Migration and Navigation Flashcards

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1
Q

Define migration

A

“The periodic movement of an animal from one region to another region”

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2
Q

What are the 5 traits associated with migration?

A

1) Prolonged movement
2) Straight course of movement
3) Undistracted by usual stimuli
4) Distinct departure and arrival behavior
5) Reallocation of energy in advance of migration

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3
Q

What are the two advantages of migration?

A

1) Increased REPRODUCTIVE success

2) Increased NUTRITIONAL opportunity

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4
Q

What is the most common method of migration? Why?

A

Flying- because it is a lower cost of transport than running, but is more rapid than swimming (a key compromise)

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5
Q

Name four birds and their migration distances:

A
  • Sooty Shearwater (a marine bird): 65,000 km
  • Bar-tailed Godwit: 11,000 km (Ak to NZ)
  • Hummingbird: 1000 km (Gulf of MEX)
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6
Q

What bird migrates over the Himalayas?

A

the Bar Headed Goose

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7
Q

Name two insects that migrate. How far do they fly?

A

1) Monarch Butterfly: 2000-4000 km

2) Dragonflies: Canada to Mexico

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8
Q

How far can a dragonfly fly in a single day? How do we know this?

A

100 mi. Tag them with radio transmitters.

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9
Q

What is one marine mammal that migrates? From where?

A

Grey Whales… Canada to Mexico

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10
Q

What is a marine animal that migrates (stays in saltwater)?

A

Great White Sharks

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11
Q

What is the longest shark migration ever completed? Geography, distance, time

A

Africa to Australia, 20,000 km, 9 months!

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12
Q

What is the order of fuels that mammals generally use during exercise?

A

Use carbohydrates first, then use fats

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13
Q

What is the order of fuels that birds generally use during exercise?

A

Use fats first, then carbohydrates

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14
Q

What kind of fuel do migrants use?

A

Fat

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15
Q

Why do migrants tend to use fat?

A

It is 9x more energy dense than other substances!

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16
Q

What three things does a migrant need to do to use fat for migration?

A

1) Increase caloric intake
2) Store lots of fat!
3) Increase FATTY ACID TRANSPORTERS

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17
Q

What percent of body mass can birds and butterflies carry as fat?

A

50% and 60%

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18
Q

What are two issues with the fat gain for migration?

A

1) Behavioral changes

2) Increased predation risk

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19
Q

What is one migratory bird that doubles its body mass for migration?

A

Semi-palmated Sandpiper

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20
Q

Do birds just eat all kinds of fat, or do they increase specific fatty acids? Name two key ones

A

They increase specific fatty acids (EPA and DHA)

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21
Q

What bird migrates from Swedein to Sub-Saharan Africa? How long is that, and how long does it take? What is the average speed?

A

Great Snipe… 9,000 km in 2 days (average speed of 60 m.p.h.)

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22
Q

If fuel gets low toward the end of the journey, what do birds and fish do?

A

They use up muscles that are not key to travel (e.g. white muscle in the fish). The fish may even CATABOLIZE its gut

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23
Q

What is the order of energy sources that salmon use on their migration?

A

Lipids, then proteins, then glycogen/carbohydrates

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24
Q

What special adaptation allows the Bar-Headed Goose to migrate over Mt. Everest?

A

Their hemoglobin has high affinity for o2

25
Q

What coordinates behavior and physiology in migrating animals?

A

Changes in the ENDOCRINE SYSTEM

26
Q

Name a change in the endocrine system in migrating insects

A

JUVENILE HORMONE stimulates flight at intermediate levels, suppresses migration at high levels

27
Q

Name a change in the endocrine system in migrating fish

A
THYROID HORMONE (T4) increases swimming activity and lipid mobilization. 
CORTISOL stimulates lipid metabolism and salt water tolerance
28
Q

Name a change in the endocrine system in migrating birds

A
THYROID HORMONE (T4) increases fattening and restlessness
CORTICOSTERONE regulates metabolism
29
Q

What happens in fish that migrate from freshwater to seawater?

A

CORTISOL levels rise, down-regulate PROTON PUMP (reduce Na uptake), upregulate CHLORIDE CELLS (pump Na into surrounding seawater).

30
Q

What happens in fish that migrate from seawater to freshwater?

A

PROLACTIN levels increase. This decreases the number of CHLORIDE CELLS and increases Na/H (PROTON) PUMP activity. Also, PARACELLULAR GAPS CLOSE.

