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Night-vision brain area in migratory songbirds.


ABSTRACT: Twice each year, millions of night-migratory songbirds migrate thousands of kilometers. To find their way, they must process and integrate spatiotemporal information from a variety of cues including the Earth's magnetic field and the night-time starry sky. By using sensory-driven gene expression, we discovered that night-migratory songbirds possess a tight cluster of brain regions highly active only during night vision. This cluster, here named "cluster N," is located at the dorsal surface of the brain and is adjacent to a known visual pathway. In contrast, neuronal activation of cluster N was not increased in nonmigratory birds during the night, and it disappeared in migrants when both eyes were covered. We suggest that in night-migratory songbirds cluster N is involved in enhanced night vision, and that it could be integrating vision-mediated magnetic and/or star compass information for night-time navigation. Our findings thus represent an anatomical and functional demonstration of a specific night-vision brain area.

SUBMITTER: Mouritsen H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1149410 | biostudies-literature | 2005 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Night-vision brain area in migratory songbirds.

Mouritsen Henrik H   Feenders Gesa G   Liedvogel Miriam M   Wada Kazuhiro K   Jarvis Erich D ED  

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 20050531 23


Twice each year, millions of night-migratory songbirds migrate thousands of kilometers. To find their way, they must process and integrate spatiotemporal information from a variety of cues including the Earth's magnetic field and the night-time starry sky. By using sensory-driven gene expression, we discovered that night-migratory songbirds possess a tight cluster of brain regions highly active only during night vision. This cluster, here named "cluster N," is located at the dorsal surface of th  ...[more]

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