Evidence that birds sleep in mid-flight

Abstract

Many birds fly non-stop for days or longer, but do they sleep in flight and if so, how? It is commonly assumed that flying birds maintain environmental awareness and aerodynamic control by sleeping with only one eye closed and one cerebral hemisphere at a time. However, sleep has never been demonstrated in flying birds. Here, using electroencephalogram recordings of great frigatebirds (Fregata minor) flying over the ocean for up to 10 days, we show that they can sleep with either one hemisphere at a time or both hemispheres simultaneously. Also unexpectedly, frigatebirds sleep for only 0.69 h d^-1 (7.4% of the time spent sleeping on land), indicating that ecological demands for attention usually exceed the attention afforded by sleeping unihemispherically. In addition to establishing that birds can sleep in flight, our results challenge the view that they sustain prolonged flights by obtaining normal amounts of sleep on the wing.

ARTICLE

Received 18 Feb 2016 | Accepted 6 Jul 2016 | Published 3 Aug 2016

DOI: 10.1038/ncomms12468 OPEN

Evidence that birds sleep in mid-ight

Niels C. Rattenborg1,*, Bryson Voirin1,2,*, Sebastian M. Cruz3, Ryan Tisdale1, Giacomo DellOmo4, Hans-Peter Lipp5,6,7, Martin Wikelski3,8 & Alexei L. Vyssotski9

Many birds y non-stop for days or longer, but do they sleep in ight and if so, how? It is commonly assumed that ying birds maintain environmental awareness and aerodynamic control by sleeping with only one eye closed and one cerebral hemisphere at a time. However, sleep has never been demonstrated in ying birds. Here, using electroencephalogram recordings of great frigatebirds (Fregata minor) ying over the ocean for up to 10 days, we show that they can sleep with either one hemisphere at a time or both hemispheres simultaneously. Also unexpectedly, frigatebirds sleep for only 0.69 h d 1 (7.4% of the time spent sleeping on land), indicating that ecological demands for attention usually exceed the attention afforded by sleeping unihemispherically. In addition to establishing that birds can sleep in ight, our results challenge the view that they sustain prolonged ights by obtaining normal amounts of sleep on the wing.

1 Avian Sleep Group, Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, Seewiesen 82319, Germany. 2 California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco, California 94118, USA. 3 Department of Migration and Immuno-Ecology, Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, Radolfzell 78315, Germany. 4Ornis italica, Rome 00199, Italy.

5 Institute of Anatomy, University of Zurich, Zurich 8057, Switzerland. 6 Institute of Evolutionary Medicine, University of Zurich, Zurich 8057, Switzerland.

7 School of Laboratory Medicine and Medical Sciences, Department of Physiology, Kwazulu-Natal University, Durban 4000, South Africa. 8 Department of Biology, University of Konstanz, Konstanz 78457, Germany. 9 Institute of Neuroinformatics, University of Zurich and Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Zurich 8057, Switzerland. * These authors contributed equally to this work. Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to N.C.R. (email: mailto:[email protected]

Web End [email protected] ) or to A.L.V. (email: mailto:[email protected]

Web End [email protected] ).

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Adiverse array of birds, including swifts14, sandpipers5,6, songbirds710 and seabirds1113, engage in non-stop ights lasting several days, weeks, or longer. Given the

adverse effects of sleep loss experienced by most animals14 it is commonly assumed that birds full their daily need for sleep on the wing15. However, the recent discovery that some birds can perform adaptively for several weeks despite greatly reducing the time spent sleeping16 raised the possibility that birds forgo sleep altogether during long ights. Consequently, evidence of prolonged ights is not by default evidence of sleep in ight neurophysiological recordings of the changes in brain activity that characterize sleep are required to answer this question. Furthermore, such recordings are needed to establish the amount, intensity, and types of sleep, and the potential implications that ight-related sleep adaptations have for understanding the functions of sleep. Due to the absence of recordings of brain activity during long ights, it is unknown whether birds sleep on the wing15.

On land, birds can switch from sleeping with both hemispheres simultaneously to sleeping with one hemisphere at a time in response to changing ecological demands17,18. During such unihemispheric slow wave sleep (USWS) birds keep the eye connected to the awake hemisphere open and directed toward potential threats. Dolphins also use USWS to monitor their environment and can swim during this state19. Consequently, ying birds might rely on USWS to maintain environmental awareness and aerodynamic control of the wings, while obtaining the sleep needed to sustain attention during wakefulness. We tested this hypothesis in great frigatebirds (Fregata minor).

As Darwin observed during his voyage to the Galpagos Islands20, frigatebirds are not known to rest on the water despite spending weeks to months ying over the ocean12,13,21. Their long wings, poorly webbed feet and reduced feather waterproong make taking off difcult following more than momentary contact with the water. To catch food, great frigatebirds rely on large predatory sh and cetaceans to drive prey, such as ying-sh and -squid, to and above the surface12. Although previous studies detected potential feeding episodes (that is, slow ight near the surface) primarily during the day12,21, under favourable conditions feeding also may occur at night22, as frigatebirds follow ocean eddies predictive of foraging opportunities during the day and night23. Consequently, frigatebirds face ecological demands for wakefulness 24/7 while over the ocean.

