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Anthropogenic electromagnetic noise disrupts magnetic compass orientation in a migratory bird
Abstract
Electromagnetic noise is emitted everywhere humans use electronic devices. For decades, it has been hotly debated whether man-made electric and magnetic fields affect biological processes, including human health. So far, no putative effect of anthropogenic electromagnetic noise at intensities below the guidelines adopted by the World Health Organization has withstood the test of independent replication under truly blinded experimental conditions. No effect has therefore been widely accepted as scientifically proven. Here we show that migratory birds are unable to use their magnetic compass in the presence of urban electromagnetic noise. When European robins, Erithacus rubecula, were exposed to the background electromagnetic noise present in unscreened wooden huts at the University of Oldenburg campus, they could not orient using their magnetic compass. Their magnetic orientation capabilities reappeared in electrically grounded, aluminium-screened huts, which attenuated electromagnetic noise in the frequency range from 50 kHz to 5 MHz by approximately two orders of magnitude. When the grounding was removed or when broadband electromagnetic noise was deliberately generated inside the screened and grounded huts, the birds again lost their magnetic orientation capabilities. The disruptive effect of radiofrequency electromagnetic fields is not confined to a narrow frequency band and birds tested far from sources of electromagnetic noise required no screening to orient with their magnetic compass. These fully double-blinded tests document a reproducible effect of anthropogenic electromagnetic noise on the behaviour of an intact vertebrate.
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“It is the singlet -triplet mixing that experiences the influence of the Earth's magnetic field and that has offered some way of explaining behavioural observations such as the light-dependence [94], inclination aspect [95] and resonance effects of the avian compass [96,97].”
From The future of quantum biology (2018) · cites this paper as [97]
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“, 2004) and migratory birds are disoriented in such fields (Engels et al., 2014; Leberecht et al., 2023).”
BackgroundCryptochrome: The magnetosensor with a sinister side?
Landler, L., & Keays, D. A. (2018) · PLoS Biology · doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.3000018 · Cited by 19
Ilieva, M., Bianco, G., & Åkesson, S. (2018) · Animal Behaviour · doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2018.10.007 · Cited by 19
Lakin, I. I., Abbas, Z., Azis, R. S., & Alhaji, I. A. (2020) · Materials · doi:10.3390/ma13204602 · Cited by 19
Environmental sources of radio frequency noise: potential impacts on magnetoreception
Granger, J. N., Cummer, S. A., Lohmann, K. J., & Johnsen, S. (2022) · Journal of Comparative Physiology A · doi:10.1007/s00359-021-01516-z · Cited by 18
“In contrast, the birds oriented magnetically without shielding in a rural area (Engels et al. 2014).”
Lost: on what level should we aim to understand animal navigation?
Wynn, J., & Liedvogel, M. (2023) · Journal of Experimental Biology · doi:10.1242/jeb.245441 · Cited by 18
Quantum Control of Radical-Pair Dynamics beyond Time-Local Optimization
Chowdhury, F. T., Denton, M. C. J., Bonser, D. C., & Kattnig, D. R. (2024) · PRX Quantum · doi:10.1103/prxquantum.5.020303 · Cited by 18
“Experimental approaches have been limited to perturbing radical pair spin systems by radio-frequency magnetic fields [13, 17].”
BackgroundLevitt, B. B., Lai, H. C., & Manville, A. M. (2021) · Reviews on Environmental Health · doi:10.1515/reveh-2021-0083 · Cited by 18
Radio waves zap the biomagnetic compass
Kirschvink, J. L. (2014) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature13334 · Cited by 18
Lidocaine is a nocebo treatment for trigeminally mediated magnetic orientation in birds
Engels, S., Treiber, C. D., Salzer, M. C., Michalik, A., Ushakova, L., Keays, D. A., Mouritsen, H., & Heyers, D. (2018) · Journal of The Royal Society Interface · doi:10.1098/rsif.2018.0124 · Cited by 18
Self-citationGhodsi, A., Jafari, H., Azizi, S., & Ghazavi, M. R. (2020) · Energy · doi:10.1016/j.energy.2020.118268 · Cited by 18
Pan, H., Qing, S., Lyu, P., Ren, J., Ran, Q., Hou, J., Wang, Z., Xia, L., Zhang, X., Liu, X., et al. (2024) · Carbon · doi:10.1016/j.carbon.2024.119907 · Cited by 17
Guerra, P. A. (2020) · Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnbeh.2020.600737 · Cited by 17
“Urbanization can also lead to human-induced electromagnetic noise, which can disrupt magnetic compass orientation in migratory animals (Engels et al., 2014).”
