New research from the University of Liverpool provides the first evidence that wandering albatrosses, one of the most common seabirds, can use infrasound to help them navigate long and impersonal foraging journeys spanning thousands of kilometres.

In an article published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), researchers from the University’s School of Environmental Sciences show that albatrosses target areas of “high” microbaromic infrasound during long-distance foraging flights. The article is titled “Albatross movement indicates sensitivity to marine infrasound signals.”

Infrasound is a type of low-frequency sound that humans cannot hear but is ubiquitous in the marine environment. Microbaromas are a type of infrared sound associated with crashing ocean waves. Such wavy areas are also associated with the strong winds that albatrosses need to help them fly effectively.

Researchers used GPS trackers to determine the flight paths of 89 wandering albatross breeding in the Crozet Islands archipelago in the Southern Ocean during sea voyages that can last up to a month. They then compared these flight paths to simulated acoustic maps that the team developed to represent microbaromic infrasound distribution.

This found that wandering albatrosses target “high” microbarome infrasound when initiating directional flight; This suggested that they could detect and respond to microbarometric infrasound traveling over long distances.

The research was done by Dr. Co-directed by Lucia Martín López, seabird ecologist Dr. Natasha Gillis said: “How animals navigate and seek resources at large spatial scales exceeding 100-1000 km is a fundamental question in ecology.

“For marine animals such as seabirds, this question is of particular interest as visual information is limited, meaning other signals must be involved in the movement.

“It has been suggested that seabirds may use infrasound to help them navigate the vast ocean environments where they fly in search of food.

“Our results provide the first evidence of sensitivity to infrasound in the context of a moving animal.”

The research is part of a Human Frontier Science Program grant, which brings together a team of international collaborators (Stellanbosch University, South Africa; University of Florida, USA; Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute, Netherlands). This is the first empirical test of previous suggestions that infrared sound may be an important cue for seabird navigation.

The grant is directed by Dr. “We can only achieve such new and exciting insights through interdisciplinary science that brings together scientists from different fields,” said Samantha Patrick.