By recording the brain activity of frigatebirds ying over the ocean, we demonstrate that they can sleep in ight with one hemisphere at a time or both together. Although frigatebirds engage in both types of sleep on the wing, sleep is more asymmetric in ight than when on land. Frigatebirds sleep mostly while circling in rising air currents and keep the eye connected to the awake hemisphere facing the direction of ight, suggesting that they use unihemispheric sleep to watch where they are going. Despite being able to sleep on the wing, when compared with sleep on land ying frigatebirds sleep very little, in shorter bouts, and less deeply, suggesting that frigatebirds face ecological demands for attention that usually cannot be met through sleeping unihemispherically. The ability to sustain cognitive performance on limited sleep challenges the dominant view that large daily amounts of sleep are required to maintain adaptive performance.

ResultsFlight behaviour of frigatebirds. We used a data logging device (Neurologger 2A) designed for recording the electroencephalogram (EEG) of ying homing pigeons24 combined with a three-dimensional (3D) accelerometer25 to record brain activity

and head movements in breeding female great frigatebirds (Fig. 1a) ying over the Pacic Ocean (N 14) and after

returning to their nest on Genovesa Island (Galpagos, N 9).

For each hemisphere, the EEG was recorded from the hyperpallium, a primary visual area (Fig. 1b). In addition, the birds movements and altitude were recorded with GPS data loggers. All birds engaged in one or two trips over the ocean (1.210.12, s.e.m.) lasting up to 10 days (5.760.67 d, s.e.m.; range, 0.2610.02 d; see Supplementary Figs 18) and spanning up to 3,000 km (1988.45186.33 km, s.e.m.; range, 128.753001.42 km). Most birds completed a roughly clockwise loop over the ocean north-east of the Galpagos Islands (Fig. 1c). The birds spent less time apping at night (7.310.59%, s.e.m.) than during the day (13.490.53%; P 6.0 10 7; paired

two-tailed Students t-test; Supplementary Fig. 9a,c). The frigatebirds altitude peaked in the hour before sunset and decreased across the night (Supplementary Fig. 9b). On average, the birds altitude did not differ between the day (137.94.7 m, s.e.m.) and night (136.53.8 m; Po0.78). Periods of potential foraging (ight below 20 m) occurred primarily during the day (Supplementary Fig. 9c). During the day and night the birds occasionally ascended (1.450.15 ascents per day, s.e.m.) to markedly higher altitudes (905.925.4 m for ascents 4600 m;

maximum range 1013.61459.7 m; Supplementary Figs 9b and 10; see also Supplementary Discussion). As previously reported13,21,26, the typical ight pattern of frigatebirds consists of circular rising on thermals (soaring) followed by straight gliding down (Fig. 1d, Supplementary Movie 1). These ight modes are reected in the accelerometry recordings by centripetal acceleration (Fig. 1e; Methods). Circling and straight ight, as determined from a head-mounted accelerometer in great frigatebirds, were associated with slower and faster airspeeds, respectively (5.400.23 versus 8.590.21 m s 1, s.e.m.,

P 2.6 10 8, paired two-tailed Students t-test). Time spent

circling increased across the day and decreased across the night (P 2.4 10 6 and P 1.8 10 7 for the respective linear

trends, Supplementary Fig. 9c), likely reecting diel variation in the availability of thermals. The birds circled to the left and to the right in equal amounts (Supplementary Fig. 11) and with equal centripetal acceleration (P 0.27, paired two-tailed Students

t-test).

Sleep in ight. The EEG patterns in ight were similar to those observed on land and in other birds. When gliding during the day, the EEG showed low-amplitude and high-frequency activity typical of alert wakefulness. In addition, frequent high-amplitude signals occurred in conjunction with rapid head movements, likely reecting visual processing in the hyperpallium27 during active searching for foraging opportunities. The rapid head movements and associated potentials in the EEG gradually disappeared and reappeared within the rst hour after sunset and the hour before sunrise, respectively. During apping ight at night, the EEG showed a pattern indicative of wakefulness in both hemispheres occasionally punctuated by isolated high-amplitude, slow waves (Fig. 2a). During ight without apping, the wakefulness pattern usually persisted, but was occasionally replaced by continuous high-amplitude, slow waves (Fig. 2a). These slow waves were not correlated with ne head movements detected by the accelerometer, and were absent during much larger movements associated with apping (Fig. 2a). Consequently, this EEG activity reects slow wave sleep (SWS) rather than movement artifacts. During circling ight, the angle of the bill relative to the horizon increased slightly in SWS when compared with wakefulness (Po0.004, paired two-tailed

Students t-test), perhaps as a result of the birds drawing their heads up and into the body during sleep, as observed on land

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(Supplementary Fig. 12). On rare occasions, bouts of SWS were interrupted by brief episodes of apparent rapid eye movement (REM) sleep characterized by EEG activity in both hemispheres similar to alert wakefulness, dropping of the head, and twitching like that frequently observed during REM sleep on land (Fig. 2a, Supplementary Fig. 13; see also Supplementary Discussion). The birds typically ascended during SWS (rate of climb,0.1540.022 m s 1, s.e.m.) and descended during wakefulness (rate of climb, 0.00460.0011 m s 1; P 9.1 10 6,

paired two-tailed Students t-test), with SWS occurring at higher altitudes than wakefulness (159.45.8 m, s.e.m., and 135.34.0 m, respectively; P 0.0017, paired two-tailed

Students t-test; Supplementary Movies 2 and 3).

