For decades, scientists and researchers have wondered whether electromagnetic noise – emitted by our use of electronic devices such as cell phones, radios, and televisions – affects birds’ ability to migrate.
Migratory birds are able to sense the Earth’s magnetic field. They use this built-in compass, along with visual cues like the sun and stars, to orient themselves, enabling them to fly in the right direction.
Now, a study recently published in the scientific journal Nature, confirms that at least some frequencies of electromagnetic noise do disorient migratory birds. Following seven years of research, scientists at the University of Oldenburg in Germany have discovered that European robins lose their magnetic orientation capabilities when subjected to electromagnetic frequencies between 50 kilohertz and 5 megahertz.
Power lines and mobile phone networks are not to blame. The disorienting frequency stems from AM radio signals and a range of electronic devices, from toaster ovens to scanning electron microscopes.
The scientists highlight how remarkable it is that this electromagnetic noise can “disrupt the functioning of an entire sensory system in a healthy higher vertebrate.”
Since birds are equipped with other on-board navigation systems, it’s unclear just how crippling this electronic interference is. But birds play an important role in our ecosystem, so this topic warrants further study. And the results may yield more insight into the decades-long questions about how man-made electric and magnetic fields affect other biological processes, including human health.
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Anthropogenic electromagnetic noise disrupts magnetic compass orientation in a migratory bird
Electronics’ noise disorients migratory birds
Photo, posted February 10, 2013, courtesy of Jean-Daniel Echenard via Flickr.
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Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.