Geomagnetic Navigation Behavior in Sea Turtles

海龟的地磁导航行为

• 批准号: 1022005
• 负责人: Kenneth Lohmann
• 金额: $ 50万
• 依托单位: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2010
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2010-09-01 至 2015-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1022005&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Geomagnetic; Navigation; Behavior; Sea; Turtles

The long-distance migrations of sea turtles involve some of the most extraordinary feats of navigation in the animal kingdom. Newly hatched turtles follow complex migratory pathways that span entire ocean basins. Older turtles regularly travel between feeding areas and nesting sites that can be more than a thousand miles apart. This study uses behavioral experiments to investigate the mystery of how sea turtles guide themselves across vast expanses of seemingly featureless ocean.Growing evidence indicates that a sea turtle's navigational prowess depends in part on a sophisticated ability to perceive the Earth's magnetic field. Turtles are evidently able to detect the very slight differences in the Earth's magnetic field that exist in different geographic areas. One set of experiments investigates how young turtles use these differences as navigational markers during their first migration. Another set of experiments focuses on how older turtles learn the magnetic topography of the areas where they live and develop 'magnetic maps', which help them to navigate to specific destinations. An improved understanding of how sea turtles guide themselves during transoceanic migrations will benefit conservation efforts to save these jeopardized species - and other ocean migrants - from extinction. In addition, the results of the work may provide insights into new guidance strategies that can be adapted to human navigation. Finally, the work attracts the interest of many undergraduate and graduate students and thus provides an excellent mechanism for teaching principles of scientific research, as well as giving students direct, hands-on experience with species of special concern.

海龟的长途迁徙涉及动物王国中一些最非凡的航海壮举。 新孵化的海龟遵循跨越整个海洋盆地的复杂迁徙路径。 年长的海龟经常在相距一千多英里的觅食区和筑巢地之间往返。 这项研究利用行为实验来调查海龟如何引导自己穿越看似毫无特色的广阔海洋的奥秘。越来越多的证据表明，海龟的导航能力部分取决于感知地球磁场的复杂能力。 海龟显然能够检测到不同地理区域存在的地球磁场的微小差异。 一组实验研究了幼海龟在第一次迁徙过程中如何利用这些差异作为导航标记。 另一组实验的重点是年长的海龟如何了解它们居住地区的磁性地形并开发“磁力地图”，以帮助它们导航到特定的目的地。 更好地了解海龟在跨洋迁徙过程中如何引导自己，将有利于保护工作，以拯救这些濒临灭绝的物种 - 以及其他海洋移民 - 免遭灭绝。 此外，这项工作的结果可能会为适应人类导航的新制导策略提供见解。 最后，这项工作吸引了许多本科生和研究生的兴趣，从而为科学研究原理的教学提供了良好的机制，并为学生提供了有关特别关注的物种的直接实践经验。