Project description
The neurobiology of animal navigation
Navigation in animal behaviour refers to the ability of animals to find their way accurately without the use of maps or instruments. It involves complex spatial awareness through specialised neuronal circuits. However, most information on these circuits has been obtained from experiments in the lab and large-scale real-world navigation remains largely unexplored. The ERC-funded NEURO_OUTDOORS project will address this by tracking free bats in outdoor habitats using wireless neural-loggers and GPS. Researchers will investigate how specific neurons in the brain encode 3D space, geographical borders and compass-like orientation. Overall, the project will link neural activity to real-world navigation, enhancing our understanding of spatial cognition and brain mechanisms of movement.
Objective
Navigation is a key behavior, studied by multiple research fields. In ethology, wild animals are tracked outdoors using GPS tags as they navigate hundreds of meters or kilometers. In neuroscience, experiments are very different: laboratory animals are tracked inside small ~1×1-meter boxes, while recording the activity of navigation-related neurons – such as place cells, grid cells, head-direction cells, and border cells. However, it is unknown whether these spatial neurons, as studied in small laboratory-sized environments over 50 years, are relevant to large-scale navigation in the real world – outdoors.
In this proposal we will address this major gap, by conducting the first ever neural recordings from the brain’s “navigation circuit” in animals navigating outdoors. We will implant bats with tetrode microdrives, and will release them to fly on a remote, uninhabited oceanic island. Using custom wireless neural-logger and GPS, we will study the neurobiology of navigation – for the first time – in the real world.
We will explore: (1) How place cells and grid cells represent large natural habitats outdoors? (2) How these neurons encode 3D space – and in particular, altitude – in an open environment without a ceiling? (3) Are there border cells in animals navigating outdoors – e.g. border cells encoding the land/sea border, which is the “end of the world” for the bat? (4) Do head-direction cells represent a geographical compass? Specifically: do they maintain their head-direction tuning across all geographical locations on the island, and irrespective of moon movements? Preliminary experiments that we conducted on Latham Island, Tanzania, showed the feasibility of this project. We will record the same neurons outdoors and indoors, in a flight-tent on the island. This research will revolutionize the neurobiology of navigation – and it will be the first neurophysiological study, in any mammalian species and any brain region, of Neuroscience in the real world.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
This project's classification has been human-validated.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
This project's classification has been human-validated.
Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
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Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
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(opens in new window) ERC-2024-ADG
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7610001 Rehovot
Israel
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