Asymmetric sleep linked to circling ight. The interhemispheric asymmetry in EEG slow wave activity (SWA; 0.754.5 Hz power) varied during SWS in ight. To quantify the frigatebirds

utilization of USWS, we used an asymmetry index [AI (left

hemisphere SWAright hemisphere SWA)/(left hemisphere SWA right hemisphere SWA)] to categorized SWS as

bihemispheric (BSWS; 0.3oAIo0.3) or asymmetric (ASWS; 0.3ZAIZ0.3), with an absolute AIZ0.6 indicating USWS28. All types of SWS occurred in ight (Fig. 2a,b). The percentage of SWS consisting of ASWS was higher in ight (71.573.96%, s.e.m.) than on land (47.642.38%; Po0.002, paired two-tailed

Students t-test), as was the percentage of ASWS consisting of USWS (ight, 47.275.30%; land, 24.962.26%; Po0.003, paired two-tailed Students t-test). Even though SWS was more asymmetric in ight, the presence of BSWS on the wing indicates that ASWS is not required to maintain the aerodynamic control of soaring or gliding ight and therefore likely serves other functions.

Due to the nearly complete crossing of input from the eyes, the eye opposite the more awake hemisphere is usually open during

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Figure 1 | Measuring the brain state and ight mode of ying frigatebirds. (a) Great frigatebird with a head-mounted data logger for recording the electroencephalogram (EEG) from both cerebral hemispheres and head acceleration in three dimensions. A back-mounted GPS logger recorded position and altitude. Photo: B.V. (b) Overhead view of a great frigatebird skull showing (1) the position of the cranial bulge (shaded grey) overlying the hyperpallium of each hemisphere, (2) the position of the epidural electrodes (red dots, EEG; green dot, ground) and (3) the data logger (black rectangle) just posterior to the naso-frontal hinge (arrow). Scale bar is 10 mm. (c) All GPS tracks for individual birds coded with different colours. The Galapagos Islands are outlined with black lines and the study site (Genovesa) is marked by a star. Ocean depth (m) is coded with grey scale. (d) High temporal resolution (1 Hz) 10 min ight trajectory recorded with GPS from a frigatebird (see Supplementary Movie 1 for 3D visualization) showing the circling (soaring) and straight (gliding) ight modes typical of Fregatidae13 (Methods). (e) Altitude, ground speed and airspeed (computed from the GPS data in (d)), tangential and centripetal (radial) low-pass ltered acceleration, and the absolute value of total acceleration (measured by an accelerometer) for the ight in (d).

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Figure 2 | Unihemispheric and bihemispheric sleep in ight. (a) Recording of head acceleration in three dimensions (sway, surge and heave) and electroencephalogram (EEG) activity from the left (L) and right (R) hemispheres showing the transition from wakefulness to SWS following the cessation of apping (red bars). Brief episodes of dropping (green bars) occur after this episode of sleep. Expanded views (bottom) show wakefulness characterized by low-amplitude, high-frequency EEG activity in both hemispheres, infrequently punctuated by isolated high-amplitude, slow waves (*), and SWS characterized by continuous high-amplitude, slow waves, in this case, primarily in the left hemisphere. The red arrow (top) marks an episode of apparent REM sleep (expanded in Supplementary Fig. 13). (b) Recording from the same bird showing an episode of bihemispheric SWS (BSWS) and unihemispheric SWS (USWS), including expanded views of both states. The mean duration of episodes of sleep was shorter than these long episodes used to demonstrate USWS and BSWS in ight. These recordings are from frigatebird 13 (Supplementary Fig. 7).

ASWS18, allowing birds to simultaneously sleep and watch for threats17. In frigatebirds, the accelerometer recordings suggest that ASWS serves a similar function in ight. During wakefulness and SWS on land, frigatebirds kept their head straight most of the time (85.913.19%, s.e.m., and 89.672.18%, respectively, P 0.056, paired two-tailed Students t-test; Fig. 3a), as

indicated by the distribution of sway axis values with a cluster around zero; head position was classied as straight when acceleration along the sway axis fell between the dashed vertical lines in Fig. 3a ( 0.175g0 and 0.175g0; standard acceleration of

free fall g0 9.80665 m s 2). In ight, acceleration along the

sway axis also showed a unimodal peak around zero during wakefulness (75.422.05%, s.e.m.). However, in contrast to SWS on land, the distribution of sway axis values was tri-modal during SWS in ight, with one peak around zero and two additional peaks reecting acceleration to the left and right (Fig. 3a). Acceleration to the left and right was primarily due to radial

acceleration of the birds as they turned in either direction (wing angle, 18.750.48, s.e.m.; P 6.4 10 15, paired two-tailed

Students t-test; Fig. 3b), likely reecting soaring on rising air currents13,21,26. Interestingly, during ASWS the birds were more likely to circle toward the side with greater SWA (ASWS-L, to left,65.315.07%, s.e.m., to right, 8.761.46%, P 1.1 10 7;

