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.
Sex differences in foraging behaviour have been explained by size dimorphism and/or avoidance of inter-sexual competition for depletable resources. To distinguish between these 2 hypotheses, we examined how intrinsic factors (sex-related differences) and extrinsic factors (year differences) shape the foraging behaviour of size-dimorphic imperial shags Phalacrocorax atriceps albiventer breeding at New Island, Falkland Islands/Islas Malvinas. We deployed time-depth and compass loggers to male and female imperial shags over 3 consecutive chick-feeding seasons. Males and females partly overlapped in coastal foraging areas, which were used mainly for benthic diving. Males additionally used offshore areas over deep water for shallow pelagic diving, suggesting that spatial segregation is involved in the avoidance of inter-sexual competition for food. Stable isotope data suggested differences in prey composition between the sexes, with consistently higher trophic levels in males, as expected for their larger size. Males were 27% heavier than females and reached greater maximum dive depths (98.9 ± 5.3 m) than females (54.1 ± 2.9 m). However, contrary to predictions based on body size dimorphism, the median dive depths of males were similar to those of females. While females used mainly benthic diving, males were more flexible in their benthic and pelagic foraging behaviour. Females also carried out more dives per day in all years, and deeper and longer dives than males in one year. As dive parameters differed strongly among the years, our results suggest that body size dimorphism and the avoidance of inter-sexual competition for food are involved in the evolution of sex-related differences in foraging in this species.
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