Resonance effects indicate a radical-pair mechanism for avian magnetic compass

Thorsten Ritz (), Peter Thalau, John B. Phillips, Roswitha Wiltschko and Wolfgang Wiltschko
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Thorsten Ritz: University of California
Peter Thalau: Zoologisches Institut, Fachbereich Biologie und Informatik, J.W. Goethe-Universität
John B. Phillips: Virginia Tech
Roswitha Wiltschko: Zoologisches Institut, Fachbereich Biologie und Informatik, J.W. Goethe-Universität
Wolfgang Wiltschko: Zoologisches Institut, Fachbereich Biologie und Informatik, J.W. Goethe-Universität

Nature, 2004, vol. 429, issue 6988, 177-180

Abstract: Abstract Migratory birds are known to use the geomagnetic field as a source of compass information1,2. There are two competing hypotheses for the primary process underlying the avian magnetic compass, one involving magnetite3,4,5, the other a magnetically sensitive chemical reaction6,7,8. Here we show that oscillating magnetic fields disrupt the magnetic orientation behaviour of migratory birds. Robins were disoriented when exposed to a vertically aligned broadband (0.1–10 MHz) or a single-frequency (7-MHz) field in addition to the geomagnetic field. Moreover, in the 7-MHz oscillating field, this effect depended on the angle between the oscillating and the geomagnetic fields. The birds exhibited seasonally appropriate migratory orientation when the oscillating field was parallel to the geomagnetic field, but were disoriented when it was presented at a 24° or 48° angle. These results are consistent with a resonance effect on singlet–triplet transitions and suggest a magnetic compass based on a radical-pair mechanism7,8.

Date: 2004
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DOI: 10.1038/nature02534

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