Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
M. Jerome Beetz, Christian Kraus, Myriam Franzke, David Dreyer, Martin F. Strube-Bloss, Wolfgang Rossler, Eric J. Warrant, Christine Merlin, Basil El Jundi
Summary: Animals use an internal compass for navigation, which is crucial for long-distance migrating animals like monarch butterflies. During flight, the heading-direction neurons in monarch butterflies change their tuning, transforming the central-complex network to function as a global compass. This allows for robust heading representation even under unreliable visual scenarios.
Article
Biology
Richard Massy, Will L. S. Hawkes, Toby Doyle, Jolyon Troscianko, Myles H. M. Menz, Nicholas W. Roberts, Jason W. Chapman, Karl R. Wotton
Summary: The study found that hoverflies use a time-compensated sun compass as their primary navigational mechanism during migration, and they tend to fly south and adjust their orientation under clear and sunny conditions.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Kevin K. Sit, Michael J. Goard
Summary: To navigate, animals use visual landmarks to orient themselves within an environment. The authors show how neuronal populations in the retrosplenial cortex can use visual input to align the animal's internal compass to landmarks in the external world. Spatial cognition depends on an accurate representation of orientation within an environment.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2023)
Article
Biology
Lisa Spiecker, Malien Laurien, Wiebke Dammann, Andrea Franke, Catriona Clemmesen, Gabriele Gerlach
Summary: Research shows that juvenile Atlantic herring may use a time-compensated sun compass for orientation during their migration. Their swimming direction is still affected even when the sky is cloudy.
JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL BIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Engineering, Aerospace
Yueting Yang, Yan Wang, Lei Guo, Bo Tian, Jian Yang, Wenshuo Li, Taihang Chen
Summary: This study demonstrates that nocturnal polarized light is capable of providing accurate and stable navigation information in dim light outdoor environment, and proposes a probability density estimation method for heading determination.
CHINESE JOURNAL OF AERONAUTICS
(2022)
Article
Engineering, Electrical & Electronic
Chen Fan, Zhouwen Zhou, Xiaofeng He, Ying Fan, Lilian Zhang, Xuesong Wu, Xiaoping Hu
Summary: This paper presents a bio-inspired multi-sensor navigation system for UAVs in GNSS-denied environments. The system integrates outputs from a skylight polarized sensor, a micro-inertia sensor, and a monocular camera to provide reliable position and heading constraints. An optimal orientation algorithm and a two-dimensional visual place recognition are proposed to improve navigation performance. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed system outperforms other vision-based navigation algorithms in terms of position accuracy.
IEEE SENSORS JOURNAL
(2022)
Article
Biology
Naomi Takahashi, Frederick Zittrell, Ronja Hensgen, Uwe Homberg
Summary: Successful navigation relies on an animal's ability to perceive its spatial orientation relative to visual surroundings. In insects, heading direction is represented in the central complex (CX), a navigation center in the brain. The CX neurons are tuned to celestial cues indicating the sun's location. This study investigated whether tuning to the two compass cues, unpolarized sunlight and polarized light, emerges within the CX network or is inherited from input neurons. The results suggest that considerable refinement of azimuth coding based on sky compass signals occurs at the synapses from input neurons to CX compass neurons.
JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL BIOLOGY
(2022)
Review
Behavioral Sciences
Jonathan T. Hagstrum
Summary: The geomagnetic field provides compass cues and information on geomagnetic latitude. The debate lies in whether horizontal gradients in GMF intensity, combined with changes in inclination, provide bicoordinate map information. The non-orthogonal geomagnetic gradients, the lack of consistent E-W gradients, and the masking effect of the crustal field on the core field's intensity gradients imply rejection of the bicoordinate geomagnetic map hypothesis. The alternative hypothesis of infrasound direction-finding is also briefly discussed. The diurnal variation of GMF has been suggested to act as a timekeeper for circadian rhythms and might explain the non-compass role of GMF in avian navigational system. The magnetic alignment of resting and grazing animals could be attributed to the detection of this weaker diurnal signal.