ASWS-R, to left, 9.311.81%, to right, 66.596.47%, P 1.2 10 6, paired two-tailed Students t-test), whereas

during BSWS there was no bias for circling toward one particular side (to left, 35.224.31%, to right, 35.354.83%, P 0.73, paired two-tailed Students t-test; Fig. 3c,d). In addition

to asymmetries in SWA, during SWS we also detected smaller asymmetries in gamma activity (3080 Hz power), a frequency implicated in visual attention29. Opposite to SWA, during SWS with asymmetric gamma ( 0.14AI40.1) the birds accelerated

toward the side with lower gamma (left gamma4right gamma, to left, 11.712.02%, s.e.m., to right, 65.766.21%, P 6.5 10 6,

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Figure 3 | Slow wave sleep electroencephalogram (EEG) asymmetry is related to circling ight. (a) Distribution of awake and SWS 4 s epochs (all birds combined) occurring at different sway accelerations (0.02g0 bins) on land and in ight at night. On land (top), the values were clustered around zero while awake and in SWS indicating that the birds held their head straight during both states. Although the birds also held their head and wings straight while awake in ight, SWS, in most cases (70.57%), occurred with circling ight to the left and right, as reected by sway acceleration o 0.175g0 and

40.175g0 (dashed vertical lines). (b) Diagram showing the wing and head angle relative to the horizon during circling ight to the left calculated from the accelerometry. The corresponding brain state (see below) is also shown. (c) Recording showing the relationship between asymmetric SWS (ASWS) and acceleration along the sway axis; during ASWS with greater EEG slow wave activity (SWA; 0.754.5 Hz power) in the left hemisphere (ASWS-L) the sway axis showed high values corresponding to circling to the left, and when SWA was greater in the right hemisphere (ASWS-R), the sway axis showed low values corresponding to circling to the right. Same bird as in Fig. 2. (d) The relationship between sway acceleration and type of SWS in ight for all birds combined. Data from (a) are partitioned according to the type of SWS as dened in the main text; ASWS-L, ASWS-R and bihemispheric SWS (BSWS). (e) Relationship between ight mode (sway acceleration) and SWS in ight for data from (a) partitioned according to the interhemispheric asymmetry in gamma activity (3080 Hz power); asymmetric gamma with greater gamma in the left (AGamma-L; AIZ0.1) or right (AGamma-R; AIr 0.1) hemisphere

and bihemispheric (symmetric) gamma (BGamma; 0.1oAIo0.1). The overall relationship between circling ight, brain state and probable eye state18 is

summarized in (b); awake hyperpallium (green) and sleeping hyperpallium (blue) and the corresponding relative difference in EEG SWA. The green arrows show the general direction of visual ow while circling to the left.

paired two-tailed Students t-test; left gammaoright gamma, to left, 62.476.46%, to right, 8.581.44%, P 1.2 10 6,

paired two-tailed Students t-test) whereas during SWS with symmetric gamma there was no bias for acceleration toward one particular side (to left, 37.503.74%, to right, 31.774.20%, P 0.96, paired two-tailed Students t-test; Fig. 3e). The more

awake EEG activity (that is, lower SWA and higher gamma) in the hemisphere opposite the direction of the turn indicates that the frigatebirds had the eye toward the direction of the turn open (Fig. 3b), presumably to watch where they were going.

Sleep loss in ight. The amount, timing, continuity and depth of sleep on the wing also suggest that frigatebirds face ecological demands for wakefulness throughout the day and night. In ight, frigatebirds slept for only 2.890.58% (s.e.m.) of the time, whereas on land 53.284.82% of the time was spent sleeping (P 1.1 10 5, paired two-tailed Students t-test; Fig. 4a; see

Supplementary Fig. 14a for N 14 in ight). Sleep occurred

almost exclusively at night in ight (day, 0.360.16%, s.e.m.; night, 5.441.03%; P 2.4 10 5, paired two-tailed Students

t-test), but throughout the day and night on land (day,47.904.95%; night, 53.766.72%; P 0.45, paired two-tailed

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Figure 4 | Frigatebirds sleep more and deeper on land than in ight. (a) Time spent awake and in SWS and REM sleep in ight and on land.(b) Electroencephalogram (EEG) slow wave activity (SWA; 0.754.5 Hz power) while awake and in SWS and REM sleep in ight and on land (median and quartiles for the median). For SWS, SWA is shown for, (1) bihemispheric SWS (BSWS), (2) asymmetric SWS (ASWS) for the hemisphere with greater SWA (ASWS ) and (3) ASWS for the hemisphere with lower SWA (ASWS). (c) Decline in SWS-related SWA during the rst 12 h since landing (top) and the

corresponding sleep staging (bottom) in one bird; awake (green), SWS (blue), and REM sleep (red). In the photoperiod bar (middle) grey reects night.

Students t-test; Supplementary Fig. 9df). Even while gliding and soaring at night (that is, no wing aps or drops), when sleep was possible, wakefulness encompassed 79.711.34% (s.e.m.) of the9.660.16 h (s.e.m.; N 14) spent in these ight modes. Episodes

of SWS were also longer on land (28.251.75 s, s.e.m.) than in ight (10.890.81 s; P 2.24 10 5, paired two-tailed Students

t-test), as was the maximum duration of SWS episodes (land, 272.8944.47 s, s.e.m., and ight, 134.2221.72 s, P 0.023,

paired two-tailed Students t-test; maximum range: land, 128572 s and ight, 48216 s). With REM sleep included, episodes of sleep (SWS REM sleep) were even longer on land

(52.224.91 s, maximum range, 2041,212 s) than in ight(11.641.00 s, P 4.1 10 5, paired two-tailed Students t-test;

maximum range, 52216 s); the longest episode of continuous sleep in ight (348 s) occurred in one of the ve birds only recorded in ight. Episodes of SWS were longer during circling ight (12.550.80 s, s.e.m.) than straight ight (6.690.28 s, P 1.2 10 4, paired two-tailed Students t-test). The mean

duration of REM sleep episodes in ight (4.920.15 s, s.e.m.) was shorter than on land (5.920.33 s; P 0.014, paired two-tailed

Students t-test), and REM sleep as a percentage of total sleep time was lower in ight (3.520.92%) than on land(8.151.44%; P 0.0084, paired two-tailed Students t-test).

