在中科院知識創(chuàng)新工程重要方向項目“地磁場對生物的影響及其機理”的資助下，中科院動物研究所研究員張樹義(目前任華東師范大學教授),、中科院地質(zhì)與地球物理研究所研究員潘永信和他們共同指導的博士研究生王毅男通過長期研究,，發(fā)現(xiàn)實驗動物山蝠(Nyctalus plancyi)可以利用地球磁場定向。與此同時,，美國學者利用小型飛機在空中跟蹤實驗與對照蝙蝠的辦法也發(fā)現(xiàn)了蝙蝠利用地球磁場導航,。2006年，《自然》雜志報道了美國研究團隊的工作,，但該項研究未能闡明蝙蝠是利用哪一種磁羅盤,；而張樹義等人在研究中開展了更進一步的實驗，并發(fā)現(xiàn)山蝠利用磁極羅盤進行定向,，研究成果發(fā)表在最新一期《英國皇家學會會刊》(Proceedings of the Royal Society B)上,。
地球上的許多動物都可以利用地球磁場來進行定向和遷徙時的導航，這方面的研究也一直吸引著人們的廣泛關(guān)注,。不同動物利用地球磁場信息的策略有很大差別：有些動物利用的是磁極羅盤,，即區(qū)分地球磁場的南北極；而有些動物則是區(qū)分磁傾角的指向,，從而分辨出地球磁場的磁赤道和磁極方向,。蝙蝠是唯一一類可以真正飛行的哺乳動物，而且相當多的蝙蝠種類可以長距離遷徙,，有些種類的遷徙距離可達上千公里,。蝙蝠通常用回聲定位探測食物和周圍的世界，但回聲定位的有效距離通常僅為幾十米,，而有些蝙蝠遷徙時距離地面的高度可達數(shù)公里,，因此它們在飛行過程中的導航策略一直是個迷。（動物所）
原始出處:
Proceedings of the Royal Society B
Yinan Wang1, 2, 5, Yongxin Pan2, Stuart Parsons3, Michael Walker3, Shuyi Zhang4
1 Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100080, China
2 Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China
3 School of Biological Sciences, University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland, New Zealand
4 School of Life Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China
5 Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100039, China
摘要
Bats have been shown to use information from the Earth's magnetic field during orientation. However, the mechanism underlying this ability remains unknown. In this study we investigated whether bats possess a polarity- or inclination-based compass that could be used in orientation. We monitored the hanging position of adult Nyctalus plancyi in the laboratory in the presence of an induced magnetic field of twice Earth-strength. When under the influence of a normally aligned induced field the bats showed a significant preference for hanging at the northern end of their roosting basket. When the vertical component of the field was reversed, the bats remained at the northern end of the basket. However, when the horizontal component of the field was reversed, the bats changed their positions and hung at the southern end of the basket. Based on these results, we conclude that N. plancyi, unlike all other non-mammalian vertebrates tested to date, uses a polarity-based compass during orientation in the roost, and that the same compass is also likely to underlie bats' long-distance navigation abilities.
Keywords
Nyctalus plancyi, orientation, polarity compass, hanging position
