Very weak oscillating magnetic field disrupts the magnetic compass of songbird migrants
Autor: | K. V. Kavokin, Regina Lubkovskaja, R. V. Cherbunin, P. S. Grigoryev, Julia Bojarinova, Alexander Pakhomov, Raisa Chetverikova, Nikita Chernetsov, Dmitry Kobylkov |
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Rok vydání: | 2017 |
Předmět: |
0301 basic medicine
Erithacus Biomedical Engineering Biophysics Life Sciences–Earth Science interface Bioengineering Biochemistry Songbirds Biomaterials 03 medical and health sciences 0302 clinical medicine Compass Animals Taxis Response Garden warbler Physics biology business.industry Magnetoreception biology.organism_classification Songbird Magnetic field Magnetic Fields 030104 developmental biology Radiofrequency field Quantum electrodynamics Animal Migration Telecommunications business Oscillating magnetic field 030217 neurology & neurosurgery Biotechnology |
Zdroj: | Journal of The Royal Society Interface. 14:20170364 |
ISSN: | 1742-5662 1742-5689 |
Popis: | Previously, it has been shown that long-distance migrants, garden warblers (Sylvia borin), were disoriented in the presence of narrow-band oscillating magnetic field (1.403 MHz OMF, 190 nT) during autumn migration. This agrees with the data of previous experiments with European robins (Erithacus rubecula). In this study, we report the results of experiments with garden warblers tested under a 1.403 MHz OMF with various amplitudes (∼0.4, 1, ∼2.4, 7 and 20 nT). We found that the ability of garden warblers to orient in round arenas using the magnetic compass could be disrupted by a very weak oscillating field, such as an approximate 2.4, 7 and 20 nT OMF, but not by an OMF with an approximate 0.4 nT amplitude. The results of the present study indicate that the sensitivity threshold of the magnetic compass to the OMF lies around 2–3 nT, while in experiments with European robins the birds were disoriented in a 15 nT OMF but could choose the appropriate migratory direction when a 5 nT OMF was added to the stationary magnetic field. The radical-pair model, one of the mainstream theories of avian magnetoreception, cannot explain the sensitivity to such a low-intensity OMF, and therefore, it needs further refinement. |
Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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