on the earth's magnetic field that allows the to return to their loft even from distant places where they have never been before. The researchers will use a novel approach which combines behavioral, neuropysiological and molecular techniques in the laboratory and the field to confirm the existence of a magnetic map in homing pigeons and to determine how it functions. The researchers will track the flight paths of pigeons with GPS units in the field to determine how they respond to changes in the earth's magnetic field on the way home to their loft. By disrupting the pigeons' magnetic sense, which is located in the upper beak, the researchers will test and refine a model that explains how the earth's magnetic field could provide latitude and longitude coordinates for navigation. In the laboratory, the researchers will train pigeons to navigate using a virtual magnetic map. With this new approach it will be possible to study how the pigeons perceive the magnetic field and how such information is processed in the brain during homing behavior. This project will provide a better understanding of fundamental questions in animal navigation, sensory perception, and animal learning. It also has direct relevance to other fields such as conservation (effects of climate change on stop-over sites and thus migration routes), human health (control of disease transmission by migratory animals), and the development of a satellite-independent backup Global Positioning System (GPS). The researchers will involve undergraduate students in the experiments (especially from underrepresented groups as part of the NSF-funded SetGo program) as well as provide summer research internships for talented high school students in support of K-12 initiatives and a workshop for local high school teachers.
