Geomagnetic Navigation Behavior in Sea Turtles

海龟的长途迁徙涉及动物王国中一些最非凡的航行壮举。 新孵化的海龟沿着复杂的迁徙路线跨越整个海洋盆地。 年长的海龟经常在觅食区和筑巢地之间旅行，它们之间的距离可能超过1000英里。 这项研究使用行为实验来探索海龟如何引导自己穿越广阔的看似毫无特色的海洋的奥秘。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。 海龟显然能够探测到地球磁场在不同地理区域的细微差异。 其中一组实验研究了小海龟在第一次迁徙时如何利用这些差异作为导航标记。 另一组实验的重点是老年海龟如何学习他们生活的地区的磁性地形，并开发“磁性地图”，这有助于他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助于保护工作，以拯救这些濒危物种-以及其他海洋移民-免于灭绝。 此外，这项工作的结果可能会提供新的指导策略，可以适应人类导航的见解。 最后，这项工作吸引了许多本科生和研究生的兴趣，从而提供了一个很好的机制，教学原则的科学研究，以及给学生直接的，动手的经验，特别关注的物种。

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.