CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 617Electromagnetic Fields and Biological EffectsGeomagnetism and Paleomagnetism StudiesAvian ecology and behavior

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 29 of the 30 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

Resonance effects indicate a radical-pair mechanism for avian magnetic compass

Ritz, Thorsten, Thalau, Peter, Phillips, John B., Wiltschko, Roswitha, Wiltschko, Wolfgang·2004·Nature
DOI 10.1038/nature02534
Open this paper in CoChat — free account

Abstract

Migratory birds are known to use the geomagnetic field as a source of compass information. There are two competing hypotheses for the primary process underlying the avian magnetic compass, one involving magnetite, the other a magnetically sensitive chemical reaction. Here we show that oscillating magnetic fields disrupt the magnetic orientation behaviour of migratory birds. Robins were disoriented when exposed to a vertically aligned broadband (0.1-10 MHz) or a single-frequency (7-MHz) field in addition to the geomagnetic field. Moreover, in the 7-MHz oscillating field, this effect depended on the angle between the oscillating and the geomagnetic fields. The birds exhibited seasonally appropriate migratory orientation when the oscillating field was parallel to the geomagnetic field, but were disoriented when it was presented at a 24 degrees or 48 degrees angle. These results are consistent with a resonance effect on singlet-triplet transitions and suggest a magnetic compass based on a radical-pair mechanism.

Overview

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1038/nature02534

Cites

29 of 29 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Verification

Claims the paper makes

This paper’s full text isn’t openly available, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

Citations

Cites

Show all 30 references

Research works printed but not linked: 2

  1. Kirschvink, J. et al. in Sensory Transduction (eds Corey, D. & Roper, S.) 225–240 (Society of General Physiologists 45th Annu. Symp., Rockefeller Univ. Press, New York, 1992)
  2. Beason, R. C. & Semm, P. in Acta XX Congr. Int. Ornithol. (ed. Bell, B. D.) 1813–1819 (New Zealand Ornithol. Congr. Trust Board, Wellington, 1991)

Cited by

Sorted by citations

  • Quantum biology.

    Lambert, N., Chen, Y.-N., Cheng, Y.-C., Li, C.-M., Chen, G.-Y., & Nori, F. (2013) · Nature Physics · doi:10.1038/nphys2474 · Cited by 948

  • The Radical-Pair Mechanism of Magnetoreception

    Hore, P. J., & Mouritsen, H. (2016) · Annual Review of Biophysics · doi:10.1146/annurev-biophys-032116-094545 · Cited by 813

    “Arguably the most convincing evidence in favor of the radical-pair mechanism of magnetoreception comes from reports that migratory birds can be prevented from using their magnetic compass by being subjected to weak time-dependent magnetic fields (42, 92, 164, 165, 187, 203).”
    Background

  • Chiral-Induced Spin Selectivity Effect

    Naaman, R., & Waldeck, D. H. (2012) · The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters · doi:10.1021/jz300793y · Cited by 747

  • Magnetic orientation and magnetoreception in birds and other animals

    Wiltschko, W., & Wiltschko, R. (2005) · Journal of Comparative Physiology A · doi:10.1007/s00359-005-0627-7 · Cited by 587

    “When these fields were presented parallel to the geomagnetic vector, the birds were oriented in their migratory direction, whereas they were disoriented when the same fields were presented at an angle of 24 or 48 to the geomagnetic field (Fig. 10; Ritz et al. 2004; Thalau et al. 2005).”
    BackgroundInfluentialSelf-citation

  • Vibrations, quanta and biology

    Huelga, S. F., & Plenio, M. B. (2013) · Contemporary Physics · doi:10.1080/00405000.2013.829687 · Cited by 568

    “Behavioral experiments with birds such as the European robin to study avian magneto-reception [125] have led to the observation that the process of avian magnetoreception depends on the wavelength of the ambient light [126] and can be disrupted by very weak external oscillating magnetic fields [19, 127].”
    Background

See all 617

Related

Metadata

Authors
Ritz, T., Thalau, P., Phillips, J. B., Wiltschko, R., & Wiltschko, W.
Affiliations
  • University of California, Irvine (US)
  • Goethe University Frankfurt (DE)
  • Virginia Tech (US)
Corresponding author
Ritz, Thorsten
ORCID
Venue
Nature
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Published
2004-05
Volume
429
Issue
6988
Pages
177-180
ISSN
  • 0028-0836 (ISSN-L)
  • 1476-4687
DOI
10.1038/nature02534
OpenAlex
W1999373473
Cited by
617
References
30
Citations by year
2026: 22 · 2025: 30 · 2024: 18 · 2023: 35 · 2022: 24 · 2021: 20 · 2020: 23 · 2019: 27 · 2018: 20 · 2017: 33 · 2016: 37 · 2015: 26 · 2014: 52 · 2013: 27 · 2012: 28
FWCI
18.66
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
Locations
  • Nature (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Biophysics › Electromagnetic Fields and Biological Effects
  • Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Geophysics › Geomagnetism and Paleomagnetism Studies
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Avian ecology and behavior
Keywords
radical pair mechanism, migratory birds, geomagnetic field, alternating magnetic field, magnetite, singlet-triplet transitions, magnetic resonance, robins, magnetic orientation, seasonal migration, disorientation
MeSH terms
Animals, Europe, Geography, Iron, Magnetics, Models, Biological, Oxides, Songbirds, Animal Migration, Ferrosoferric Oxide

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review