Name: Dr Richard Holland
Position: Professor in Zoology (Avian)
Email: r.holland (at) bangor.ac.uk
Address: School of Natural Sciences, Bangor University,
Deiniol Road, Bangor, Gwynedd, LL57 2UW, UK
Phone (office): +44 (0) 01248 382344

  • ORCID
  • Google Scholar profile
  • Personal page at Bangor University
  • Researchgate


  • Research interests:

    My research group focuses on the cognitive processes and sensory mechanisms by which non-human animals are able to navigate with such remarkable precision. We work on this question at a number of spatial scales, from long distance homing and migration in birds and bats, to small scale spatial memory in fish. We use a variety of techniques to study their behaviour, from GPS tracking of whole journeys, to radio tracking of initial decisions, orientation cages as proxies for migration direction, and small scale experiments in maze learning paradigms. Alongside my students, postdocs and collaborators I have a number of active projects on aspects of this fascinating phenomenon.

    True navigation:

    Long distance migrating animals return to the same breeding grounds year after year and are able to correct for displacements to places they have never previously visited. This remarkably ability, called true navigation remains unresolved. It seems to require a map and a compass component but the sensory cues and cognitive processes by which animals achieve this continue to be debated. Postdoctoral researcher Florian Packmor is working on the project AnimalMapUnravelled in collaboration with Oldenberg University and the Biological Station Rybachy to investigate how migratory songbirds such as the Eurasian reed warbler combine both compass and positional cues into their map for navigation. The Bat Navigation project is a collaboration with the IZW Berlin and the Pape Ornithological station in Latvia, investigating the sensory cues used by migrating bats for both compass and map components of true navigation.

    Spatial memory:

    As well as the spectacular feats of long distance navigation, animals show a remarkable ability to learn and remember locations in space. There are multiple theories as to how they do this but the idea of a "cognitive map" internal representation of space has predominated. It remains controversial however, as to whether such a map exists, how it is encoded and how it interacts with other mechanisms of spatial memory. My research group is investigation this question at a number of scales: Marie Sklodowska-Curie Research Fellow Ingo Schiffner is investigating the cues that are used by homing pigeons using novel analytical techniques in the project NavMap and PhD student Charlotte Griffiths is looking at how homing pigeons reconcile conflict between spatial cues and the interaction between cognitive and physiological decisions within the AnimalMapUnravelled project. A separate line of work is investigating the spatial memory abilities in fish from the laboratory model zebrafish, to other more exotic species such as wealky electric fish. Previous work has looked into the role of personality in spatial cognition, and compared shoals and individuals performance in maze tasks. MScRes student James Blane is continuing this line of research in the AquaticSpatialCognition project.

    Current lab members:

  • Charlotte Griffiths (PhD student)
  • James Blane (MScRes student)

    Previous lab members:

  • Stefan Greif (Postdoctoral researcher, Queen's University Belfast)
  • Lorrain Chivers (Postdoctoral researcher, Queen's University Belfast)
  • Dmitry Kishkinev (Postdoctoral researcher, Queen's University Belfast, Bangor University)
  • Katherine Snell (Co-supervisor, PhD student Copenhagen University)
  • Kyriacos Kareklas (PhD student, Queen's University Belfast)
  • Claire McAroe (PhD Student, Queen's University Belfast)
  • Florian Packmor (PDRA, Bangor University)
  • Ingo Schiffner (Marie Curie Fellow, Bangor University)

    Selected Publications:


    Lindecke O, Holland RA, Pētersons G, Voigt CC. (2021).
    Corneal sensitivity is required for orientation in free-flying migratory bats.
    Commun Biol. doi: 10.1038/s42003-021-02053-w

    Griffiths C, Schiffner I, Price E, Charnell-Hughes M, Kishkinev D, Holland RA (2021).
    Repeated training of homing pigeons reveals age-dependent idiosyncrasy and visual landmark use.
    Animal Behaviour doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2021.05.004

    Packmor F, Kishkinev D, Bittermann F, Kofler B, Machowetz C, Zechmeister T, Zawadzki LC, Guilford T, Holland RA. (2021)
    A magnet attached to the forehead disrupts magnetic compass orientation in a migratory songbird.
    Journal of Experimental Biology doi: https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.243337

