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The Ecology of Polarisation Vision in Birds

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Polarized Light and Polarization Vision in Animal Sciences

Part of the book series: Springer Series in Vision Research ((SSVR,volume 2))

Abstract

Birds have evolved a mobile lifestyle in which vision is of major importance when controlling movements, avoiding predators, finding food and selecting mates. Birds have extraordinary colour vision and have been suggested to perceive the linear polarisation of light. Behavioural experiments support this idea, but still the exact physiological mechanism involved is not known. The twilight period, when the sun is near the horizon at sunrise and sunset, is of crucial importance for migrating birds. At this time millions of songbirds initiate migration when the degree of skylight polarisation is the highest and all compass cues are visible in a short range of time. The biological compasses are based on information from the stars, the sun and the related pattern of skylight polarisation, as well as the geomagnetic field, and may be recalibrated relative to each other. The celestial polarisation pattern near the horizon has been shown to be used in the recalibration of the magnetic compass, but conflicting results have been obtained in experiments with different bird species. For the future we should understand the physiological mechanisms of avian polarisation vision and investigate the interrelationship and calibrations between the different compasses, including the one based on the pattern of skylight polarisation. A conditioning paradigm may be fruitful, but the risk of introducing optical artefacts needs to be minimised in behavioural experiments, as well as in cage experiments with migratory birds.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, Centre for Animal Movement Research, Lund University, Ecology Building, 223 62, Lund, Sweden

    Susanne Åkesson

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  1. Susanne Åkesson
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Correspondence to Susanne Åkesson .

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  1. Environmental Optics Laboratory, Dept. Biological Physics, Eötvös University, Budapest, Hungary

    Gábor Horváth

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Åkesson, S. (2014). The Ecology of Polarisation Vision in Birds. In: Horváth, G. (eds) Polarized Light and Polarization Vision in Animal Sciences. Springer Series in Vision Research, vol 2. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-54718-8_12

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