| Records |
| Author |
Dacke, M.; Baird, E.; Byrne, M.; Scholtz, C.H.; Warrant, E.J. |
| Title |
Dung beetles use the Milky Way for orientation |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2013 |
Publication |
Current Biology : CB |
Abbreviated Journal |
Curr Biol |
| Volume |
23 |
Issue |
4 |
Pages |
298-300 |
| Keywords |
Animals; Beetles/*physiology; *Behavior, Animal; Cues; Feces; *Galaxies; Locomotion; Moon; Motor Activity; Orientation/*physiology; *Stars, Celestial; Vision, Ocular/physiology; Milky Way; insects |
| Abstract |
When the moon is absent from the night sky, stars remain as celestial visual cues. Nonetheless, only birds, seals, and humans are known to use stars for orientation. African ball-rolling dung beetles exploit the sun, the moon, and the celestial polarization pattern to move along straight paths, away from the intense competition at the dung pile. Even on clear moonless nights, many beetles still manage to orientate along straight paths. This led us to hypothesize that dung beetles exploit the starry sky for orientation, a feat that has, to our knowledge, never been demonstrated in an insect. Here, we show that dung beetles transport their dung balls along straight paths under a starlit sky but lose this ability under overcast conditions. In a planetarium, the beetles orientate equally well when rolling under a full starlit sky as when only the Milky Way is present. The use of this bidirectional celestial cue for orientation has been proposed for vertebrates, spiders, and insects, but never proven. This finding represents the first convincing demonstration for the use of the starry sky for orientation in insects and provides the first documented use of the Milky Way for orientation in the animal kingdom. |
| Address |
Department of Biology, Lund University, 223 62 Lund, Sweden. marie.dacke@biol.lu.se |
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English |
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Edition |
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| ISSN |
0960-9822 |
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| Notes |
PMID:23352694 |
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no |
Call Number  |
IDA @ john @ |
Serial |
116 |
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| Author |
Narendra, A.; Reid, S.F.; Raderschall, C.A. |
| Title |
Navigational efficiency of nocturnal Myrmecia ants suffers at low light levels |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2013 |
Publication |
PloS one |
Abbreviated Journal |
PLoS One |
| Volume |
8 |
Issue |
3 |
Pages |
e58801 |
| Keywords |
Adaptation, Biological/*physiology; Animals; Ants/*physiology; Australian Capital Territory; *Cues; Geographic Information Systems; Homing Behavior/*physiology; *Light; Locomotion/*physiology; Orientation/*physiology; insects |
| Abstract |
Insects face the challenge of navigating to specific goals in both bright sun-lit and dim-lit environments. Both diurnal and nocturnal insects use quite similar navigation strategies. This is despite the signal-to-noise ratio of the navigational cues being poor at low light conditions. To better understand the evolution of nocturnal life, we investigated the navigational efficiency of a nocturnal ant, Myrmecia pyriformis, at different light levels. Workers of M. pyriformis leave the nest individually in a narrow light-window in the evening twilight to forage on nest-specific Eucalyptus trees. The majority of foragers return to the nest in the morning twilight, while few attempt to return to the nest throughout the night. We found that as light levels dropped, ants paused for longer, walked more slowly, the success in finding the nest reduced and their paths became less straight. We found that in both bright and dark conditions ants relied predominantly on visual landmark information for navigation and that landmark guidance became less reliable at low light conditions. It is perhaps due to the poor navigational efficiency at low light levels that the majority of foragers restrict navigational tasks to the twilight periods, where sufficient navigational information is still available. |
| Address |
ARC Centre of Excellence in Vision Science, Research School of Biology, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia. ajay.narendra@anu.edu.au |
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English |
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| ISSN |
1932-6203 |
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| Notes |
PMID:23484052; PMCID:PMC3590162 |
Approved |
no |
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IDA @ john @ |
Serial |
117 |
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| Author |
Collison, F.M.; Poe, K. |
| Title |
“Astronomical Tourism”: The Astronomy and Dark Sky Program at Bryce Canyon National Park |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2013 |
Publication |
Tourism Management Perspectives |
Abbreviated Journal |
Tourism Management Perspectives |
| Volume |
7 |
Issue |
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Pages |
1-15 |
| Keywords |
Astronomy-related tourism; National parks; Night sky darkness; astrotourism; dark skies |
| Abstract |
