Researchers studying Manx shearwaters have identified a jet lag effect in migrating seabirds that disrupts their navigation when their internal body clocks become misaligned with local time. The study, led by Dr Patrick Lewin at the University of Oxford, analyzed two decades of GPS tracking data from birds returning to their breeding colonies on the west coast of the UK after foraging trips across the Atlantic.
The findings show that eastward flights across lines of longitude cause the shearwaters’ internal clocks to lag behind local time by up to an hour. Because these birds rely on the sun as a compass, the mismatch between their biological clock and actual local time causes them to misjudge the sun’s position and veer off course. The research was published in Science.
Adult shearwaters demonstrated resilience to this effect, with their navigation errors adding only a minimal distance to their overall journeys—approximately 3 miles to a 600-mile trip. However, first-time foragers lacked the experience to correct such errors and faced the possibility of flying hundreds of miles off their intended route. The study observed that errors persisted even when birds could have used coastal landmarks for navigation, indicating that sun-compass orientation plays a dominant role in their directional sense.
Prof Richard Holland from Bangor University, commenting on the research, emphasized the significance of the findings in confirming how reliance on sun compasses affects animal navigation in real-world conditions. He noted that while the long-term consequences of these deviations remain unclear, the study underscores the broader importance of understanding biological rhythms in animal behavior and multiple biological functions.
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