Spatiotemporal computations in the insect celestial compass

Spatiotemporal computations in the insect celestial compass | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Spatiotemporal computations in the insect celestial compass Evripidis Gkanias, Barbara Webb This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-4804050/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 22 Mar, 2025 Read the published version in Nature Communications → Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract To obtain a geocentric directional reference from a celestial compass requires compensation for the sun’s movement during the day, which also depends on the time of year and the observer’s latitude. We examine how insects could solve this problem, assuming they have clock neurons that represent time as a sinusoidal oscillation, and taking into account the known neuroanatomy of their celestial compass pathway. We show how this circuit could exploit trigonometric identities to perform the required spatiotemporal calculations. Our basic model assumes a constant change in sun azimuth (the 'hour angle'), which is recentred on solar noon for changing day lengths. In a more complete model, the time of year is represented by an oscillation with an annual period, and the latitude is estimated from the inclination of the geomagnetic field. We evaluate these models in simulated migration and foraging behaviours and discuss their potential for practical applications in robotics. Physical sciences/Mathematics and computing/Computational science Biological sciences/Neuroscience/Computational neuroscience/Network models Biological sciences/Neuroscience/Circadian rhythms and sleep/Circadian mechanisms Biological sciences/Computational biology and bioinformatics/Computational models Biological sciences/Neuroscience/Computational neuroscience/Biophysical models Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Supplementary Files 20240725supplementaryinformation.pdf sp.pdf Code and Software Submission Checklist nrreportingsummary.pdf Reporting Summary Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 22 Mar, 2025 Read the published version in Nature Communications → Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-4804050","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":337644703,"identity":"bf2f0ec5-7e19-496b-8634-5f4242cc5fb6","order_by":0,"name":"Evripidis Gkanias","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA5UlEQVRIie3RIQvCQBTA8ScHZ3myeqK4r3CHyaJf5UCYRbug4ERYEq0KfghFMA8OtAysCwZXJoJBi0UQp8l0ziZ4//DS+8GDB2Ay/WgZFwABiP+cSTQ1ofI7koQ8HbGYJMdJd1e0xsFlf4KqDcyRWpKfSFqZr2NkYWspZlAXLnN8LeGBT8WeKoQwtyogEAms4WpJ7UXuCu1tcLgh9D4TnnVJtPAUcr9JCYJKyIfD2KbvZaYjhSJ0yvkZ3wgPY6kl1oCoy/CqaqWtis6ndse2sg7XkuQrHnu7M9UjgZxTLJlMJtM/9wB7sENnes23qgAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3343-9039","institution":"The University of Edinburgh","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Evripidis","middleName":"","lastName":"Gkanias","suffix":""},{"id":337644704,"identity":"691d7d21-9324-42dc-9e19-e023b44e2609","order_by":1,"name":"Barbara Webb","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"The University of Edinburgh","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Barbara","middleName":"","lastName":"Webb","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2024-07-25 20:20:13","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4804050/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-4804050/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[{"content":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-57937-w","type":"published","date":"2025-03-22T04:00:00+00:00"}],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":79034142,"identity":"775a2ca7-bd15-49d0-ba9a-a1f08a32af48","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-03-23 07:07:57","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":1618549,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"20240725manuscript.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-4804050/v1_covered_aca14619-9898-423f-8ef9-fd0ca4f132f9.pdf"},{"id":62073810,"identity":"9acacf7a-b75b-469a-97e7-222c1d7c06d7","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-08-09 03:35:18","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":6804980,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"20240725supplementaryinformation.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-4804050/v1/c3d68912deec1522c8f2f453.pdf"},{"id":62073809,"identity":"501c31fa-3374-4537-a5b9-8de5dfe2634b","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-08-09 03:35:17","extension":"pdf","order_by":2,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":62127,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eCode and Software Submission Checklist\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"sp.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-4804050/v1/076d56bd6df7fec74cb6ea5f.pdf"},{"id":62073808,"identity":"af3ff47b-de16-4bc7-94ed-1cc4e3521f7f","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-08-09 03:35:17","extension":"pdf","order_by":3,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":70112,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eReporting Summary\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"nrreportingsummary.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-4804050/v1/ac25aa1d6f9ee2b24ad2f105.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"There is \u003cb\u003eNO\u003c/b\u003e Competing Interest.","formattedTitle":"Spatiotemporal computations in the insect celestial compass","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":true,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"nature-portfolio","isNatureJournal":true,"hasQc":false,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"","title":"Nature Portfolio","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":false,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"ejp","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false},"keywords":"","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4804050/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-4804050/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"To obtain a geocentric directional reference from a celestial compass requires compensation for the sun’s movement during the day, which also depends on the time of year and the observer’s latitude. We examine how insects could solve this problem, assuming they have clock neurons that represent time as a sinusoidal oscillation, and taking into account the known neuroanatomy of their celestial compass pathway. We show how this circuit could exploit trigonometric identities to perform the required spatiotemporal calculations. Our basic model assumes a constant change in sun azimuth (the 'hour angle'), which is recentred on solar noon for changing day lengths. In a more complete model, the time of year is represented by an oscillation with an annual period, and the latitude is estimated from the inclination of the geomagnetic field. We evaluate these models in simulated migration and foraging behaviours and discuss their potential for practical applications in robotics.","manuscriptTitle":"Spatiotemporal computations in the insect celestial compass","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2024-08-09 03:35:12","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4804050/v1","editorialEvents":[],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"nature-communications","isNatureJournal":true,"hasQc":false,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"NCOMMS","sideBox":"Learn more about [Nature Communications](http://www.nature.com/ncomms/)","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"https://mts-ncomms.nature.com/","title":"Nature Communications","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"ejp","reportingPortfolio":"Nature Communications","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"4a0229ae-1023-4343-94ea-58994c517b46","owner":[],"postedDate":"August 9th, 2024","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"published-in-journal","subjectAreas":[{"id":35764104,"name":"Physical sciences/Mathematics and computing/Computational science"},{"id":35764105,"name":"Biological sciences/Neuroscience/Computational neuroscience/Network models"},{"id":35764106,"name":"Biological sciences/Neuroscience/Circadian rhythms and sleep/Circadian mechanisms"},{"id":35764107,"name":"Biological sciences/Computational biology and bioinformatics/Computational models"},{"id":35764108,"name":"Biological sciences/Neuroscience/Computational neuroscience/Biophysical models"}],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2025-03-23T07:07:42+00:00","versionOfRecord":{"articleIdentity":"rs-4804050","link":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-57937-w","journal":{"identity":"nature-communications","isVorOnly":false,"title":"Nature Communications"},"publishedOn":"2025-03-22 04:00:00","publishedOnDateReadable":"March 22nd, 2025"},"versionCreatedAt":"2024-08-09 03:35:12","video":"","vorDoi":"10.1038/s41467-025-57937-w","vorDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-57937-w","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-4804050","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-4804050","identity":"rs-4804050","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"qtupq5eGEP_6zYnWcrvyt","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}