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Migratory silvereyes treated with a strong magnetic pulse shift their headings by approximately 908, indicating an involvement of magnetite-based receptors in the orientation process. Structures containing superparamagnetic magnetite have been described in the inner skin at the edges of the upper beak of birds, while single-domain magnetite particles are indicated in the nasal cavity. To test which of these structures mediate the pulse effect, we subjected migratory silvereyes, Zosterops l. lateralis, to a strong pulse, and then tested their orientation, while the skin of their upper beak was anaesthetized with a local anaesthetic to temporarily deactivate the magnetite-containing structures there. After the pulse, birds without anaesthesia showed the typical shift, whereas when their beak was anaesthetized, they maintained their original headings. This indicates that the superparamagnetic magnetite-containing structures in the skin of the upper beak are most likely the magnetoreceptors that cause the change in headings observed after pulse treatment.

Previous research has shown that the ability to orient with the use of directional cues from the geomagnetic field is lateralized in three avian species: orientation is possible when the birds are restricted to use of their right eye, but not when they have to use their left eye. This has been interpreted as possible lateralization of the perception mechanisms for magnetic cues in favour of the right eye. Recent discovery of magnetic compass orientation in domestic chicks, a species in which lateralization has been well studied, has made available a model system in which to explore these lateralized processes more fully. Hence we tested chicks monocularly in the same test conditions as used previously to demonstrate the chick's use of a magnetic compass. In a magnetic field with North shifted by 90 degrees, chicks using their right eye oriented according to magnetic cues, whereas chicks using the left eye did not. but continued to prefer the original direction. Analysis of the times taken to respond indicated longer latencies in the chicks using their left eye, suggesting a possible conflict between cues. The different behaviour of the chicks using their left eye might not be a matter of a right eye-left hemisphere specialization for detecting magnetic directions, but of hemispheric specialization for attending to specific types of cues. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Magnetic compass orientation in migratory birds has been shown to be based on radical pair processes and to require light from the short wavelength part of the spectrum up to 565 nm Green. Under dim red light of 645 nm wavelength and 1 mW m(-2) intensity

Experiments with migrating birds on the interaction between magnetic and celestial cues have produced heterogeneous results. A recent study claimed that the magnetic compass in passerine migrants is calibrated by the pattern of polarized light at sunset

Previous studies have shown that a magnetic pulse affected the orientation of passerine migrants for a short period only for about 3 days, the birds' headings were deflected eastward from their migratory direction, followed by a phase of disorientation, with the birds returning to their normal migratory direction after about 10 days. To analyse the processes involved in the fading of hte pulse effect, migratory birds were subjected to a second, identical pulse 16 days after the first pulse, when the effect of that pulse had disappeared. This second pulse affected the birds' behaviour in a different way: it caused an increase in the scatter of the birds' headings for 2 days, after which the birds showed normal migratory oreintation again. These observations are at variance with the hypothesis that the magnettite-based receptor had been fully restored, but als with the hypothesis that the input of this receptor was ignored. They indicate dynamic processes,w hich include changes in the affected receptor, but at the same time cause the birds to weigh and rate the altered input differently. The bearing of these findings on the question of whether single domains or superparamagnetic particles are involved in the magnetite-based receptors is discussed.

Previous experiments have shown that a short, strong magnetic pulse caused migratory birds to change their headings from their normal migratory direction to an easterly direction in both spring and autumn. In order to analyse the nature of this pulse eff

To test the hypothesis that single domain magnetite is involved in magnetoreception, we treated Australian silvereyes Zosterops l. lateralis with a strong, brief pulse designed to alter the magnetization of single domain particles. This pulse was administered in the presence of a 1 mT biasing field, either parallel to the direction of the biasing field (PAR group) or antiparallel (ANTI group). In the case of magnetoreceptors based on freely moving single domain particles, the PAR treatment should have little effect, whereas the ANTI treatment should cause remagnetization of the magnetite particles involved in a receptor and could produce a maximum change in that receptor's output for some receptor configurations. Migratory orientation was used as a criterion to assess the effect on the receptor. Before treatment, both groups preferred their normal northerly migratory direction. Exposure to the biasing field alone did not affect their behavior. Treatment with the pulse in the presence of the biasing field caused both the PAR and the ANTI birds to show an axial preference for the east west axis, with no difference between the two groups. Although these results are in accordance with magnetite-based magnetoreceptors playing a role in migratory orientation, they do not support the hypothesis that single domains in polarity-sensitive receptors are free to move through all solid angles. Possible interpretations, including other arrangements of single domains and superparamagnetic crystals, are discussed.

Migratory Australian Silvereyes were treated with a strong magnetic pulse designed to alter the magnetization of the small magnetite particles that are found in birds heads. Prior to the treatment, the birds preferred the northeasterly migratory directio