Ultraviolet Vision and Avoidance of Power Lines in Birds and Mammals

The avoidance by mammals and ground-nesting birds of habitat up to several kilometers from high-voltage power lines is a major consequence of infrastructure development in remote areas, but the behavior is perplexing because suspended cables are neither an impenetrable physical barrier nor associated with human traffic (e.g., Vistnes & Nellemann 2008; Pruett et al. 2009; Degteva & Nellemann 2013). Moreover, avoidance may persist >3 decades after construction (Nellemann et al. 2003; Vistnes et al. 2004), suggesting behavioral reinforcement. Integration of new information on visual function with the characteristics of power line function provides compelling evidence that avoidance may be linked with the ability of animals to detect ultraviolet light (UV). Ultraviolet discharges on power lines occur both as standing corona along cables and irregular flashes on insulators. The discharge spectrum (200–400 nm; Maruvada 2000) is below the normal lower limit of human vision, UV being attenuated by the human cornea and lens, but in birds, rodents, and reindeer/caribou (Rangifer tarandus) (hereafter reindeer) the cornea and lens are UV permissive. The former have specific UV sensitive opsins (Bowmaker 2008) and, hence, power line corona may be assumed visually salient in these. Reindeer have no specific UV opsin, but we obtained robust retinal responses to 330 nm mediated by other opsins (Hogg et al. 2011 and unpublished) and propose that corona flashes are both visually salient and a cause of this species avoiding power lines. Recent demonstration of UV responses in reindeer retinae was based on electrophysiological corneal recordings (Hogg et al. 2011). These, however, are approximately 3 log units less sensitive than psychophysical measurements of visual perception (Ruseckaite et al. 2011). They demonstrate an ability to see UV discharge but are poor indicators of visual threshold and underestimate visual sensitivity. Furthermore, reindeer and some birds have a reflective surface directly behind the retinal photoreceptors (the tapetum lucidum) which ensures that light not captured as it passes through them is reflected