JOURNAL OF COMPARATIVE PHYSIOLOGY A-NEUROETHOLOGY SENSORY NEURAL AND BEHAVIORAL PHYSIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Behavioral Sciences
James A. Klarevas-Irby, Damien R. Farine
Summary: Little is known about how animals overcome temporal constraints on movement during dispersal. This study used GPS tracking of vulturine guineafowl and found that dispersers showed the greatest increase in movement at the same times of day when they moved the most prior to dispersal. These findings suggest that individuals face the same ecological constraints during dispersal as they do in daily life and achieve large displacements by maximizing movement when conditions are most favorable.
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Simone Ciaralli, Martina Esposito, Stefano Francesconi, Daniela Muzzicato, Marco Gamba, Matteo Dal Zotto, Daniela Campobello
Summary: Male cuckoos may transfer nest location information to females as a nonmaterial nuptial gift through specific postures and behaviors, potentially influencing mating choices of female cuckoos.
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Anne E. Aulsebrook, Rowan Jacques-Hamilton, Bart Kempenaers
Summary: Accelerometry and machine learning have been used to quantify mating behaviors of captive male ruffs. Different machine learning methods were compared and evaluated for their classification performance. The study highlights the challenges and potential pitfalls in classifying mating behaviors using accelerometry and provides recommendations and considerations for future research.
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Maria G. Smith, Joshua B. LaPergola, Christina Riehl
Summary: This study analyzed individual contributions to parental care in the greater ani bird and found that workload inequality varied between groups of two and three pairs. However, there was no clear evidence of division of labour within the groups, suggesting individual differences in overall work performed.
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Noah M. T. Smith, Reuven Dukas
Summary: Winner and loser effects are observed in many animals, and recent experiments suggest that they may also occur in humans. In two experiments involving video games and reading comprehension, participants who won in the first phase performed significantly better in the second phase compared to those who lost. The effect size was larger in the video game experiment, and men and women showed similar magnitudes of winner and loser effects.
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Bianca J. L. Marcellino, Peri Yee, Shannon J. Mccauley, Rosalind L. Murray
Summary: This study examines the trade-off between mating effort and thermoregulatory behavior in dragonflies in response to temperature changes, and investigates the effect of wing melanin on these behaviors. The results indicate that as temperature increases, dragonflies reduce their mating effort and increase their thermoregulatory behavior.
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Rafael Rios Moura, Paulo Inacio Prado, Joao Vasconcellos-Neto
Summary: This study examined the escape behavior and decision-making of Aglaoctenus castaneus spiders on different substrates. It was found that spiders inhabiting injurious substrates displayed shorter flight initiation distances and lower sensitivity to predators.
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Luigi Baciadonna, Cwyn Solvi, Francesca Terranova, Camilla Godi, Cristina Pilenga, Livio Favaro
Summary: In this study, it was found that African penguins could use ventral dot patterns to recognize their lifelong partner and nonpartner colonymates. This challenges the previous assumption of limited visual involvement in penguin communication, highlighting the complex and flexible recognition process in birds.
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Nick A. R. Jones, Jade Newton-Youens, Joachim G. Frommen
Summary: Environmental conditions, particularly temperature, have a significant impact on animal behavior. This study focused on aggression in Neolamprologus pulcher fish and found that aggression rates increased with temperature at lower levels, but decreased after reaching a peak. Additionally, the influence of high temperatures on aggression changed over time during the trials. These findings provide a more comprehensive understanding of the short-term effects of temperature on aggression and highlight the importance of considering non-linear changes in thermal performance.
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Bruno Herlander Martins, Andrea Soriano-Redondo, Aldina M. A. Franco, Ines Carry
Summary: Human activities have affected the availability of resources for wildlife, particularly through the provision of anthropogenic food subsidies at landfill sites. This study explores the influence of age on landfill attendance and foraging behavior in white storks. Adult storks visit landfills more frequently and show dominance over juveniles in food acquisition. Juveniles have limited access to landfill resources and are forced to use lower quality areas.