Finally, the intensity of SWS, based on EEG SWA, was lower in ight than on land during BSWS (P 0.02, paired two-tailed

Students t-test) and for both hemispheres during ASWS (hemisphere with greater SWA, Po0.02; hemisphere with lower

SWA, P 0.008, paired two-tailed Students t-test; Fig. 4b; see

Supplementary Fig. 14b for N 14 in ight). Even on the last day

of ight, when sleep pressure should have been the greatest, SWA was lower than on land and unchanged from earlier in the ight (Supplementary Fig. 15a,b). Collectively, the sleep patterns observed in ight indicate that in addition to the attention required for foraging during the day, frigatebirds face ecological demands for attention at night, as well as limits on the depth of sleep.

The higher amount of wakefulness, lower intensity of sleep and absence of an increase in sleep intensity across the ight question whether the homeostatic process that normally regulates sleep duration and intensity30 in other birds is absent in frigatebirds or just suppressed during ight. On land, SWS-related SWA (both hemispheres combined) declined as a function of time since landing ( 3.910.74% per hour, s.e.m.; P 0.003, two-tailed

Students t-test; Fig. 4c), as did the time spent in BSWS and ASWS (P 0.01 and P 0.01). Because the time course of both

states did not differ (P 0.54), the decline in total SWA reects a

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change in sleep intensity, rather than a change in the ratio of ASWS to BSWS across this period. The decline in sleep intensity after returning to land suggests that the homeostatic mechanisms present in other birds are also present in frigatebirds. Interestingly, this also indicates that frigatebirds are able to forestall these mechanisms when sleeping in ight. Finally, although frigatebirds recover lost sleep once back on land, recordings spanning the cycle between ights and time on land are needed to fully characterize the homeostatic process and determine whether frigatebirds on land compensate entirely for sleep lost in ight.

DiscussionSeveral ecological factors may account for the characteristics of sleep in ight. Even though the frigatebirds rarely came near the surface at night12,13,21, the low amount of sleep may be related to foraging. As during the day, great frigatebirds follow ocean eddies at night23 to position themselves near potential foraging sites at daybreak and, perhaps, under favourable conditions, to forage at night22. Although it is unknown whether frigatebirds pay attention to atmospheric, olfactory, or visual cues to monitor the ocean at night23,31, the low amount of sleep suggests that this task requires full attention exceeding that possible during USWS. Even during the little sleep that did occur in ight, frigatebirds sacriced sleep for vigilance, as indicated by the greater degree of SWS asymmetry and the preference for keeping the eye connected to the awake hemisphere facing the direction of ight. Although the risk of falling in the water is reduced by their preference for sleeping in rising air currents and at higher altitudes, frigatebirds may still need to watch where they are going to avoid collisions with other birds. In this regard, even though ying frigatebirds have no predators, their utilization of ASWS is similar to that in ducks (Anas platyrhynchos) sleeping on land which direct the open eye toward a predatory threat17.

Despite marked ecological and environmental differences, the ability to greatly reduce the time spent sleeping in ight is similar to that recently described in polygynous male pectoral sandpipers (Calidris melanotos)16. While breeding under the constant light of the Arctic summer, some males sleep very little during a 3-week period of malemale competition for mates. Interestingly, the males who sleep the least sire the most offspring, suggesting that resistance to the adverse effects of sleeplessness is under sexual selection. Our ndings in frigatebirds demonstrate that other ecological pressures can also favour an ability to sustain wakefulness32,33 even in animals living under equatorial photoperiods.

In contrast to frigatebirds, in humans14 and other animals34, including some birds30,35, the adverse effects of sleep loss (for example, sleepiness and reduced attention) manifest rapidly and accumulate across days of sleep restriction. In addition to selection for resistance to the adverse effects of sleep loss, these divergent results might be explained by differences in motivation and associated brain neurochemistry36. The small amounts of sleep in ying frigatebirds may also serve as restorative power naps that help them forestall the recovery of sleep until they return to land. Determining how ying frigatebirds sustain performance on little sleep may provide new perspectives on our understanding of the adverse effects of sleep loss experienced in humans.

Methods

Animals and instrumentation. The Galpagos National Park Service approved of and granted the research permits for this work. During August, 2014, adult females (N 15) caring for chicks on the coast of Darwin Bay, Genovesa Island, Galpagos,

Ecuador (0195.57"N, 89571.23"W) were caught by hand on their nest at night. The chick was covered to keep it warm and safe while its mother was instrumented.

