Research Interests

My research group focuses on the cognitive processes and sensory mechanisms by which animals navigate and migrate. While my principle focus is at the level of the whole organism I also incorporate aspects of neurobiology, molecular biology, and physics to identify the  environmental cues, sensory pathways and mechanisms used by animals to decide how, when and where to move. My work also operates in a comparative framework as I compare and contrast across species, taxa, age class, spatial scale and sensory mechanisms to reveal how natural selection has acted to shape navigation behaviour in different animal groups. I can offer postgraduate and postdoctoral projects (subject to funding) in the following areas:

The navigation map of migratory birds

The answer to the question of how migratory birds return to the same nest every year after journeys of thousands of miles continues to elude scientists. So far, because it is difficult to study migration in the field, most work has been done in laboratory settings using directed migratory restlessness in Emlen funnels as a proxy for migratory behaviour. Our lab addresses this challenge directly however, and we have developed methods to successfully study aspects of migration in the wild. This has resulted in significant breakthroughs in bridging the gap between field and laboratory. We use a range of tracking methods to study behaviour in response to sensory manipulations; from global satellite tracking of complete migration, to radio tracking the departure directions of small songbirds at stop over sites, in addition to calling on the “controlled” environment of the Emlen funnel. We have established model systems for work on migratory passerines at field sites across Europe and have demonstrated a crucial role for olfactory cues in the migration of adult songbirds and gulls, as well as age and location specific reliance on magnetic cues. Additionally, we have demonstrated that juvenile songbirds, previously thought to navigate based purely on an inherited compass direction, are capable of correcting for displacements in some circumstances. A BBSRC responsive mode grant explored how the magnetic field is used to calculate location, building on our discovery that declination (the difference between geographical and magnetic north) is a component in the navigational map (Chernetsov et al. 2017). A new project is exploring the movement of birds of prey tracked with GPS in relation to the magnetic field.

Orientation and Navigation in bats

Bats are remarkably under studied with regard to orientation, navigation and spatial memory, but I have re-launched the study of long distance navigation in this taxa I have demonstrated that bats use the Earth’s magnetic field as a compass, and that this magnetic compass sense is calibrated through an interaction with the sunset. We are now investigating the sensory basis of magnetoreception in these animals. Whilst in birds, it is know that magnetoreception is visually dependent; in bats no such mechanism has been demonstrated, but we have produced evidence of a mechanism based on magnetite: magnetic iron particles in sensory cells. Additionally, through a NERC new investigator grant we demonstrated that bats use polarized light cues as part of their compass system to calibrate the magnetic compass. Work funded by the Leverhulme Trust has investigated the navigation mechanisms of migratory bats, with reference to the impact of electromagnetic pollution on their ability to orient.

The magnetic sense in bees

A collaboration with the National Grid and Queen Mary University of London aims to investigate the function of the magnetic sense in bees, and its vulnerability to electromagnetic pollution.

Sensory systems and spatial memory

In contrast to navigation from unfamiliar areas, in a familiar place, animals learn and remember spatial locations by constructing a “cognitive map” of the relationship between landmarks in their environment.  The theory of the cognitive map has been studied extensively by testing rats in mazes and by observing brain scans of humans, but has focused almost exclusively on the visual sense. There are sensory systems other than vision that can tell the animal the location of landmarks in space, for example, electro-location in weakly electric fish. My lab has started to investigate the way these fish build up a picture of their environment using their electric sense, and how this compares and contrasts with the way they learn about space using vision. This has implications for understanding the way the brain integrates information from different sensory modalities. 

Ageing and spatial memory

Spatial memory tasks have been used in animals to investigate ageing and understanding the interaction between ageing, sensory systems and memory. We are investigating this using homing pigeons (e.g. Griffiths et al. 2021), a rare example of a model species that allows the investigation of this phenomenon outside the laboratory setting. Using gps trackers we can compare the way pigeons learn and remember routes and how this changes with age. It has the potential to advance our understanding of mental health and wellbeing.

