Growth and developmental stability ofDrosophila melanogaster in low frequency magnetic fields

Abstract

Magnetic fields (60 Hz) of 1.5 and 80 microT caused a significant reduction in the weight of Drosophila melanogaster. Moreover, fruit flies in an 80 microT field showed lower developmental stability than either those in a 0 or 1.5 microT field. Developmental instability was measured by fluctuating asymmetry and frequency of phenodeviants. More of the flies in the 80 microT field had fused abdominal segments, and they were more asymmetrical for wing vein R(4+5). The flies in the 1.5 microT field actually showed greater developmental stability than the control flies. Fewer of them had fused abdominal segments, and they were more symmetrical for wing vein R(4+5). Thus, at low field strengths, flies are more developmentally stable than control flies, even though they weigh less.

New View on the Impact of the Low-Frequency Electromagnetic Field (50 Hz) on Stress Responses: Hormesis Effect

“…A hormetic effect of radiofrequency EMF (1,800 MHz) on genomic DNA has been also reported in vitro in mouse embryonic fibroblasts [59]. In case of low-frequency EMF (50 Hz), the hormetic effect to our knowledge, has only been shown till now in Drosophila melanogaster [60]. Our results allowed us to conclude that repeated exposure to EMF of 1 mT shifts the set-point of stress systems activity, leading to adaptation to this kind of stress.…”

Differences in mating behavior between two allopatric populations of a Neotropical scorpion

“…Because of the differences in the environments of the two populations (Cabrera and Willink, 1973;Olivero et al, 2012Olivero et al, , 2014, the individuals tolerate different stress conditions (Møller, 1995;Auffray et al, 1999;Olivero et al, 2012;. Several studies support the idea that environmental stressors of sufficient intensity generate a reduction of developmental stability, which makes individuals less efficient in terms of growth, survival and reproduction (Graham et al, 2000;Santos et al, 2006;Vishalakshi and Singh, 2008a,b), even generating different levels of fluctuating asymmetry (Parsons, 1990;Møller, 1993). Individuals from the Argentinian population are smaller, with smaller structures, and present different types of asymmetry (directional asymmetry, fluctuating asymmetry or antisymmetry) compared to individuals from the Uruguayan population (Olivero et al, 2012(Olivero et al, , 2014.…”

Near Field Radio Frequency Electromagnetic Field Exposure of a Western Honey Bee

“…Therefore, an RF-EMF exposure of sufficiently high intensity can cause thermal effects in all living organisms. These thermal effects of RF-EMF exposure have been shown for insects in [3]- [9], and have lead to research on the RF-EMF absorption in insects [10], on the dielectric properties of insects [3], and on the use of RF-EMFs as an insect control method [4]- [6].…”