Science on the Edge

A recent report in the Proceedings of the Royal Society is attempting to explain how 50 million or so birds take to the skies for their annual migrations. Dr. Jakob Mueller and his colleagues trapped individuals from 14 separate European blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla) populations. These small warblers spend their summers in northern Europe and migrate during the winter to southern Europe and northern Africa. When they migrate, the typically diurnal species has no problem flying through the night to get to their destination quickly. This type of "non-typical" behaviour is very common with migrating bird species, with many species changing their activity patterns, social behaviour, diets, and even their physiology.

What the authors did next was search for the gene which was controlling this restless nocturnal behaviour. They targeted four genes and found that one, ADCYAP1, seemed to be responsible for this change in behaviour with a longer form of the gene coding for increased restlessness. They found that the gene codes for a protein, PACAP, which plays a major role in melatonin secretion, metabolism, and feeding patterns. The modification of levels of this protein could be serving as a preparatory mechanism for the long flights that the birds take on during migration.

A number of ornithologists are hailing this paper as a landmark discovery in the field and feel that its implications will be far-reaching. In addition, because DNA sequences that are conserved across species were analyzed, the implications could be stretched to other migratory species.