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Magnetoreception

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Sensing in Nature

Part of the book series: Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology ((AEMB,volume 739))

Abstract

Animals can use the direction of the magnetic field as a compass and the intensity of the magnetic field as a component of the navigational ‘map’. Two fundamentally different mechanisms of magnetoreception have been discussed: (1) light-dependent reactions in specialized photopigments lead to radical pairs, with the ratio singlet/ triplet depending on the molecule’s alignment with respect to the ambient magnetic field and (2) reactions involving small crystals of magnetite, a specific iron oxide of biogen origin. The first mechanism provides birds and possibly amphibians and insects with compass information; the second, which can theoretically provide animals with information on direction and intensity, appears to mediate intensity information in birds and compass information e.g., in mammals. Little is known about the magnetoreception mechanisms in other animals.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Fachbereich Biowissenschaften, J.W. Goethe-Universitaet, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

    Roswitha Wiltschko & Wolfgang Wiltschko

Authors
  1. Roswitha Wiltschko
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  2. Wolfgang Wiltschko
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Roswitha Wiltschko .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Immunology, Hospital Universitario Central de Asturias, Oviedo, Spain

    Carlos López-Larrea PhD

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© 2012 Landes Bioscience and Springer Science+Business Media

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Wiltschko, R., Wiltschko, W. (2012). Magnetoreception. In: López-Larrea, C. (eds) Sensing in Nature. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, vol 739. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-1704-0_8

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