Using isourane anaesthesia and aseptic methods16, for each cerebral hemisphere, EEG sensors were placed on the dura overlying the anterior (A) and posterior (P) hyperpallium, a structure that forms a pronounced bulge in the cranium of frigatebirds (Fig. 1b; for a CT scan of a similar skull see, http://www.digimorph.org/specimens/Fregata_magnificens/

Web End =www.digimorph.org/ http://www.digimorph.org/specimens/Fregata_magnificens/

Web End =specimens/Fregata_magnicens/ ); the sensors were 8 mm apart along the AP axis, spanning the most pronounced portion of the cranial bulge, and 4 mm from the midline (Fig. 1b). A fth sensor was placed laterally on the left hemisphere for the electrical ground. The gold-plated, round-tipped (0.5 mm diameter) sensors were secured with a small amount of dental acrylic cured with an ultraviolet light (Clearl SE Bond, Kuraray Noritake Dental, Japan and Tetric EvoFlow, Ivoclar Vivadent AG, Schaan, Liechtenstein) and connected to a exible, insulated spring wire (no. 276-0146-001; DSI, St. Paul, MN). The wires were soldered to a data logger (Neurologger 2A; http://www.evolocus.com

Web End =www.evolocus.com , see also http://www.vyssotski.ch/neurologger2

Web End =www.vyssotski.ch/ http://www.vyssotski.ch/neurologger2

Web End =neurologger2 ) which included a 3.6 V lithium battery (Saft LS-14250; http://www.saftbatteries.com

Web End =www.saftbatteries.com ) and a three-axis accelerometer (LIS302DLH; STMicro-electronics). The logger was glued (Hystoacryl, Aesculap AG, Germany and Pattex, Repair Gel, Henkel AG & Co. KGaA, Germany) to the skin and feathers just posterior to the naso-frontal hinge (Fig. 1b). The logger was congured to record bipolar EEGs from the left and right hemispheres, and acceleration in the three cardinal directions continuously at 200 Hz for up to 10 days. A GPS data logger (igotU, GT-600; http://www.i-gotu.com

Web End =www.i-gotu.com ) congured to record position every 5 min was attached to the back feathers with gaffer tape (tesa, no. 4671; http://www.tesatape.com

Web End =www.tesatape.com ). The total weight (55 g) of the equipment was 4.0% of the birds weight (1366.7924.09 g, s.e.m.). Fourteen of the 15 birds were recaptured 7.790.49 d (s.e.m.; range, 5.3710.45 d) later, after returning from at least one foraging trip. In nine of the birds, we obtained recordings (16.403.33 h, s.e.m., in duration; Supplementary Fig. 9g) after they returned to the nest to evaluate sleep on land. At the end of the study, the equipment was removed under anaesthesia and the birds were released. On release, the birds resumed nesting behaviour indistinguishable from that observed in undisturbed birds. Finally, to validate our analysis of the ight trajectories in great frigatebirds, we used data recorded from two magnicent frigatebirds (Fregata magnicens) in a pilot study conducted in the French Guiana using a GPS data logger (GiPSy-2, http://www.technosmart.eu

Web End =www.technosmart.eu ) with a 1 Hz sampling rate combined with a 3D acceleration logger (25 Hz rate; AXY-1, http://www.technosmart.eu

Web End =www.technosmart.eu ; Fig. 1d,e).

Sleep scoring and EEG analysis. During ight, all days with stable EEGs were scored for time spent awake, and in SWS and REM sleep using 4 s epochs and REMLogic software (Natus Medical, Pleasanton, California)16. All recordings after returning to land were also scored, including the short landings between two ights observed in birds 1 and 5 (Supplementary Figs 1 and 3). A bout of a given state was dened as one or more epochs of that state uninterrupted by a single epoch of another state. The bout durations for wake, SWS, REM sleep and the overall amount of time spent in each state were based on all scored days. The spectral analysis of the EEG focused on a night with comparatively large amounts of sleep and high signal quality (see Supplementary Figs 18). For each state, all 4 s artifact free epochs were analysed with the fast Fourier transform (0.25 Hz bins) applied to Hamming-windowed data. SWA and gamma power were estimated from Fourier coefcients taken for ranges 0.754.5 and 3080 Hz, respectively. Medians of SWA and gamma power were used for statistical comparisons. Quartiles for group medians shown in Fig. 4b and Supplementary Figs 14b and 15b are estimated by bootstrap. Interhemispheric asymmetries in SWA and gamma, and their relationship with the mode of ight (Fig. 3d,e), were based on the night with large amounts of sleep. In addition, SWS-related SWA was calculated for the last night of ight to detect potential changes in sleep intensity across the ight (Supplementary Fig. 15b).

Accelerometry analysis. The accelerometer recordings revealed two predominant patterns during ight (Fig. 2a). Flapping ight was characterized by large sinusoidal oscillations (E2.5 Hz) in the heave and surge axes corresponding to individual wing beats. In contrast, during gliding and soaring ight, the three axes were largely at or showed slow oscillations likely reecting a combination of ne manoeuvres and respiratory movements (see expanded view for SWS in Fig. 2a). When gliding and soaring during the day, small, frequent and rapid horizontal movements of the head were superimposed on these slow oscillations. Flight was occasionally interrupted by a rapid decrease in acceleration along the heave axis, corresponding to the bird dropping, presumably due to momentary folding of the wings (Supplementary Movie 4). Finally, bouts of high-frequency activity occurred infrequently in all axes simultaneously, likely reecting preening, as observed in birds ying over the colony and while on the nest.

