Question 1

Direction finding and navigation over both long and short distances, using cues in places where visual information is limited or absent, and where cues are constant year round, night and day, will most likely involve use of

Accepted Answer

A)   landmarks.
B)   magnetic cues.
C)   olfactory cues.
D)   polarized light. B

Question 2

A member of a migratory species of bird is displaced to a distant location and then released. If it continues in the same direction in which it had originally been traveling it is displaying use of

Accepted Answer

A)   compass orientation.
B)   magnetoreception.
C)   piloting.
D)   true navigation. A

Question 3

Most first time migrant birds reach their destination without knowing where that goal is located. To do this they may make use of an innate process called vector navigation. Evidence supporting the idea of vector navigation is the finding that

Accepted Answer

A)   cross-bred members of two populations that had very different migratory directions produced offspring that failed to reflect the migratory direction of either parent population.
B)   individual birds held in the laboratory continue to flutter in their characteristic migratory direction even after their counterparts in the wild have completed their migratory journey.
C)   individual birds held in the laboratory flutter in the direction in which they would be flying if they were free.
D)   individual birds held in the laboratory maintain their original course of direction, even when free-flying members of their population have changed direction. C

Question 4

Because the magnetic compass of birds appears to be an inclination compass, and since most migratory birds inherit a program that tells them to travel in a certain geographical direction for a certain amount of time,

Accepted Answer

A)   migrants from either the north or south hemisphere could use the same migratory program.
B)   migrants from the northern hemisphere must have experience with the magnetic field near the equator to navigate correctly.
C)   migrants that cross the equator can share migratory programs with birds that migrate within a hemisphere.
D)   all of the above.

Question 5

True navigation has been found in

Accepted Answer

A)   mammals, but no other taxonomic groups.
B)   nearly all species.
C)   only a few species.
D)   only a single species.

Question 6

True navigation requires

Accepted Answer

A)   a compass. A map is nice, but not necessary.
B)   a map. A compass is nice, but not necessary.
C)   both a compass and a map.
D)   neither a compass nor a map. Animals that can truly navigate have an appropriate innate program.

Question 7

The aspect of the earth's magnetic field that consists of the angle the line of force makes with the horizon is referred to as the field's

Accepted Answer

A)   declination.
B)   inclination.
C)   intensity.
D)   polarity.

Question 8

Which of the following is likely to distort the electrical field surrounding an electric fish by drawing the current in its direction?

Accepted Answer

A)   a rock
B)   a shoe
C)   another fish
D)   the motion generated by a wave

Question 9

Tinbergen and Krypt (1938) demonstrated that the digger wasp (Philanthus triangulum) relies on landmarks to relocate its nest after a foraging flight by placing a ring of 20 pine cones around the nest opening

Accepted Answer

A)   after the wasp had left the nest to forage but before it returned.
B)   and then removing half of the pine cones while the wasp was away.
C)   and then removing them completely while the wasp was away.
D)   before the wasp left the nest to forage, and then moving it a short distance before it returned.

Question 10

When Ansell's mole rats, a subterranean species, are housed in circular arenas in a laboratory, they reliably and spontaneously build their nests in the southeastern sector of the arena. When the researchers reversed the polarity of the moles' magnetic field by reversing the direction of current flow through a Helmholtz coil, the moles

Accepted Answer

A)   began to build nests in the northwest sector of the arena.
B)   began to build nests throughout the entire area of the arena.
C)   quit building nests entirely.
D)   were unaffected and continued building nests in the southeastern sector.

Question 11

Which of the following species has NOT been found to be sensitive to magnetic fields?

Accepted Answer

A)   bees
B)   homing pigeons
C)   humans
D)   sea turtles

Question 12

Franz and Eleonore Sauer demonstrated that, when placed inside a planetarium so that the nighttime sky could be controlled, sylviid warblers oriented themselves in the proper migratory direction for that time of year by taking their bearings from the

Accepted Answer

A)   moon.
B)   planets.
C)   stars.
D)   sun.

Question 13

If you are thinking, "Go down this road until I get to the house with the white fence, turn right and go that way until I get to the intersection with the convenience store, then turn left and travel to the fifth house on the right," you are getting home by means of

Accepted Answer

A)   a back-up system of navigation.
B)   dead reckoning.
C)   landmark recognition.
D)   path integration.

Question 14

Gustav Kramer was among the first to determine that birds migrating during the day use the sun as a navigational cue by noting that caged starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) oriented in the normal migratory direction

Accepted Answer

A)   as long as the sun was visible.
B)   but only when they were released to fly normally.
C)   unless the "sun" was being produced by a mirror.
D)   when sky was overcast.

Question 15

We now know more details about time-compensated sun orientation.

Accepted Answer

A)   A time compensated sun compass exists in only a few select species.
B)   Even with exposure to only a partial sun arc, many animals develop a sun compass that can be used all day.
C)   The internal clock of birds compensates for the daily variation in the rate of the sun's apparent movement (i.e., faster at sunrise or sunset than at noon) .
D)   The sun compass used by animals is quite robust, and does not interact with the star compass or the magnetic compass.

Question 16

The plane of polarization of sunlight is always

Accepted Answer

A)   at a 45º angle relative to the poles.
B)   centered at the relevant pole.
C)   parallel to the direction in which the light beam is traveling.
D)   perpendicular to the direction in which the light beam is traveling.

Question 17

Goff et al. (1998) performed an experiment in which hatchling loggerhead sea turtles swam into surface waves in tanks for either 15 minutes or for 30 minutes. Their orientation was then tested in still water and in a magnetic field.

Accepted Answer

A)   Hatchlings with no more than 15 minutes of experience swimming into waves in a magnetic field were able to maintain their orientation in still water.
B)   Only those hatchlings with 30 minutes of experience swimming into waves in a magnetic field were able to maintain their orientation in still water.
C)   The experiment demonstrated that either experience with swimming into waves or with the magnetic field was enough to keep them oriented in still water.
D)   The turtles were able to maintain their orientation in still water on the basis of the magnetic field alone, even if they had not had experience swimming into waves.

Question 18

If an animal displays the ability to maintain reference to a goal that it cannot sense directly at the time, regardless of its location, without the use of landmarks, it is displaying

Accepted Answer

A)   compass orientation.
B)   magnetoreception.
C)   piloting.
D)   true navigation.

Question 19

Birds have been placed on an artificial light-dark cycle in a laboratory that initially corresponds to the natural lighting conditions outside; the lights are on from 6:00 a.m. to 6 p.m. The light period is then shifted so that the lights come on at 9:00 a.m. In this case, if the biological clock is used to compensate for the movement of the sun, orientation in these subjects should be off by

Accepted Answer

A)   15º
B)   30º
C)   45º
D)   90º

Question 20

On average, the sun appears to move how many degrees per hour across the sky?

Accepted Answer

A)   5
B)   10
C)   15
D)   30

Exam 10: Mechanisms of Orientation and Behavior