31
Q

Name two changes that occur when migratory birds stop to feed? Why do these occur?

A

1) Larger crops
2) 20% increase in the length of the intestine

Happens b/c of a change in diet

32
Q

When birds do not stop, what do we see?

A

Atrophy of the G.I. system

33
Q

Where do freshwater eels migrate to/from? How far is this? What is remarkable acout these eels? What happens to their gut during the migration?

A

England to Bermuda (3500 km)
They have a low metabolic rate (only 2x resting when swimming), so transport cost is only 20% of what would be expected. Gut atrophies during migration (lose 20% of body weight)

34
Q

What characteristic do we find in salmon that complete their migration?

A

Stronger cardiovascular systems!

- Larger hearts, better coronary blood supply, higher Vo2 max, more Beta receptors in heart

35
Q

How far and how much elevation gain do salmon achieve?

A

1000 km, 1000m

36
Q

Why is a V-Shape the best energetic flight formation?

A

It allows the birds to capture the UPWASH from one another’s wings

37
Q

As we get further out in the V, birds become positioned further _______ from one another

A

back

38
Q

What three things does animal navigation involve?

A

1) sensory integration
2) motor control
3) learning and memory

39
Q

What are the five main navigational strategies that animals employ?

A

1) Trail following
2) Piloting
3) Path Integration
4) Compass Navigation
5) Map and Compass Navigation

40
Q

What are the four methods of compass navigation?

A

a) Sun compass
b) polarized light compass
c) Star compass
d) Magnetic compass

41
Q

What are two ways that animals can follow a trail?

A

Visually or olfactory

42
Q

How do you describe piloting?

A

Animals follow a discontinuous series of learned landmarks that they use to determine where they are with respect to their destination

43
Q

How does path integration work?

A

Animals keep track of past directions and distances traveled, and then integrate this information to determine how to get back to where they started

44
Q

What is one animal that uses path integration? How can we prove this?

A

Ants! 1) see how they reorient after facing a barrier 2) attach stilts to their legs or make them shorter and see that it changes the distance that they end up traveling!

45
Q

What is one insect that uses a sun compass? What it its movement called, and describe it

A

Bees
They do a BEE DANCE, where they fly in two loops with a squiggly line in the middle pointing at the pollen. The other bees note the angle between the line and the sun.

46
Q

What is one bird that uses a sun compass? How can we test this experimentally?

A

Homing Pigeons!

We can test this by setting their biological clock off by keeping them inside, then releasing them.

47
Q

What are two animals that use a polarized light compass? How does this work?

A

Birds and bees
Electromagnetic light that reflects off of particles in the atmosphere becomes polarized at a certain orientation. As the sun moves in the sky, the direction of this polarization changes.

48
Q

Name two animals that use star compasses

A

Birds that migrate at night and Dung Beetles

49
Q

Name a bird that migrates at night. Why would it want to migrate at night?

A

Indigo Bunting

Reduced Predation

50
Q

How do birds navigate using the night sky? How can we test this?

A

Birds learn a “star map” around the north star. We can test this by putting them in a planetarium.

51
Q

What do dung beetles recognize in the night sky? How can we test this?

A

the Milky Way

We can test by putting small caps on their heads.

52
Q

Name four animals that use magnetic fields to navigate. How can we test this?

A

Bees, birds, butterflies and turtles
We can test this by causing magnetic disruptions (with devices attached to them, or with geological formations e.g. iron)

53
Q

What are two ways to use a magnetic field to navigate?

A

1) Detect north-south polarity

2) Detect “dip angle” of lines relative to Earth’s surface

54
Q

What two kinds of compass does the Monarch butterfly employ on its migration?

A

Sun Compass and Magnetic Compass

55
Q

What protein is crucial for sensing a magnetic field? Where is it located? What sort of light can it sense?

A

CRYPTOCHROME (CRY1, CRY2)

Located in the ganglion cells of the retina

Blue light

56
Q

What are the two locations where monarchs have light sensors?

A

Eyes and antennae

57
Q

What else is cryptochrome important for?

A

Producing circadian rhythms (in both plants and animals)

58
Q

Is human cryptochrome (CRY2) sensitive to magnetic fields? Do humans sense magnetic fields?

A

Yes. Don’t know.

59
Q

Do humans wander in circles if we don’t have a visual reference point?

A

Yes