Magnetoreception and Bird Navigation

The magnetic field of the earth provides birds with navigational information, with birds having two different receptor systems, one for the direction, the other for the intensity of the geomagnetic field. The direction of the geomagnetic field is used as a compass, with the avian magnetic compass being an inclination compass not recording the polarity of the field. The respective directional information is perceived by light-dependent radical pair processes in the eyes, with cryptochrome, a photopigment with the chromophore flavin adenine dinucleotide as receptor molecule. It is transmitted by the optic nerve to the brain, where it is processed by parts of the visual system. The magnetic compass not only serves to orient avian flights but also acts as a reference system for route reversal, calibrating the astronomical compass systems, and in migratory birds, as reference for the innate information on the migratory direction. Magnetic intensity and inclination that show gradients from the poles to the magnetic equator are part of the mechanisms that allow birds to determine their position. Intensity is perceived by receptors based on magnetite, a permanently magnetic material. The effect of a brief, strong magnetic pulse and its duration indicates that superparamagnetic particles are involved. The respective information is transmitted by the ophthalmic branch of the trigeminal nerve to the trigeminal brainstem complex in the brain. Testing birds in magnetic fields of a distant site, i.e., magnetically simulating a displacement, documents that magnetic intensity and inclination are very most important components of the navigational “map” that enables birds to determine their position relative to the goal and thus derive the compass course leading to this goal. Furthermore, certain magnetic conditions act as signposts and elicit specific spontaneous responses.