BackgroundNießner, C., & Michael Winklhofer, A. (2017) · Journal of Comparative Physiology A · doi:10.1007/s00359-017-1189-1 · Cited by 17
“RF transients from erratic sources may influence test animals (Engels et al. 2014) and should, therefore, be monitored continuously using a passive loop antenna in the setup.”
BackgroundBlue light-dependent human magnetoreception in geomagnetic food orientation
Chae, K. S., Oh, I., Lee, S., & Kim, S.-C. (2019) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0211826 · Cited by 17
“The testing room was shielded by a six-sided Faraday cage comprising 10-mm-thick aluminum plates, which was grounded during the entire experiment [49].”
Gravell, J., Murton, P. D. F., Pitcher, T. L., Henbest, K. B., Schmidt, J., Buffett, M. M., Moise, G., Gehrckens, A. S., Cubbin, D. R., Štuhec, A., et al. (2025) · Journal of the American Chemical Society · doi:10.1021/jacs.4c14037 · Cited by 16
Self-citationFloquet theory of radical pairs in radiofrequency magnetic fields
Hiscock, H. G., Kattnig, D. R., Manolopoulos, D. E., & Hore, P. J. (2016) · The Journal of Chemical Physics · doi:10.1063/1.4963793 · Cited by 16
Self-citationMaeda, K., Storey, J. G., Liddell, P. A., Gust, D., Hore, P. J., Wedge, C. J., & Timmel, C. R. (2014) · Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics · doi:10.1039/c4cp04095c · Cited by 16
Self-citationLearned and spontaneous magnetosensitive behaviour in the Roborovski hamster (Phodopus roborovskii)
Malewski, S., Begall, S., & Burda, H. (2018) · Ethology · doi:10.1111/eth.12744 · Cited by 16
Some recommendations for experimental work in magnetobiology, revisited
Makinistian, L., Muehsam, D. J., Bersani, F., & Belyaev, I. Y. (2018) · Bioelectromagnetics · doi:10.1002/bem.22144 · Cited by 16
Desynchronization of biological rhythms in response to environmental factors
Комаров, Ф. И., Рапопорт, С. И., Breus, T. K., & Chibisov, S. M. (2017) · Clinical Medicine (Russian Journal) · doi:10.18821/0023-2149-2017-95-6-502-512 · Cited by 16
Metadata
- Authors
- Engels, S., Schneider, N.-L., Lefeldt, N., Hein, C. M., Zapka, M., Michalik, A., Elbers, D., Kittel, A., Hore, P. J., & Mouritsen, H.
- Affiliations
- Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg (DE)
- University of Oxford (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Mouritsen, Henrik
- Venue
- Nature
- Published
- 2014-05
- Volume
- 509
- Issue
- 7500
- Pages
- 353-356
- ISSN
- 0028-0836 (ISSN-L)
- 1476-4687
- OpenAlex
- W2155559532
- Cited by
- 403
- References
- 36
- Citations by year
- 2026: 29 · 2025: 32 · 2024: 22 · 2023: 38 · 2022: 45 · 2021: 36 · 2020: 34 · 2019: 30 · 2018: 32 · 2017: 32 · 2016: 32 · 2015: 26 · 2014: 15
- FWCI
- 20.77
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
- Locations
- Nature (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Biophysics › Electromagnetic Fields and Biological Effects
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Geophysics › Geomagnetism and Paleomagnetism Studies
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Avian ecology and behavior
- Keywords
- magnetic compass orientation, magnetic orientation, European robin, Erithacus rubecula, bird migration, geomagnetic field, electromagnetic interference shielding, grounding, bioelectromagnetics, songbirds, urbanization effects on wildlife
- MeSH terms
- Aluminum, Animals, Cities, Conservation of Natural Resources, Double-Blind Method, Electricity, Electromagnetic Fields, Electronics, Germany, Housing, Orientation, Radio Waves, Seasons, Universities, Reproducibility of Results, Songbirds, Animal Migration, Magnetic Fields
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