    D. Kishkinev, F. Packmor, T. Zechmeister, H.-C. Winkler, N. Chernetsov, H. Mouritsen, R.A. Holland (2021)
    Navigation by extrapolation of geomagnetic cues in a migratory songbird.
    Current Biology doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2021.01.051

    D. Kishkinev, A. Anashina, I. Ishchenko, R.A. Holland (2019)
    Anosmic migrating songbirds demonstrate a compensatory response following long-distance translocation: a radio-tracking study.
    Journal of Ornithology doi: 10.1007/s10336-019-01698-z

    K. Kareklas, G. Arnott, R. W. Elwood, R. A. Holland (2018)
    Relationships between personality and lateralization of sensory inputs
    Animal Behaviour 141:127-135.

    N. Chernetsov, A. Pakhomov, D. Kobylkov, D. Kishkinev, R. A. Holland, H. Mouritsen (2017)
    Migratory Eurasian reed warblers can use magnetic declination to solve the longitude problem
    Current Biology 27 (17):2647-2651. e2.

    K. Kareklas, G. Arnott, R. W. Elwood, R. A. Holland (2016)
    Plasticity varies with boldness in a weakly-electric fish
    Frontiers in zoology 13 (1):22.

    M. Wikelski, E. Arriero, A. Gagliardo, R. A. Holland, M. J. Huttunen, R. Juvaste, I. Mueller, G. Tertitski, K. Thorup, M. Wild (2015)
    True navigation in migrating gulls requires intact olfactory nerves
    Scientific reports 5:17061.

    O. Lindecke, C. C. Voigt, G. Petersons, R. A. Holland (2015)
    Polarized skylight does not calibrate the compass system of a migratory bat
    Biology letters 11 (9):20150525.

    R. Holland (2014)
    True navigation in birds: from quantum physics to global migration
    Journal of Zoology.

    S. Greif, I. Borissov, Y. Yovel, R. A. Holland (2014)
    A functional role of the sky’s polarization pattern for orientation in the greater mouse-eared bat
    Nature communications 5:4488.

    R. A. Holland, B. Helm (2013)
    A strong magnetic pulse affects the precision of departure direction of naturally migrating adult but not juvenile birds
    Journal of The Royal Society Interface 10 (81).

    R. A. Holland, I. Borissov, B. M. Siemers (2010)
    A nocturnal mammal, the greater mouse-eared bat, calibrates a magnetic compass by the sun
    Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 107 (15):6941-6945.

    R. A. Holland, K. Thorup, A. Gagliardo, I. Bisson, E. Knecht, D. Mizrahi, M. Wikelski (2009)
    Testing the role of sensory systems in the migratory heading of a songbird
    The Journal of experimental biology 212 (24):4065-4071.

    R. A. Holland, J. L. Kirschvink, T. G. Doak, M. Wikelski (2008)
    Bats use magnetite to detect the earth's magnetic field
    PLoS One 3 (2):e1676.

    K. Thorup, I. Bisson, M. S. Bowlin, R. A. Holland, J. C. Wingfield, M. Ramenofsky, M. Wikelski (2007)
    Evidence for a navigational map stretching across the continental US in a migratory songbird
    Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 104 (46):18115-18119.

    R. A. Holland, K. Thorup, M. J. Vonhof, W. W. Cochran, M. Wikelski (2006)
    Navigation: bat orientation using Earth's magnetic field
    Nature 444 (7120):702-702.

    R. A. Holland, M. Wikelski, D. S. Wilcove (2006)
    How and why do insects migrate?
    Science 313 (5788):794-796.

    Biography:

  • 2021-present, Professor in Zoology (Avian), Bangor University
  • 2017-2021, Senior Lecturer, Bangor University
  • 2016-2017, Lecturer, Bangor University
  • 2011-2016, Lecturer, Queen's University Belfast
  • 2009-2010, Research scientist, Max Planck Institute for Ornithology
  • 2006-2008, Marie Curie Outgoing International fellow, Princeton University and University of Leeds
  • 2002-2005, Postdoctoral research fellow, University of Leeds
  • 1999-2002, Postdoctoral research fellow, University of Nebraska
  • 1994-1998, DPhil, Oxford University
  • 1990-1993, BSc (Hons), University of Nottingham

  • Copyright BANG - Bangor Animal Navigation Group, Design: Dr. I. Schiffner