The DOI matches its Crossref record; 36 of the 36 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
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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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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