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Conditioning analysis of magnetoreception in honeybees
Author(s) -
Walker Michael M.,
Bitterman M. E.
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
bioelectromagnetics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.435
H-Index - 81
eISSN - 1521-186X
pISSN - 0197-8462
DOI - 10.1002/bem.2250100305
Subject(s) - magnetoreception , neuroscience , magnetic field , biology , physics , earth's magnetic field , quantum mechanics
A central problem in the study of magnetic sensitivity in animals has been the lack of behavioral techniques sufficiently powerful for the systematic psychophysical work required for an understanding of magnetosensory capacity and of the transduction mechanism. In recent experiments, free‐flying honeybees have been conditioned to discriminate the presence and absence of localized magnetic dipole anomalies superimposed on the uniform background field of the earth. The results obtained thus far suggest that movement is necessary for conditioned responding to magnetic field stimuli and support the hypothesis that magnetic field transduction is based on single‐domain particles of magnetite found in the anterodorsal abdomen of honeybees.