The impact of sensory pollution on animal behaviour

Our lab is starting to explore how electromagnetic noise and artificial light at night disrupt animal's ability to detect the cues they use for navigation. This is relevant across all the areas we study, from migration in birds, to homing in pigeons and spatial cognition in fish and insects, but remarkably little is known about the impact of these pollutants on animal navigation.

Current lab members

Sara Bariselli (PhD student: the magnetic sense in bees). Co-Supervision with Dr Hayley Tripp (National Grid), Dr Paul Cross, Professor Lars Chittka (Queen Mary University of London), .

Noah Church (MScRES student: the role of circadium rhythms in spatial cognition). Co-supervision with Dr Amy Ellison.

Previous lab members

Dr. Will Schneider (Postdoctoral researcher: bat navigation)

Sarah Stachowski (MScRes student: bird navigation)

Jess Hey (PhD student: Bird behaviour and antimicrobial resistence)

Dr. Charlotte Griffiths (PhD student: bird navigation)

James Blane (MScRes student: fish cognition)

Dr. Oliver Lindecke (Marie Skłodowska-Curie research fellow: bat navigation)

Dr. Florian Packmor (Postdoctoral researcher: bird navigation)

Dr. Ingo Schiffner (Marie Skłodowska-Curie research fellow)

Dr. Stefan Greif (Postdoctoral researcher, Queen’s University Belfast)

Dr. Lorrain Chivers (Postdoctoral researcher, Queen’s University Belfast)

Dr. Dmitry Kishkinev (Postdoctoral researcher, Queen’s University Belfast, Bangor University)

Dr. Katherine Snell (Co-supervisor, PhD student Copenhagen University)

Dr. Kyriacos Kareklas (PhD student, Queen’s University Belfast)

Dr. Claire McAroe (PhD Student, Queen’s University Belfast)

Current collaborators

Professor Christian Voigt, IZW Berlin, Germany

Dr. Anna Gagliardo, University of Pisa, Italy

Dr. Chris Hewson, BTO, UK

Dr. Dmitry Kishkinev, Keele University

Dr. Oliver Lindecke, Oldenburg University

Room: 531 Brambell

Email: r.holland@bangor.ac.uk

Phone: +44 (0)1248 382344

Web: Bangor Animal Navigation Group  Google Scholar Researchgate

 

My research and teaching interests fall broadly in the area of animal behaviour and sensory biology. I am the course co-ordinator for the Zoology with Animal Behaviour degree (C3D3) and teach on several animal behaviour focused modules, as well as ornithology. My research questions focus the cognitive processes and sensory mechanisms by which animals navigate and migrate. While my principle focus is at the level of the whole organism I also incorporate aspects of neurobiology, molecular biology, and physics to identify the  environmental cues, sensory pathways and mechanisms used by animals to decide how, when and where to move. My work also operates in a comparative framework as I compare and contrast across species, taxa, age class, spatial scale and sensory mechanisms to reveal how natural selection has acted to shape navigation behaviour in different animal groups. New avenues my lab is exploring include the impact of artificial light and electromagnetic noise on navigation and spatial cognition, and the impact of antimicrobial resistant bacteria on bird behaviour.

Biography:

2021-2024, Director of Research, School of Natural Sciences

2020-current, Professor in Animal Behaviour

2017-2020, Senior Lecturer, Bangor University

2016-2017, Lecturer, Bangor University

2011-2016, Lecturer, Queen’s University Belfast

2009-2010, Research scientist, Max Planck Institute for Ornithology

2006-2008, Marie Curie Outgoing International fellow, Princeton University and University of Leeds

