题目：Navigation in Homing Pigeons

报告人：Roswitha Wiltschko, Ph.D（Johann Wolfgang Goethe-University Frankfurt）

时间：2016年05月17日 星期二 14:30-16:00

地点： R1113, Wangkezhen Building, PKU

Pigeon navigation is a two-step-process: in the first step, birds determine the home direction as a compass course; in the second step, they use a compass to locate this course and transfer it into a flying direction. Pigeons have two compass mechanisms at their disposal: a magnetic compass and a sun compass. For determining the direction to home, experience pigeons use information obtained at the release site: they are assumed to compare the scalar values of environmental gradients with the home values and interpret the differences with the help of their navigational map. Young bird that have not yet established a map use information obtain during the outward journey, recording the net direction of displacement with the help of a compass mechanism. They explore their home area, thus obtaining the information to establish their navigational map.

邀请人：Dr. Yi Rao and Dr. Can Xie