Landscape heterogeneity and novelty drive avian oscillatory flight behaviour during forebrain Wulst-dependent visual...

Area of Science:

• Animal behavior
• Neuroscience
• Avian navigation

Background:

• Homing pigeons use visual landmarks for navigation, processed by the forebrain's visual Wulst and hippocampus.
• Lesions to these areas cause persistent oscillatory flight, unlike the decreasing oscillations seen in intact pigeons with experience.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate if landscape heterogeneity and familiarity influence oscillatory flight behavior in pigeons.
• To determine the role of the visual Wulst in adapting flight behavior to landscape characteristics.

Main Methods:

• Comparing flight behavior (oscillations) of intact and Wulst-lesioned pigeons over sea (homogeneous) versus land (heterogeneous).
• Assessing flight behavior from familiar and unfamiliar release sites to evaluate landscape familiarity effects.

Main Results:

• Pigeons, regardless of Wulst integrity, showed reduced oscillations over the homogeneous sea landscape.
• Intact pigeons decreased oscillations with increasing landscape familiarity.
• Wulst-lesioned pigeons maintained high oscillations irrespective of familiarity, suggesting impaired learning.

Conclusions:

• Oscillatory flight behavior reflects active visual scanning, crucial for learning novel, heterogeneous landscapes.
• The forebrain visual Wulst plays a critical role in visual map learning and adapting navigation to landscape familiarity.