Previous studies12,13,26 and our own observations (Fig. 1d), show that frigatebirds exhibit two major ight trajectories; rising in circles (soaring) and straight gliding down. In addition to identifying apping ight, the accelerometer was useful for discriminating circular from straight ight (Fig. 1e). During both types of ight the absolute air-referenced ight speed averaged over signicant time intervals (44 s) is constant (Fig. 1e). Thus, the tangential (co-directed with the speed vector) acceleration is zero in both ight modes. When the animal ies straight the total acceleration felt by the accelerometer is produced only by the gravity vector g (standard gravity, 1g0 9.80665 m s 2). However, during circular

ight additional centripetal (radial) acceleration, ar V2/R (V, speed; R, radius of

the trajectory) is added to the acceleration of gravity:tot r. As rotation lies

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ARTICLE NATURE COMMUNICATIONS | DOI: 10.1038/ncomms12468

p . Thus, to determine whether the trajectory is straight or not, it is sufcient to measure total acceleration, low-pass lter it to remove the inuence of wing apping and compute radial acceleration from this equation. Radial acceleration above 0.175g0 corresponded to circling ight (Fig. 3, Supplementary Fig. 16). Total acceleration in circling ight was 1.0570.003g0 and radial acceleration was 0.3400.009g0 (s.e.m.; see

Supplementary Table 1 for values for individual birds). The bank (wing) angle during soaring was measured as arccos(g/atot) and was 18.750.48 (s.e.m.).

However, for our EEG analysis it was also important to know whether the bird was rotating to the right or to the left. This information was obtained by measuring radial acceleration with the accelerometer mounted on the birds head with one axis (that is, sway) directed laterally. Because frigatebirds keep their heads straight during both ight modes, we were able to determine radial acceleration directly from the accelerometer without additional transformations. However, to conrm this claim and to increase the accuracy of the radial acceleration measurements we also performed computations without this assumption. The accelerometer was attached to the birds head in a way such that one axis was orthogonal to the tangential plain of the bird skull and another was directed laterally. Projection of total acceleration on to the tangential plain of the bird skull clearly shows three clusters corresponding to straight and circling ight, with turning to the left and right (see data from one example bird in Supplementary Fig. 16a). To simplify this analysis, we rotated the axes of the head-xed coordinate system to have one axis directed to the ground during straight ight; however, in the recording examples shown in Figs 2 and 3, Supplementary Fig. 13, acceleration is shown in the original axes of the accelerometer. The following analysis shows that the skull surface tangential plane deviated by 29.860.68 (s.e.m.) from the horizon (see Supplementary Table 1; see also Fig. 1a). As a rst step we down-sampled the acceleration data to 25 Hz (from original 200 Hz) to decrease computation time. We then ltered out high frequencies by applying a low-pass nite impulse response lter (0.1 Hz; span 40 s). The input data were processed both in the forward and reverse directions and the resulting sequence had precisely zero-phase distortion and doubled lter order. Then, we computed principle components (PCs) in 3D space without mean subtraction. The rst PC pointed in the direction of the gravity vector, the secondin the lateral (radial) direction, and the thirdin the direction of the speed vector. Because we found that accuracy of the PCs determination can be affected by outliers, mainly due to episodes when the bird drops down with acceleration in the direction of the rst PC o0.95g0, we excluded such points and recomputed the PCs again. In the horizontal plain of the second and the third PCs (Supplementary Fig. 16b), clusters corresponding to rotation to the left and right were aligned relative to the coordinate axes. The best separation was observed along the second PC corresponding to sway acceleration. The vertical lines drawn at sway accelerations 0.175g0 reliably separate the three clusters in all birds. Because we wanted to compute rotations of the head relative to straight ight, we repeated the PC analysis, but for points representing straight ight only. Coordinates of the rst PC gave the direction to the ground during straight ight. The angle between this direction and skull surface normal is the skull angle shown in Supplementary Table 1. We rotated the coordinate system a second time to have one axis in the direction of the rst PC (Supplementary Fig. 17). In this head-xed coordinate system, during circling ight, the absolute value of lateral (sway) acceleration was 0.3210.008g0 (s.e.m.), acceleration in the direction of the ight (surge) was 0.0280.005g0 and vertical (heave) acceleration was 1.0060.001g0 (see Supplementary Table 1). Assuming zero tangential acceleration as before, we computed the angle of the head turn in circling ight (2.1370.184, s.e.m.) relative to straight ight and the direction of the axes over which the turn was performed (rightleft: 0.6260.096, beaktail: 0.5210.111, downup:

0.2090.033, signs are valid for the case when the animal turns left, but absolute values represent averaged quantities for left and right turns taken together, see Supplementary Table 1). To simplify interpretation of the head turn we computed angular deviations of the head-xed vector pointing upwards in the lateral (rightleft) and anteriorposterior (beaktail) directions. These deviations were 1.0330.252 and 1.4440.233 (signs correspond to the left turn as before). As shown in the table, bank angle (wings-to-horizon) was computed with the assumption that total acceleration was orthogonal to the plane of the wings. This assumption was veried by placing accelerometers on the backs of two magnicent frigatebirds together with the GPS logger in a pilot study (Supplementary Fig. 18). In these two birds, total acceleration during circling ight was 1.053 and 1.067g0.

