Bird's-Eye View May Include Magnetic Fields

BoredStiff writes "Heard on NPR and reported in ScienceDaily: a study finding that migratory birds may be able to 'see' magnetic fields. The report comes from a current study by a research group from Oldenburg, Germany. They found that migratory birds use their visual system to perceive the reference compass direction of the geomagnetic field: 'Sensory systems process their particular stimuli along specific brain circuits. Thus, the identification of what sensory system is active during magnetic compass orientation, provides a way to recognize the sensory quality utilized during that specific behavior.'"

Comments

they're gunnin for ya

[User 956]

Heard on NPR and reported in ScienceDaily: a study finding that migratory birds may be able to 'see' magnetic fields.

How else do you think they're able to so accurately target your new car?

Re:So what happens if the magnetic field changes?

[p0tat03]

Evolution. That's what happens :)

Does this mean birds aren't doomed after all?

[rde]

I'm a bit bemused by this whole concept, and the article doesn't really help ("Neuronal tracing reveals that Cluster N receives input through the thalamofugal visual pathway.")

Assuming the nerds in question are right (and I've not reason to think they're not), the whole 'seeing a geomagnetic field' thing is wrecking my head. We're all familiar with the shape of the Earth's magnetic field, and it's easy to envision a series of lines spreading out from the poles. However, given that the poles are due for a reversal, it's been assumed by people worldwide who know about such things that this means doom for most migratory birds. If they can see the field lines, though, this may not be the case. Rather, it's the time leading up to the reversal that'll be the problem, as the lines get ever more chaotic. Once the flip happens, presumably all will be well again.

Given that the poles have flipped many times in the past, and there've been major (if not mass) extinctions associated with at least some of them, the implication (to me) is that if there are fossils embedded in rocks with the polarity reversed then the two were simultaneous, and that some mechanism other than sight was used for sensing the fields.

Of course, this all assumes that a) I know what the hell I'm talking about, b) there's only one mechanism for detecting the field and c) the field looks the same from either pole.

Re:Does this mean birds aren't doomed after all?

[ScrewMaster]

I'm not arguing with you, but perhaps you should do what I'm about to do.

Have another drink.

Re:Does this mean birds aren't doomed after all?

[wizardforce]

the implication (to me) is that if there are fossils embedded in rocks with the polarity reversed then the two were simultaneous, and that some mechanism other than sight was used for sensing the fields.

these flips happen every 100,000-200,000 years or so which is virtually nothing on the geological scale, species can survive for millions of years so there's a fair chance they could start dying out around the time of a flip, that doesn't really mean that the field was causing an extinction unless there is some pretty convincing evidence to go along with it. this can be tested and I would bet they already have tried this, but we could expose the birds to a magnetic field and vary it according to what we think flips are like and see what happens.

Re:Does this mean birds aren't doomed after all?

[EonBlueApocalypse]

I think if you were actually able to see the planets magnetic field that it wouldn't actually be represented in solid lines. I'd guess it would be hues of color where the field is strongest that are perceived, then anything else. I say this because what we see as color is just wave lengths of light being interpreted by our brains and I have yet to read anything that says vision and the colors involved can only be interpreted by the brain threw certain frequencies of light or sound. Anyways any species who has not evolved a back up plan like using the position of the sun, then some species may die out, but then again those aren't very successful if they a yet unable to cope with seemingly normal planetary changes.

Re:So what happens if the magnetic field changes?

[alan_dershowitz]

It's theorized that birds use the the setting sun to "calibrate" their magnetic direction sense. Scientists have done experiments with visual cues and artificial magnetic fields. What's new here is that these scientists have found direct evidence that the magnetic field is "seen" as opposed to some other sense method (for this type of bird anyway.) Check out this link: geomagnetism and birds migration

So basically this article says...

[mpthompson]

... that migratory birds have a heads-up navigation display. Who would have thought?

Re:So what happens if the magnetic field changes?

[icepick72]

As if I'm gonna' check out THAT link. I'll just blindly believe you instead.

Really?

[Wannabe Code Monkey]

noshitsherlock

Really? noshitsherlock... I suppose all of you just knew that birds were able to "see" magnetic fields. That's really impressive, I can't believe how smart you are, that you had this knowledge in the back of your brain like I've got the switches to ls memorized. Thank you so much for demonstrating your superior knowledge in the form of a slashdot story tag, that's really cool. Much better than publishing your findings in a science journal, you decided to save them up and use them in a condescending manner on a technology blog. Way to go... I guess when the article stated, "surprisingly little is known about the neuronal substrates underlying these navigational abilities" it actually meant, "a few slashdot readers know exactly how the neuronal substrates work, but won't tell anyone." Anyway, I'd just like to applaud your contributions to humanity.