Geomagnetic Imprinting and Natal Homing in Sea Turtles

动物在长途迁徙中准确无误地引导自己的能力，让人类既敬畏又嫉妒，直到最近，人类才通过全球定位技术，设法与红海龟等精英动物导航员的技能相提并论。 这些海龟在孵化时离开它们的家乡海滩，在整个海洋盆地中迁徙，几年后返回，在它们起源的同一沿海地区筑巢。 成年海龟如何导航到它们纳塔尔海滩仍然是个谜，但越来越多的证据表明，海龟会在它们纳塔尔的海滩的独特地磁信号上留下印记，然后利用这些信息返回。 该研究将采用多学科方法调查地磁印迹假说。 研究结果将有助于保护海龟等纳塔尔归巢的动物。 例如，试图将海龟重新引入它们曾经筑巢的地理区域，但基本上没有成功，因为在这些地区释放的小海龟很少成年后返回。 更好地了解海龟如何找到它们的家园海滩可能有助于拯救这些濒临灭绝的物种。 研究结果还可能揭示新的导航模式，可用于人类和自动驾驶汽车的导航系统。 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广播到K12教室，并为K12教育创建教学网络模块，从而加强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移民在纳塔尔归巢的行为和感觉机制。 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龟是否利用其纳塔尔地的独特磁性特征来定位其纳塔尔海滩;（2）将利用统计分析来确定海龟巢沿着大陆海岸线的空间分布是否受到地球磁场波动的影响，如地磁印迹假说所预测的那样;（3）研究海龟胚胎在孵化前的磁性取向行为，以确定在发育过程中是否可能发生印迹。 结果和数据将主要在科学期刊上传播;在可能的情况下，适当的数据和元数据文件将张贴在在线补充材料中，或通过许多期刊现在支持的Dryad等服务张贴。

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.