Publication details
Weak radiofrequency fields rather cancel than only modify the magnetic navigation of insects
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| Year of publication | 2018 |
| Type | Conference abstract |
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| Citation | |
| Description | It has been known for decades that broad range of animals, such as birds, fish, mammals and even insects, use geomagnetic field as a cue for navigation in space. Mechanism of reception is unknown but convincing evidences of so called radical-pair mechanism based on Cryptochrome protein have been shown. It also has been shown that magnetoreception was influenced by, even a remarkablyweak anthropogenic (10000x weaker than Earth-strength magnetic field) radiofrequency (RF) fields and innate navigation was lost in several spe-cies. The mechanism of RF impact is not very clear. We wandered if magneto-reception mechanism is only modified, or completely cancelled by RF fields. May the background RF noise become a part of natural magnetic environment and may proper navigation still be achieved after some time of training by the animal?We developed a conditioning behavioral assay on firebug Pyrrhocoris apteruswhere rotation of magnetic field was followed by „punishment“ by a hot air stream during the training. In the test, if only magnetic field rotation was pre-sented, the animals „freezed“ (decreased their activity) expecting unpleasant stimulus. Preliminary data suggest that insect magnetoreception is sensitive to Larmor frequency (1,4 MHz, 4nT) and that magnetoreception was completely canceled even if RF was presented all the time during the training and the test. Interes-tingly, only males, not females, reacted successfully to magnetic stimulus. This work shows that the loss of animal navigation due to the anthropogenic RFs is likely not due to the transient modification of perception only but due to fundamental disruption of the Cryptochrome signaling. Considering the role of Cryptochromes in control of circadian rhythms, such a finding may not only be important for animal navigation but it may concern human health as well. |