EEB Dissertation Defense: Eric R. Gulson-Castillo, EEB Ph.D. Student

Preview: Magnetoreception, or the ability to detect magnetic fields and use them for orientation and navigation, is a mysterious sensory system because its mechanistic basis remains poorly understood for most organisms. In birds, magnetoreception is critical for the success of long-distance migration. I investigate the evolution of the magnetoreceptive sensory system through the lens of comparative biology by studying bird families that may have evolved seasonal migration independently. My experiments test for behavioral evidence of magnetoreception in three families and for the shared activation of a brain region thought to be important for magnetoreception. I further investigate the use of magnetoreception at a macroecological scale, where I test for the impacts of space weather-induced geomagnetic disturbances on radar-detected bird migration.