Dataset Information

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]

PMID: 15928090

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Project description:Twilight and low luminance levels are visually challenging environments for the elderly, especially when driving at night. Carotenoid rich diets are known to increase macular pigment optical density (MPOD), which in turn leads to an improvement in visual function. It is not known whether augmenting MPOD can lead to a decrease in vision related night driving difficulties. Additionally, it is unknown if carotenoid supplementation provides additional measurable benefits to one's useful field of view (UFOV) along with a decreased composite crash risk score. The aim of the study was to evaluate changes in night vision function and UFOV in individuals that took carotenoid vitamin supplements for a six-month period compared to a placebo group.MethodsA prospective, randomized, double-blind, six-month trial of a 14 mg zeaxanthin/7 mg lutein-based supplement was carried out. Participants were randomized into active or placebo group (approx 2:1).Resultsn = 33 participants (26 males/7 females) participated with 93% capsule intake compliance in the supplemented group (n = 24) and placebo group (n = 9). MPOD (mean/standard error SE) in the active group increased in the Right eye from 0.35 density units (du)/0.04 SE to 0.41 du/0.05 SE; p < 0.001 and in the Left eye from 0.35 du/0.05 SE to 0.37 du, p > 0.05). The supplemented group showed significant improvements in contrast sensitivity with glare in both eyes with improvements in LogMAR scores of 0.147 and 0.149, respectively (p = 0.02 and 0.01, respectively), monocularly tested glare recovery time improved 2.76 and 2.54 s, respectively, (p = 0.008 and p = 0.02), and we also noted a decreased preferred luminance required to complete visual tasks (p = 0.02 and 0.03). Improvements in UFOV scores of divided attention (p < 0.001) and improved composite crash risk score (p = 0.004) were seen in the supplemented group. The placebo group remained unchanged.ConclusionsThe NVC demonstrates that augmenting MPOD in individuals with difficulty in night vision showed measurable benefits in numerous visual functions that are important for night vision driving in this small sample RCT. Additionally, we observed an improvement in UFOV divided attention test scores and decreased composite risk scores.

Project description:Long-distance migrations influence the physiology, behavior, and fitness of migratory animals throughout their annual cycles, and fundamentally alter their interactions with parasites. Several hypotheses relating migratory behavior to the likelihood of parasitism have entered the literature, making conflicting, testable predictions. To assess how migratory behavior of hosts is associated with parasitism, we compared haemosporidian parasite infections between two closely related populations of a common North American sparrow, the dark-eyed junco, that co-occur in shared habitats during the non-breeding season. One population is sedentary and winters and breeds in the Appalachian Mountains. The other population is migratory and is found in seasonal sympatry with the sedentary population from October through April, but then flies (≥ 900 km) northwards to breed. The populations were sampled in the wild on the shared montane habitat at the beginning of winter and again after confining them in a captive common environment until the spring. We found significantly higher prevalence of haemosporidian parasite infections in the sedentary population. Among infected juncos, we found no difference in parasite densities (parasitemias) between the sedentary and migrant populations and no evidence for winter dormancy of the parasites. Our results suggest that long-distance migration may reduce the prevalence of parasite infections at the population level. Our results are inconsistent with the migratory exposure hypothesis, which posits that long-distance migration increases exposure of hosts to diverse parasites, and with the migratory susceptibility hypothesis, which posits that trade-offs between immune function and migration increase host susceptibility to parasites. However, our results are consistent with the migratory culling hypothesis, which posits that heavily infected animals are less likely to survive long-distance migration, and with the migratory escape hypothesis, which posits that long-distance migration allows host populations to seasonally escape areas of high infection risk.

Dataset Information

Night-vision brain area in migratory songbirds.

Publications

Night-vision brain area in migratory songbirds.

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