Standard deviations of sway acceleration were 0.013 and 0.016g0, and standard deviations of surge acceleration were 0.033 and 0.036g0, respectively. Thus, the standard deviation of the total acceleration vector in the lateral direction was 0.71 and 0.85 and in the anteriorposterior direction it was 1.80 and 1.38. Taking the 95% condent border as a more conservative estimate, we obtained 1.45 and 1.67 for sway and 3.60 and 2.81 for surge. These angles are much smaller than the angle of the wing plane to the horizon (18.32 and 20.41). Thus, our assumption about orthogonality of the plane of the wings to total acceleration is correct.

Detection of wing aps and drops. Wing aps and drops were detected by analysing the absolute values of the acceleration vectors recorded by the accelerometer. As a rst step, acceleration was down-sampled to 50 Hz to decrease computation time. Then the signal was band-pass ltered 0.255 Hz. The nite

impulse response lter with an 8 s span was applied in forward and reverse directions to ensure a zero time shift. Deviations in acceleration below 0.4g0

were selected as potential aps and drops. Flaps and drops were separated from noise and sorted by the shape of acceleration signal around these events (0.64 s). The 64-point fragments of the record centred around the detected acceleration minima were sorted using wavelets and a superparamagnetic clustering algorithm37 (WaveClus 2.0 package for Matlab) in birds 1 and 2. After validating the classication algorithm and cluster matching in two birds, the recorded fragments from the remaining birds were sorted using a faster and simpler nearest neighbour algorithm (computing and comparing distances from non-classied elements to the members of the clusters already classied in bird 1). The average shapes of acceleration around aps, drops and noise are shown in Supplementary Fig. 19a. Flaps produce pseudo-periodical deviations in total acceleration with negative and positive deviations of approximately similar magnitude. These almost sinusoidal deviations are produced by regular updown wing movements. Contrary to aps, drops are characterized by a strong negative deviation followed by a slow positive compensation. They are produced by momentary folding of one or both of the wings (see Supplementary Movie 4). Noise is characterized by smaller deviations around the zero time point and on average has a symmetrical shape (relative to the zero time point). The distribution densities of the maximal deviation of acceleration (at zero time) shown in Supplementary Fig. 19b demonstrate that aps can be readily separated from noise by simply selecting a threshold around 0.6g0.

However, separation of drops from aps and noise required information about the signal shape. To estimate the duration of apping ight we summed the 0.35 s interval around ap detection points.

Wind speed analysis. Wind information (absolute value and direction at the birds location) was obtained from the Movebank database (http://www.movebank.org

Web End =www.movebank.org). The database provides wind speeds for altitudes 4100 m. For lower altitudes between 10 and 100 m, wind speed was computed from the wind data at 10 m using the equation W W10(h/h10)a, where W is the wind speed at the desired altitude h;

W10 the known wind speed at altitude h10 10 m over mean sea level; and a the

Hellmann exponent. In this study, the Hellmann exponent (a 0.03958) was

estimated from the average ratio of wind speed at altitudes 100150 m (given by the database) to W10. Because the altitudes given by GPS are not precise enough to be used for calculating wind speed at altitudes o10 m, the value W10 was taken as an estimate of wind speed.

Statistical analysis. For comparisons between ight and land N 9, whereas for

in-ight comparisons N 14. Unless stated otherwise, reported values are the

means.e.m. Paired Students t-tests (two-tailed) were used in most cases. Quantities expressed as a per cent were rst normalized using a Fisher transformation. For the time course of SWA and the different types of SWS on land, the analysis was restricted to birds with at least 10 h of recording time (N 7), and

only the rst 1012 h were used for this analysis. For the analysis of the relationship between sway acceleration and EEG asymmetry (Fig. 3), the mean of the sway values 40.175g0 (to left) and o 0.175g0 (to right) for individual birds were used.

Data availability. The authors declare that the data supporting the ndings of this study are available within the article and its Supplementary Information Files,or from the corresponding authors upon request.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the Galpagos National Park Service for permission to work in the park,the Charles Darwin Research Station for logistical support and the Charles Darwin Foundation. We thank Peter Abegg for veterinary supervision, Martina Oltrogge for help with scoring the accelerometry, Andrei Abramchuk and Irina Panova for help with the Neurologger 2A development, Ninon Ballerstadt for drawing the skull, Matthias C. Berger for making Supplementary Movies 2 and 3 and Dolores Martinez-Gonzalez for comments on the manuscript. The Max Planck Society, the University of Zurich and the Swiss National Science Foundation supported the project.

Author contributions

N.C.R. and A.L.V. designed the study. H.-P.L. and M.W. were involved in the early development of the project. S.M.C., G.DO., N.C.R., R.T. and B.V. collected data. N.C.R. and A.L.V. analysed the EEG data. N.C.R., B.V. and A.L.V. analysed the accelerometry and GPS data. A.L.V. performed the statistical analyses. S.C., N.C.R. and A.L.V. created the gures. N.C.R. and A.L.V. wrote the paper with input from all coauthors.

Additional information

Supplementary Information accompanies this paper at http://www.nature.com/naturecommunications

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Competing nancial interests: The authors declare no competing nancial interests.

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How to cite this article: Rattenborg, N. C. et al. Evidence that birds sleep in mid-ight. Nat. Commun. 7:12468 doi: 10.1038/ncomms12468 (2016).

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