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Advisor(s)
Abstract(s)
Although navigation is common in many animals,
only a few perform true navigation, meaning that
they have the ability to return to a given place by relying on
indirect cues obtained at the release site (i.e., by relying on
information from a ‘‘map and compass’’ mechanism). The
common intertidal fish, Lipophrys pholis, is thought to have
homing abilities through a mechanism that primarily makes
use of familiar landmarks (i.e., piloting). Anecdotal reports
that individuals return to their home pools after release at
unfamiliar sites suggest that L. pholis might use cues collected
at the release site to find their way back (i.e., they
might use map and compass information). Using a completely
artificial setup, we tested the homing abilities of L.
pholis as a function of age, sex, and familiarity with the
release site. The findings showed that motivation for
homing is present only in the adult phase and is independent
of sex and/or familiarity with the release site. Moreover,
adults released at a completely unfamiliar place
oriented themselves in a direction roughly similar to that of
their home pools. The fact that L. pholis were tested in a
complete artificial environment means that hydrodynamic
cues can be excluded as playing a role in this process and
restricts the candidate options (e.g., magnetic cues). The
ability to perform navigation based on a ‘‘map and compass’’
mechanism raises many interesting questions about
the learning process, once these individuals have restricted
home ranges during their lives. In vertebrate navigation,
the cues used during the navigation process are a question
of debate, and L. pholis offers an outstanding model to test
hypotheses and ultimately provide answers.
Description
Keywords
True navigation Path integration Landmarks Navigational maps
Citation
Animal Cognition, 15 (6), 1173-1181