Geomagnetic Imprinting and Natal Homing in Sea Turtles

动物在长途迁徙过程中准确引导自己的能力，让人类既敬畏又羡慕，直到最近，通过全球定位技术，人类才设法与黑头海龟等精英动物航海家的技能相提并论。这些海龟在孵化后离开它们的家乡海滩，在整个海洋盆地迁徙，然后在几年后返回到它们起源的同一沿海地区筑巢。成年海龟如何导航到它们出生的海滩仍然是个谜，但越来越多的证据表明，海龟会在它们出生的海滩上留下独特的地磁特征，然后利用这些信息返回。这项研究将使用多学科方法来研究地磁印迹假说。结果将有助于保护动物，如经历出生归巢的海龟。例如，将海龟重新引入曾经筑巢的地理区域的尝试基本上没有成功，因为在这些地区放生的小海龟很少作为成年海龟返回。更好地了解海龟是如何找到它们的家园海滩的，可能有助于拯救这些濒临灭绝的物种。这些发现还可能揭示新的导航模式，这些模式可以适用于人类和自动驾驶车辆的导航系统。更广泛的影响包括为本科生和研究生提供研究经验，通过北卡罗来纳州自然历史博物馆将研究结果传播到K12课堂，以及为K12教育创建教学网络模块，从而提高科学教育和公众对濒危海龟的认识。这项研究的长期目标是确定海龟和其他长途海洋迁徙动物出生归宿的行为和感觉机制。这项研究将检验地磁印记假说的几个核心预测：(1)行为实验将调查筑巢的成年雌性海龟是否使用其出生区域的独特磁性特征来定位它们的出生海滩；(2)统计分析将被用来确定大陆海岸线上海龟巢穴的空间分布是否像地磁印记假说预测的那样受到地球磁场波动的影响；以及(3)将研究孵化前海龟胚胎的磁取向行为，以确定在发育过程中是否会发生印记。结果和数据将主要在科学期刊上传播；如有可能，适当的数据和元数据文件将在网上补充材料或许多期刊现在支持的服务(如Dryad)中张贴。

The ability of animals to guide themselves unerringly during long-distance migrations has inspired both awe and envy in humans, who only recently, through global positioning technology, managed to equal the skills of elite animal navigators such as loggerhead sea turtles. These turtles leave their home beaches as hatchlings and migrate across entire ocean basins before returning years later to nest in the same coastal area where they originated. How adult turtles navigate to their natal beaches has remained enigmatic, but accumulating evidence suggests that turtles imprint on the unique geomagnetic signature of their natal beach and then use this information to return. The research will investigate the geomagnetic imprinting hypothesis using a multidisciplinary approach. Results will assist efforts to conserve animals such as sea turtles that undergo natal homing. For example, attempts to reintroduce sea turtles to geographic areas where they once nested have been largely unsuccessful because young turtles released in such areas seldom return as adults. An improved understanding of how turtles find their home beaches may help save these jeopardized species from extinction. Findings are also likely to reveal new modes of navigation that can be adapted for guidance systems of humans and autonomous vehicles. Broader impacts include providing research experience for undergraduate and graduate students, broadcasting findings into K12 classrooms through the North Carolina Museum of Natural History, and creating instructional web modules for K12 education, thereby enhancing both science education and public awareness of endangered sea turtles.The long-term objective of the research is to determine the behavioral and sensory mechanisms that underlie natal homing in sea turtles and other long-distance marine migrants. The research will test several central predictions of the geomagnetic imprinting hypothesis: (1) behavioral experiments will investigate whether nesting adult female turtles locate their natal beaches using the unique magnetic signature of their natal area; (2) statistical analyses will be used to determine whether the spatial distribution of turtle nests along continental coastlines is affected by fluctuations in Earth's magnetic field, as the geomagnetic imprinting hypothesis predicts; and (3) magnetic orientation behavior of turtle embryos prior to hatching will be studied to determine if imprinting might occur during development. Results and data will be disseminated primarily in scientific journals; when possible, appropriate data and metadata files will be posted in online supplementary materials or with services such as Dryad, which many journals now support.