Ultraviolet light detection by the homing pigeon

Kreithen, Melvin L.; Eisner, Thomas

doi:10.1038/272347a0

Cited by 98 publications

(41 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…This is consistent with the suggestion that avian spectral sensitivity is quite high in the UV (Kreithen & Eisner 1978;Burkhardt & Maier 1989). Nevertheless, at this stage it would be unwise to claim that UV is somehoẁ special' compared to human-visible wavelengths.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 77%

Ultraviolet cues affect the foraging behaviour of blue tits

Church

Bennett

Cuthill

et al. 1998

Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B

121

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The function of avian ultraviolet (UV) vision is only just beginning to be understood. One plausible hypothesis is that UV vision enhances the foraging ability of birds. To test this, we carried out behavioural experiments using wild-caught blue tits foraging for cabbage moth and winter moth caterpillars on natural and arti¢cial backgrounds. The light environment in our experiments was manipulated using either UVblocking or UV-transmitting ¢lters. We found that the blue tits tended to ¢nd the ¢rst prey item (out of four) more quickly when UV cues were present. This suggests that UV vision o¡ers bene¢ts to birds when searching for cryptic prey, despite the prey and backgrounds re£ecting relatively little UV. Although there was no direct e¡ect of UVon the time taken to ¢nd all four prey items in a trial, search performance in the absence of UV wavelengths tended to increase over the course of an experiment. This may re£ect changes in the search tactics of the birds. To our knowledge, these are the ¢rst data to suggest that birds use UVcues to detect cryptic insect prey, and have implications for our understanding of protective coloration.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 77%

Ultraviolet cues affect the foraging behaviour of blue tits

Church

Bennett

Cuthill

et al. 1998

Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B

121

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“…Maier & Bowmaker 1993;Bowmaker et al 1997;Hart et al 1998) have demonstrated that many passerine birds, including some thrushes (Chen et al 1984), have receptors sensitive to UV light. Diurnal birds may be even more sensitive to UV wavelengths compared to other wavelengths (Kreithen & Eisner 1978;Burkhardt & Maier 1989;Church et al 1998 light as an information channel for birds, which is invisible to humans, needs more behavioural and observational research.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ultraviolet reflection of berries attracts foraging birds. A laboratory study with redwings (Turdus iliacus) and bilberries (Vaccinium myrtillus)

Siitari

Honkavaara

Viitala

1999

Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B

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Unlike humans, birds perceive ultraviolet (UV) light (320^400 nm), a waveband which is known to play a role in avian mate choice. However, less attention has been paid to the role of UV light in avian foraging. Some blue, violet and black berries re£ect UV light. The colour of berries might be an e¡ective advertisement for avian seed dispersers and indicate the stage of fruit ripeness. We conducted an experiment to test how the UV re£ection of berries a¡ects birds' foraging. Redwings were allowed to choose between UV-re£ecting bilberries and rubbed bilberries (UV reduced) in the presence and absence of UV light. We used wild-caught adult and hand-raised juvenile birds to assess possible di¡erences between experienced and naive birds. We found that adult redwings preferred UV-re£ecting berries when UV illumination was present, but when UV illumination was absent, they did not distinguish between the two berry types. Our study therefore shows, for the ¢rst time, that UV wavelengths are used when birds feed on fruit. However, naive birds showed no preferences, suggesting that age and/or learning may a¡ect frugivore preference for UV re£ectance.

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“…Yet, these phenomena may not be entirely distinguishable because: (a) the spectra for light activation reported by Wildner and Criddle (33) includes activation at some wavelengths in visible as well as UV range. width (25,26)]. This amount is at least 1 order of magnitude greater than used here.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 90%

Light Activation of Ribulose Bisphosphate Carboxylase

Daley

Dailey²,

Criddle³

1978

Plant Physiol.

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The development of methods of preparation of long wavelength ultraviolet lUt capable of activating ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase is reported. This preparation was obtained from tobacco (Nicotians tabacum) leaves which had reached about one-half maximum leaf weight. It was prepared at low ionic strength by use of mixed anion and cation exchange resins and buffers containing dimethylsulfoxide. The preparation is greatly enriched in fraction I protein to the point of apparent homogeneity. When assayed in the presence of saturating ribulose bisphosphate and sodium bicarbonate, the rate of carbon fixation is a linear function of long wavelength ultraviolet irradiation in the range of 20,000 to 30,000 ergs per square centimeter per second. Glutathione (5 (a) isolation and characterization of the light activation factor (LAF) (33); (b) the kinetics of the process of light activation (12,13,33,34); (c) the nature of the products of the reaction (13); and (d) the confirmation of the utility of the method of extraction (12). The process of elucidating the parameters of UV light activation of RuBPCase has taken over 10 years. The effect has been successfully reproduced by at least six researchers and this method has already been productively used in further work (13

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Ultraviolet light detection by the homing pigeon

Cited by 98 publications

References 10 publications

Ultraviolet cues affect the foraging behaviour of blue tits

Ultraviolet cues affect the foraging behaviour of blue tits

Ultraviolet reflection of berries attracts foraging birds. A laboratory study with redwings (Turdus iliacus) and bilberries (Vaccinium myrtillus)

Light Activation of Ribulose Bisphosphate Carboxylase

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