| Title |
Mathematical analysis of the homing flights of pigeons based on GPS tracks
|
|---|---|
| Published in |
Journal of Comparative Physiology A, October 2016
|
| DOI | 10.1007/s00359-016-1127-7 |
| Pubmed ID | |
| Authors |
Ingo Schiffner, Susanne Denzau, Dennis Gehring, Roswitha Wiltschko |
| Abstract |
To analyse the effect of magnetic and olfactory deprivation on the homing flight of pigeons, we released birds from a familiar site with either their upper beak or their nostrils anaesthetized. The tracks were analysed by time lag embedding to calculate the short-term correlation dimension, a variable that reflects the degrees of freedom and thus the number of factors involved in a system. We found that higher natural fluctuations in the earth's magnetic field characterized by A P-indices of 8 and above caused a reduction of the correlation dimension of the control birds. We thus separated the data into two groups according to whether they were recorded on magnetically quiet days or on days with higher magnetic fluctuations. Anaesthetizing the upper beak had no significant effect. Making pigeons anosmic reduced the correlation dimension on magnetically quiet days, but did not cause any reduction on days with higher fluctuations. Altogether, our data suggest an involvement of magnetic cues and olfactory factors during the homing flight and point to a robust, multi-factorial map. |
X Demographics
The data shown below were collected from the profile of 1 X user who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Australia | 1 | 100% |
Demographic breakdown
| Type | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Members of the public | 1 | 100% |
Mendeley readers
The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 20 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Unknown | 20 | 100% |
Demographic breakdown
| Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Student > Ph. D. Student | 3 | 15% |
| Student > Bachelor | 2 | 10% |
| Student > Postgraduate | 2 | 10% |
| Professor | 2 | 10% |
| Lecturer | 1 | 5% |
| Other | 3 | 15% |
| Unknown | 7 | 35% |
| Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Agricultural and Biological Sciences | 3 | 15% |
| Environmental Science | 2 | 10% |
| Neuroscience | 2 | 10% |
| Psychology | 1 | 5% |
| Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology | 1 | 5% |
| Other | 2 | 10% |
| Unknown | 9 | 45% |
Attention Score in Context
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 1. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 26 September 2017.
All research outputs
#19,221,261
of 23,815,455 outputs
Outputs from Journal of Comparative Physiology A
#1,225
of 1,450 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#242,056
of 318,350 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Journal of Comparative Physiology A
#5
of 9 outputs
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