Evidence map›Paper›PMID 34476571›Full record

ReviewJournal of comparative physiology. A, Neuroethology, sensory, neural, and behavioral physiology2022

The discovery of the use of magnetic navigational information.

Roswitha Wiltschko, Wolfgang Wiltschko

Abstract readReview
In one paragraph

Review in Journal of comparative physiology. A, Neuroethology, sensory, neural, and behavioral physiology, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
7citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

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.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

7 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Geometrical preference of anchoring sites in the unicellular organismProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026
    Article
  2. Article
  3. A perspective on neuroethology: what the past teaches us about the future of neuroethology.Journal of comparative physiology. A, Neuroethology, sensory, neural, and behavioral physiology · 2024
    Review
  4. Uncovering loggerhead (Journal of the Royal Society, Interface · 2023
    Article
  5. Review
  6. Review
  7. Magnetosensation.Journal of comparative physiology. A, Neuroethology, sensory, neural, and behavioral physiology · 2022
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

2 authors.

Roswitha WiltschkoFachbereich Biowissenschaften, Goethe-Universität Frankfurt, Max-von-Laue-Straße 13, 60438, Frankfurt am Main, Germany. wiltschko@bio.uni-frankfurt.de.ORCID 0000-0003-1321-4473
Wolfgang WiltschkoFachbereich Biowissenschaften, Goethe-Universität Frankfurt, Max-von-Laue-Straße 13, 60438, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The magnetic field of the Earth provides animals with various kinds of information. Its use as a compass was discovered in the mid-1960s in birds, when it was first met with considerable skepticism, because it initially proved difficult to obtain evidence for magnetic sensitivity by conditioning experiments. Meanwhile, a magnetic compass was found to be widespread. It has now been demonstrated in members of all vertebrate classes, in mollusks and several arthropod species, in crustaceans as well as in insects. The use of the geomagnetic field as a 'map' for determining position, although already considered in the nineteenth century, was demonstrated by magnetically simulating displacements only after 2000, namely when animals, tested in the magnetic field of a distant site, responded as if they were physically displaced to that site and compensated for the displacement. Another use of the magnetic field is that as a 'sign post' or trigger: specific magnetic conditions elicit spontaneous responses that are helpful when animals reach the regions where these magnetic characteristics occur. Altogether, the geomagnetic field is a widely used valuable source of navigational information for mobile animals.

Indexed as

Animal MigrationOrientationAnimalsBirdsMagnetic FieldsMagneticsGeomagnetic fieldMagnetic compassMagnetic conditioningMagnetic mapSign posts

Identifiers

PMID34476571
PMCPMC8918449

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.