Numerical tests of magnetoreception models assisted with behavioral experiments on American cockroaches.

ABSTRACT: Many animals display sensitivity to external magnetic field, but it is only in the simplest organisms that the sensing mechanism is understood. Here we report on behavioural experiments where American cockroaches (Periplaneta americana) were subjected to periodically rotated external magnetic fields with a period of 10 min. The insects show increased activity when placed in a periodically rotated Earth-strength field, whereas this effect is diminished in a twelve times stronger periodically rotated field. We analyse established models of magnetoreception, the magnetite model and the radical pair model, in light of this adaptation result. A broad class of magnetite models, based on single-domain particles found in insects and assumption that better alignment of magnetic grains towards the e

SUBMITTER: Lee KS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8190300 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature