Moving About the Environment

Question 1

orientation

Answer 1

organism positions itself in the environment on the basis of external cues

Question 2

navigation

Answer 2

orientation over greater distances; process by which organism uses external cues to determine its position in reference to a destination as it moves about the environment

can involve both map sense + compass sense

Question 3

migration

Answer 3

involves navigation: periodic movement from one location to another

Question 4

homing

Answer 4

involves navigation: the ability to return to a home site or locale after being displaced

Question 5

kinesis

Answer 5

non-directed movement in response to environmental factors such as light, moisture, temperature

ex. pillbugs - lack humidity –> moves in non-linear pattern until 70% humidity

Question 6

taxis

Answer 6

directed movement: the source or a gradient of some factor are detected and the organism moves in the appropriate manner

ex. “questing” tick - seeks host @ top of grass blade –> go against pull of gravity (hairs stimulated)

Question 7

phototaxis

Answer 7

attraction to light

ex. moths

Question 8

chemotaxis

Answer 8

attraction to biological chemical substance

ex. moths - male antennae more alborate to sense female pheromones

Question 9

map sense

Answer 9

made up of memorized landscape “snapshots”

ex. honeybees - sugarwater –> young will get lost, experienced will know way back after disorientation

Question 10

Cues for Orientation, Navigation, & Migration

Answer 10

• landmarks (Tinbergen’s digger wasps, bees, arctic tern migration)
• sun (bees, ants, birds)
• stars (birds (indigo bunting planetarium))
• lunar/tidal (fiddler crabs, grunions)
• magnetic fields (pigeon, sea turtles)
• chemical cues/olfactory (salmon)
• sound cues (ducklings, bats)
• electric cues (electric fishes)
• ocean currents (lobsters, sea turtles)

Question 11

Cues for green sea turtle migration

Answer 11

currents, magnetic fields, chemical cues

Question 12

Pigeons - magnetic field detection & use

Answer 12

back-up orientation mechanism is based on the ability to detect Earth’s magnetic field (ex. during cloudy days)

if distorted, bird will be disoriented (only on cloudy days)

Question 13

arctic tern

Answer 13

longest migration ever recorded, can rest + feed on journey

Question 14

monarch butterflies

Answer 14

2 populations divided by Rocky Mountains, different migration patterns

Question 15

Distinguishing compass and map sense in honeybees

Answer 15

bee get sugar water –> move sugar water 400 mi E –> experienced can head home, novice will follow og pattern

Question 16

Why don’t green sea turtles breed on mainland?

Answer 16

Small islands (Ascension Island) has fewer predators + if it worked for my ancestors, it’ll work for me

Question 17

Desert Ant Cataglyphis (Wehner)

Answer 17

• Sahara desert (simple enough to find causes for behavior)
• Ants (easy to find way home)
• Wehner (develops machine that falsifies sun –> ants follow false sky)
• Follow-up: fitted w/ stilts –> travel 50% further than normal distance & get lost from home (internal system to calculate steps)

Question 18

Lohmann (2004)

Answer 18

coil aparatus to generate magnetic fields to identify navigational cues of green sea turtles

Question 19

Hays (2003)

Answer 19

Adult turtles traveling long distances to remote isalnd targets tend to travel directly to the general vicinity of their island target using geomagnetic cues but may then need local cues (e.g. winds) for final island approach

All downwind placed female sea turtles able to navigate, 2/3 upwind took very long (1 lost)

Question 20

Salmon migration (Hasler)

Answer 20

Adult salmon return to sam tributaries where they hatch 2-3 years before + young salmon stay in gravel nest area for about 2 months –> set up feeding territories for 14 months –> journey downstream into ocean

Hypothesized that odors led salmon home –> young hatchlings reared in holding tanks + expsed to diff smells –> marked + released into wild –> baited streams w/ various chems hatchlings were exposed to –> went home to most familiar smell

Question 21

Clock Shifting Effect on Pigeons (Keeton)

Answer 21

2 groups: some clock-shifted (lights on at midnight + off @ noon)

Both groups released at 6 AM at point west of home –> clock-shifted go North (Sun is East) rather than East

Question 22

Pigeons - magnetic field detection & use

Answer 22

Back-up orientation mechanism: use Earth’s magnetic field when X see Sun

only on cloudy days

Question 23

Mora et al (2004)

Answer 23

Pigeons trained to go on one end of tunnel is magnetic-emitting coils switched on and other when off (follow field)

Question 24

Misinformed leaders for pigeon flocks

Answer 24

Artificial light applied –> leader notices wrong pathing –> readjust
OR
group notices –> readjust + abandon leader

Question 25

Froy, O. et al (2003)

Answer 25

Clock-shifted monarch butterflies behave similarly

Question 26

Indigo bunting

Answer 26

Use star positions to navigate during migration

experiment: raised birds in planetarium

Question 27

Dacke et al (2013)

Answer 27

Dung beetles navigate via stars

able to keep straight lines via sun and moon cues

Question 28

Honeybees: waggle dance

Answer 28

of waggles & orientation of straight run provide info on distance + direction of food

Question 29

Wenner & Wells’ concerns

Answer 29

Workers secrete phermones from Nasanov gland when marking source of nectar/water –> 87% of marked bees observed to follow forager dance + fly off failed to appear at any feeding dish

Question 30

Gould: further tests of “dance language”

Answer 30

Scented sugar water experiment: array of sugar + fresh water –> bees smell like sugar water –> drones follow –> recruits more likely to appear at og spot –> olfactory not a significant factor

Misinforming bees: paint bee’s eyes to limit light –> still find way back to hive –> hard to see while in hive –>dance for recruits + force flashlight (forager X see light) –> recruits prefer to respond to light directly rather than vertical –> go to different food source in respect to vertical

Question 31

Riley et al (2005)

Answer 31

newly recruited bees fly directly from hive to vicinity of food source –> search for exact location using odor + other cues

Question 32

Honeybee swarm in search of new nest site

Answer 32

new queen –> 50% stay, 50% leave to find new nest –> foragers find new nest –> dance on other bees –> others convinced by majority (election)