Astronomical tourism represents a less-studied segment of sustainable tourism, where a dark night sky is the underlying resource. This article evaluates an astronomical tourism program, in this case at a national park with dark skies for observing. Bryce Canyon National Park (BCNP) in the southwestern United States has a well-developed astronomy program to serve visitors. The program consists of solar viewing during the day, multimedia evening programs, and night-time star gazing with telescopes. Depending on the specific measure used, it appears that up to 10% of park visitors may be involved with the formal Astronomy and Dark Sky Program and/or more informal astronomy activities. BCNP appears well positioned to take advantage of the dark sky attributes of the park and to educate visitors about the importance of maintaining and/or increasing the darkness of night skies. Potential future developments in the program may serve to further increase the number of visitors to BCNP. |
| Address |
School of Travel Industry Management, 1901 Ruby Lane, Liberty, MO 64068; collison(at)hawaii.edu |
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2211-9736 |
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Approved |
no |
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IDA @ john @ |
Serial |
128 |
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| Author |
Stevens, R.G.; Brainard, G.C.; Blask, D.E.; Lockley, S.W.; Motta, M.E. |
| Title |
Adverse health effects of nighttime lighting: comments on American Medical Association policy statement |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2013 |
Publication |
American Journal of Preventive Medicine |
Abbreviated Journal |
Am J Prev Med |
| Volume |
45 |
Issue |
3 |
Pages |
343-346 |
| Keywords |
American Medical Association; Cell Cycle/physiology; Circadian Rhythm/*physiology; DNA Damage/physiology; *Health Policy; Humans; Lighting/*adverse effects; United States |
| Abstract |
The American Medical Association House of Delegates in June of 2012 adopted a policy statement on nighttime lighting and human health. This major policy statement summarizes the scientific evidence that nighttime electric light can disrupt circadian rhythms in humans and documents the rapidly advancing understanding from basic science of how disruption of circadian rhythmicity affects aspects of physiology with direct links to human health, such as cell cycle regulation, DNA damage response, and metabolism. The human evidence is also accumulating, with the strongest epidemiologic support for a link of circadian disruption from light at night to breast cancer. There are practical implications of the basic and epidemiologic science in the form of advancing lighting technologies that better accommodate human circadian rhythmicity. |
| Address |
University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington, Connecticut 06030-6325, USA. bugs@uchc.edu |
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English |
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Edition |
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0749-3797 |
ISBN |
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| Notes |
PMID:23953362 |
Approved |
no |
| Call Number |
IDA @ john @ |
Serial |
130 |
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| Author |
Wood, B.; Rea, M.S.; Plitnick, B.; Figueiro, M.G. |
| Title |
Light level and duration of exposure determine the impact of self-luminous tablets on melatonin suppression |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2013 |
Publication |
Applied Ergonomics |
Abbreviated Journal |
Appl Ergon |
| Volume |
44 |
Issue |
2 |
Pages |
237-240 |
| Keywords |
Adolescent; *Computers, Handheld; Female; Humans; Light/*adverse effects; Male; Melatonin/*biosynthesis; Photoperiod; Saliva/*metabolism; Sleep/radiation effects; Time Factors; Young Adult; melatonin |
| Abstract |
Exposure to light from self-luminous displays may be linked to increased risk for sleep disorders because these devices emit optical radiation at short wavelengths, close to the peak sensitivity of melatonin suppression. Thirteen participants experienced three experimental conditions in a within-subjects design to investigate the impact of self-luminous tablet displays on nocturnal melatonin suppression: 1) tablets-only set to the highest brightness, 2) tablets viewed through clear-lens goggles equipped with blue light-emitting diodes that provided 40 lux of 470-nm light at the cornea, and 3) tablets viewed through orange-tinted glasses (dark control; optical radiation <525 nm approximately 0). Melatonin suppressions after 1-h and 2-h exposures to tablets viewed with the blue light were significantly greater than zero. Suppression levels after 1-h exposure to the tablets-only were not statistically different than zero; however, this difference reached significance after 2 h. Based on these results, display manufacturers can determine how their products will affect melatonin levels and use model predictions to tune the spectral power distribution of self-luminous devices to increase or to decrease stimulation to the circadian system. |
| Address |
Lighting Research Center, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 21 Union Street, Troy, NY 12180, USA. woodb5@rpi.edu |
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English |
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Edition |
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0003-6870 |
ISBN |
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| Notes |
PMID:22850476 |
Approved |
no |
| Call Number |
IDA @ john @ |
Serial |
136 |
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