2002-2005, Postdoctoral research fellow, University of Leeds

1999-2002, Postdoctoral research fellow, University of Nebraska

1994-1998, DPhil, Oxford University

1990-1993, BSc (Hons), University of Nottingham

Research Area

Zoology

Teaching

Course co-ordinator, Zoology with Animal Behaviour

BNS 3004, Advances in Behaviour (Module co-ordinator)

BSX 3157 Ornithology

BSC 3070 Dissertation

BSX 2018 Behavioural Ecology

BSX1030 Practical skills 1

BSC 1028 Tutorials

Supervision

Charlotte Griffiths, PhD

James Blane, MScRes

Sara Bariselli, PhD

Sarah Stachowski, MScRes

I can offer projects on animal navigation and migration. Example projects that I can supervise MScRES students or PhDs on are:

The role of spatial memory in homing pigeon navigation.

Migratory behaviour in raptors with reference to the geomagnetic field.

Magnetic navigation in bees.

Spatial cognition in fish.

The effect of sensory pollution (artificial light and electromagnetic noise) on animal behaviour.

2024

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

  • PublishedPolarized skylight does not calibrate the compass system of a migratory bat
    Lindecke, O., Voigt, C. C., Petersons, G. & Holland, R., 16 Sept 2015, In: Biology Letters. 11, 9, p. 1-4
    Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
  • PublishedTrue navigation in migrating gulls requires intact olfactory nerves
    Wikelski, M., Arriero, E., Gagliardo, A., Holland, R. A., Huttunen, M. J., Juvaste, R., Mueller, I., Tertitski, G., Thorup, K., Wild, M., Alanko, M., Bairlein, F., Cherenkov, A., Cameron, A., Flatz, R., Hannila, J., Hueppop, O., Kangasniemi, M., Kranstauber, B., Penttinen, M.-L., Safi, K., Semashko, V., Schmid, H. & Wistbacka, R., 24 Nov 2015, In: Scientific Reports. 5, 17061.
    Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

2014

2013

2012

2011

2010

2009

2008

2007

2006

  • PublishedHow and why do insects migrate?
    Holland, R., Wikelski, M. & Wilcove, D. S., 11 Aug 2006, In: Science. 313, 5788, p. 794-796 3 p.
    Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
  • PublishedNavigation: Bat orientation using Earth's magnetic field
    Holland, R., Thorup, K., Vonhof, M. J., Cochran, W. W. & Wikelski, M., 7 Dec 2006, In: Nature. 444, 7120, p. 702 1 p.
    Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

2005

2004

2003

2000

1998

1997

2024

2022

  • Smart Agricultural Technology (Journal)

    A comparison of machine-learning assisted optical and thermal camera systems for beehive activity counting

    24 Jan 2022

    Activity: Publication peer-review (Editorial board member)

2021

  • Springer Nature (Publisher)

    Editorial Board Member, Communications Biology

    1 Aug 2021 →

    Activity: Editorial activity (Editorial board member)

  • The magnetic sense in bats: mechanism and function

    01/03/2021 – 17/08/2024 (Finished)

  • KESS II Phd with National Grid Plc BUK2E038

    01/09/2020 – 31/03/2024 (Finished)

  • MagBat: Unravelling the magnetic sense of bats and its susceptibility to electromagnetic noise

    01/09/2019 – 01/08/2022 (Finished)

  • NAVMAP: Experimental Systems Analysis of the Homing Pigeons Navigational Map

    01/06/2018 – 21/07/2020 (Finished)

    Description

    This project is part of the NAV MAP project and will allow prospective students to work on a biological problem in a interdisciplinary context, mixing field work and analytical work. The project can be split into two subparts - Compass mechanisms and Map components - allowing up to two students to work simultaneously on the same project.

