ArticleScientific reports2016
Experienced migratory songbirds do not display goal-ward orientation after release following a cross-continental displacement: an automated telemetry study.
Article in Scientific reports, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Directionality range in Emlen funnels.Journal of the Royal Society, Interface · 2026Pooled it
- Machine-learned dimethyl sulphide (DMS) for the North Atlantic (2002-2024) to support movement studies.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Avian migration clocks in a changing world.Journal of comparative physiology. A, Neuroethology, sensory, neural, and behavioral physiology · 2024Review
- Avian navigation: the geomagnetic field provides compass cues but not a bicoordinate "map" plus a brief discussion of the alternative infrasound direction-finding hypothesis.Journal of comparative physiology. A, Neuroethology, sensory, neural, and behavioral physiology · 2024Review
- Prussian blue technique is prone to yield false negative results in magnetoreception research.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- No apparent effect of a magnetic pulse on free-flight behaviour in northern wheatears (Journal of the Royal Society, Interface · 2022Article
- Fusion of wildlife tracking and satellite geomagnetic data for the study of animal migration.Movement ecology · 2021Article
- Flying on their own wings: young and adult cuckoos respond similarly to long-distance displacement during migration.Scientific reports · 2020Article
- No evidence for the use of magnetic declination for migratory navigation in two songbird species.PloS one · 2020Article
- Lidocaine is a nocebo treatment for trigeminally mediated magnetic orientation in birds.Journal of the Royal Society, Interface · 2018Article
- Orientation of native versus translocated juvenile lesser spotted eagles (The Journal of experimental biology · 2017Article
- Magnetic activation in the brain of the migratory northern wheatear (Oenanthe oenanthe).Journal of comparative physiology. A, Neuroethology, sensory, neural, and behavioral physiology · 2017Article
- The avian hippocampus and the hypothetical maps used by navigating migratory birds (with some reflection on compasses and migratory restlessness).Journal of comparative physiology. A, Neuroethology, sensory, neural, and behavioral physiology · 2017Article
- Navigation.Journal of comparative physiology. A, Neuroethology, sensory, neural, and behavioral physiology · 2017Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The ability to navigate implies that animals have the capability to compensate for geographical displacement and return to their initial goal or target. Although some species are capable of adjusting their direction after displacement, the environmental cues used to achieve this remain elusive. Two possible cues are geomagnetic parameters (magnetic map hypothesis) or atmospheric odour-forming gradients (olfactory map hypothesis). In this study, we examined both of these hypotheses by surgically deactivating either the magnetic or olfactory sensory systems in experienced white-throated sparrows (Zonotrichia albicollis) captured in southern Ontario, Canada, during spring migration. Treated, sham-treated, and intact birds were then displaced 2,200 km west to Saskatchewan, Canada. Tracking their initial post-displacement migration using an array of automated VHF receiving towers, we found no evidence in any of the groups for compensatory directional response towards their expected breeding grounds. Our results suggest that white-throated sparrows may fall back to a simple constant-vector orientation strategy instead of performing true navigation after they have been geographically displaced to an unfamiliar area during spring migration. Such a basic strategy may be more common than currently thought in experienced migratory birds and its occurrence could be determined by habitat preferences or range size.
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