Magnetic stop signs signal a European songbird's arrival at the breeding site after migration

Wynn, Joe, Padget, Oliver ORCID: 0000-0001-5412-4306, Mouritsen, Henrik, Morford, Joe, Jaggers, Paris and Guilford, Tim (2022) Magnetic stop signs signal a European songbird's arrival at the breeding site after migration. SCIENCE, 375 (6579). 446-+.

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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.abj4210

Abstract

Although it is known that birds can return to their breeding grounds with exceptional precision, it has remained a mystery how they know when and where to stop migrating. Using nearly a century's worth of Eurasian reed warbler (<i>Acrocephalus scirpaceus</i>) ringing recoveries, we investigated whether fluctuations in Earth's magnetic field predict variation in the sites to which birds return. Ringing recoveries suggest that magnetic inclination is learned before departure and is subsequently used as a uni-coordinate "stop sign" when relocating the natal or breeding site. However, many locations have the same inclination angle. Data from populations with different migratory directions indicate that birds solve this ambiguity by stopping at the first place where the right inclination is encountered on an inherited return vector.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Animals, Songbirds, Animal Migration, Reproduction, Europe, Magnetic Fields
Divisions:	Faculty of Science and Engineering > School of Environmental Sciences
Depositing User:	Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited:	21 Sep 2023 12:18
Last Modified:	21 Sep 2023 12:18
DOI:	10.1126/science.abj4210
Open Access URL:	https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:9471f6fa-bf4e-4e...
Related URLs:	Author Publisher
URI:	https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3172931