    Links:

  • Unravelling the map and compass in bird navigation

    01/03/2018 – 01/08/2022 (Finished)

    Description

    The way in which migratory birds are able to navigate between breeding and wintering grounds thousands of miles apart with such remarkable precision remains a mystery despite 50 years of research under the dominant paradigm of the "map and compass" theory. In light of the lack of progress under this theory, this research proposal aims to develop a new paradigm for addressing the mystery. This is built around the new discovery that birds use declination, i.e. the difference between the magnetic and celestial compasses, to calculate their position. This requires that birds use the radical pair magnetic compass sense, located in their visual system, to calculate their position. This suggests that the map and compass may not be separate entities, and the cues that birds use for navigation may have been hiding in plain sight. In light of this the sun, the stars and magnetic inclination, previously thought to be only used to calculate direction, must be reassessed as this discovery presents the possibility that they are integrated into the map component of birds navigational map This proposal will address this to discover the extent to which information thought to be directional actually provides information on location, how this is learned and the spatial scale of this mechanism. This will be acheived by a combination of cue conflict experiments, virtual displacements using Helmholz coils, and disruption of the magnetic sense using broadband RF fields, a diagnostic test of the radical pair magnetic sense.

    Layman's description

    The ability to orient and navigate in space is a vital adaptation for all animals and many strategies have evolved to allow animals to return to a known goal. Studying spatial navigation has revealed much about the structure and function of the brain, how it is impacted by age, damage and disease. It has also revealed much about how sensory systems are integrated to provide information for locating position within the environment. Among the most remarkable navigators are small migratory songbirds. These animals travel thousands of kilometres between breeding areas and winter sites, and show remarkable precision, being able to return to the same breeding site, sometimes even nest, year after year. These small birds also show remarkable flexibility, being able to correct for large displacements from their normal migratory path, to places they could not have been to before, and return to their normal breeding or winter area. This appears to be learned during their first migratory journey from the breeding area they were born in, to the winter ground that they reach after their first migration. Scientists hypothesise that they navigate in this way using something akin to a map and a compass. The map step of this process is crucial, as it allows them to determine their location in relation to their desired goal and is thought to function essentially like our Cartesian coordinate system, providing latitude and longitudinal information. This is an ability that seems to be beyond humans without resorting to technology, and yet birds can do this based on cues sensed in the environment. Whilst much research effort has been expended in trying to discover how they achieve this, it remains essentially unsolved, as we do not fully understand what environmental cues are used to determine their position. Received wisdom has it that the cues and senses used in the map are separate from those used in the compass. Thus celestial cues such as the sun and stars provide compass directions, but not location. The exception to this is the Earth's magnetic field. However, It has been argued that birds require and possess two separate magnetic sensory systems, one for the compass step, located in the eye, and a second for the map step, located in the beak. However, recent evidence has called into question whether the beak based sense exists. In addition to this, new evidence indicates that one cues that is used in locating the birds' position is declination, which varies from east to west in some parts of the world, i.e. It provides a cue to longitude?. This is calculated by comparing magnetic north detected by the magnetic compass with geographic (true) north detected by a celestial compass (the sun or stars). This means that contrary to previous expectations, the sensory systems used in the map are not separate from the compass, but may be integrated into it. This discovery leaves many open questions however. How exactly to birds calculate declination? As the majority of birds are night migrants it makes sense that the star compass is the primary candidate, but some studies suggest that these birds calibrate the magnetic compass with sunset, not the stars. Do birds need two magnetic senses? If birds can calculate their longitudinal position with the magnetic sense in the eye, do they also calculate their latitudinal position with this sensory system? Do celestial cues, long relegated to the role of compass, actually play a greater role in the map, as they also could provide information on latitude. How do birds learn these cues? Birds must learn these cues on their first migratory journey, but the precise way in which they build this map is still entirely unknown. This research project will investigate these questions using a small songbird, the Eurasian reed warbler, to provide new insights into how it is able to navigate between its breeding grounds in Europe and winter grounds in Sub Saharan Africa.

    Links:

  • The mystery of bird migration: testing hypotheses of true navigation.

    01/02/2016 – 10/10/2017 (Finished)

    Links: