Document Detail


Vision and visual navigation in nocturnal insects.
MedLine Citation:
PMID:  20822443     Owner:  NLM     Status:  MEDLINE    
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
With their highly sensitive visual systems, nocturnal insects have evolved a remarkable capacity to discriminate colors, orient themselves using faint celestial cues, fly unimpeded through a complicated habitat, and navigate to and from a nest using learned visual landmarks. Even though the compound eyes of nocturnal insects are significantly more sensitive to light than those of their closely related diurnal relatives, their photoreceptors absorb photons at very low rates in dim light, even during demanding nocturnal visual tasks. To explain this apparent paradox, it is hypothesized that the necessary bridge between retinal signaling and visual behavior is a neural strategy of spatial and temporal summation at a higher level in the visual system. Exactly where in the visual system this summation takes place, and the nature of the neural circuitry that is involved, is currently unknown but provides a promising avenue for future research.
Authors:
Eric Warrant; Marie Dacke
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Publication Detail:
Type:  Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't; Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.; Review    
Journal Detail:
Title:  Annual review of entomology     Volume:  56     ISSN:  1545-4487     ISO Abbreviation:  Annu. Rev. Entomol.     Publication Date:  2011  
Date Detail:
Created Date:  2010-12-07     Completed Date:  2011-02-18     Revised Date:  2012-01-19    
Medline Journal Info:
Nlm Unique ID:  0372367     Medline TA:  Annu Rev Entomol     Country:  United States    
Other Details:
Languages:  eng     Pagination:  239-54     Citation Subset:  IM    
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, University of Lund, S-22362 Lund, Sweden.
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MeSH Terms
Descriptor/Qualifier:
Animals
Darkness
Flight, Animal
Insects / anatomy & histology*,  physiology*
Night Vision
Ocular Physiological Phenomena

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