Why is it so difficult to study magnetic compass orientation in murine rodents?

Phillips, John B.; Muheim, Rachel; Painter, Michael S.; Raines, Jenny; Anderson, C.; Landler, Lukas; Dommer, Dave; Raines, Adam; Deutschlander, Mark E.; Whitehead, John; Fitzpatrick, Nicole Edgar; Youmans, Paul W.; Borland, Chris; Sloan, Kelly; McKenna, Kaitlyn

doi:10.1007/s00359-021-01532-z

Cited by 11 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 113 publications

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“…Interestingly, magnetic experiments on epigeic rodents were only successful in the absence of weak radiofrequency noise, i.e., when the laboratory was electromagnetically shielded ( Phillips et al 2013 ; Malewski et al 2018b ). Phillips et al (2022) provide a comprehensive summary of light-dependent magnetic compass orientation in murine rodents, its sensitivity to low-level RF-EMFs, and methodological problems caused by anthropogenic RF-EMFs in laboratory settings. Thus, current data have been interpreted to suggest that epigeic mammals might use a radical pair mechanism, while mole-rats and bats likely use a light-independent magnetic particle-based mechanism.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biological Effects of Electric, Magnetic, and Electromagnetic Fields from 0 to 100 MHz on Fauna and Flora: Workshop Report

Pophof¹,

Henschenmacher²,

Kattnig

et al. 2022

Health Physics

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This report summarizes effects of anthropogenic electric, magnetic, and electromagnetic fields in the frequency range from 0 to 100 MHz on flora and fauna, as presented at an international workshop held on 5–7 November in 2019 in Munich, Germany. Such fields may originate from overhead powerlines, earth or sea cables, and from wireless charging systems. Animals and plants react differentially to anthropogenic fields; the mechanisms underlying these responses are still researched actively. Radical pairs and magnetite are discussed mechanisms of magnetoreception in insects, birds, and mammals. Moreover, several insects as well as marine species possess specialized electroreceptors, and behavioral reactions to anthropogenic fields have been reported. Plants react to experimental modifications of their magnetic environment by growth changes. Strong adverse effects of anthropogenic fields have not been described, but knowledge gaps were identified; further studies, aiming at the identification of the interaction mechanisms and the ecological consequences, are recommended.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biological Effects of Electric, Magnetic, and Electromagnetic Fields from 0 to 100 MHz on Fauna and Flora: Workshop Report

Pophof¹,

Henschenmacher²,

Kattnig

et al. 2022

Health Physics

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“…One of our main goals in writing the present review was to make the scientific community aware of how many of such studies there are, and how far they go beyond the specific and much more well-known context of avian magnetoreception. Low level (graeter than 10 nT) radio frequencies from ambient anthropogenic sources present in and around laboratory settings have been observed to influence magnetic compass responses in animals as different a song-birds, murine rodents and amphipods [451,649,650]. Further, it is shown that changes in radio frequencies exposure, not just the presence or absence of an RF field, can alter responses to the static field [650,651].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Low level (graeter than 10 nT) radio frequencies from ambient anthropogenic sources present in and around laboratory settings have been observed to influence magnetic compass responses in animals as different a song-birds, murine rodents and amphipods [ 451 , 649 , 650 ]. Further, it is shown that changes in radio frequencies exposure, not just the presence or absence of an RF field, can alter responses to the static field [ 650 , 651 ]. This may also contribute to the reproducibility issues of magnetosensitivity in biology.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Magnetic field effects in biology from the perspective of the radical pair mechanism

Zadeh-Haghighi

Simon

2022

J. R. Soc. Interface.

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Hundreds of studies have found that weak magnetic fields can significantly influence various biological systems. However, the underlying mechanisms behind these phenomena remain elusive. Remarkably, the magnetic energies implicated in these effects are much smaller than thermal energies. Here, we review these observations, and we suggest an explanation based on the radical pair mechanism, which involves the quantum dynamics of the electron and nuclear spins of transient radical molecules. While the radical pair mechanism has been studied in detail in the context of avian magnetoreception, the studies reviewed here show that magnetosensitivity is widespread throughout biology. We review magnetic field effects on various physiological functions, discussing static, hypomagnetic and oscillating magnetic fields, as well as isotope effects. We then review the radical pair mechanism as a potential unifying model for the described magnetic field effects, and we discuss plausible candidate molecules for the radical pairs. We review recent studies proposing that the radical pair mechanism provides explanations for isotope effects in xenon anaesthesia and lithium treatment of hyperactivity, magnetic field effects on the circadian clock, and hypomagnetic field effects on neurogenesis and microtubule assembly. We conclude by discussing future lines of investigation in this exciting new area of quantum biology.

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“…Lett. 19: 20230181 frequency (RF) noise artefacts produced by the coil set-up [21], we tested our coil set-up for RF noise but found no differences between treatments (see electronic supplementary material, S4). A confused or stress response, therefore, would again appear to be the most likely explanation considering the lack of any significant orientation direction as would be predicted if an inclination compass were being used.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Therefore, while the shifted bats experienced only a rotated field, the shifted-and-inclination-reversed bats experienced a magnetic field very different from anything they would normally experience, which may explain the lack of any directionality. To rule out the possibility that this effect may have been due to radio-frequency (RF) noise artefacts produced by the coil set-up [ 21 ], we tested our coil set-up for RF noise but found no differences between treatments (see electronic supplementary material, S4). A confused or stress response, therefore, would again appear to be the most likely explanation considering the lack of any significant orientation direction as would be predicted if an inclination compass were being used.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Migratory bats are sensitive to magnetic inclination changes during the compass calibration period

Schneider,

Holland,

Keišs

et al. 2023

Biol. Lett.

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The Earth's magnetic field is used as a navigational cue by many animals. For mammals, however, there are few data to show that navigation ability relies on sensing the natural magnetic field. In night-time migrating bats, experiments demonstrating a role for the solar azimuth at sunset in the calibration of the orientation system suggest that the magnetic field is a candidate for their compass. Here, we investigated how an altered magnetic field at sunset changes the nocturnal orientation of the bat Pipistrellus pygmaeus . We exposed bats to either the natural magnetic field, a horizontally shifted field (120°), or the same shifted field combined with a reversal of the natural value of inclination (70° to −70°). We later released the bats and found that the take-off orientation differed among all treatments. Bats that were exposed to the 120° shift were unimodally oriented northwards in contrast to controls which exhibited a bimodal north–south distribution. Surprisingly, the orientation of bats exposed to both a 120° shift and reverse inclination was indistinguishable from a uniform distribution. These results suggest that these migratory bats calibrate the magnetic field at sunset, and for the first time, they show that bats are sensitive to the angle of magnetic inclination.

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Why is it so difficult to study magnetic compass orientation in murine rodents?

Cited by 11 publications

References 113 publications

Biological Effects of Electric, Magnetic, and Electromagnetic Fields from 0 to 100 MHz on Fauna and Flora: Workshop Report

Biological Effects of Electric, Magnetic, and Electromagnetic Fields from 0 to 100 MHz on Fauna and Flora: Workshop Report

Magnetic field effects in biology from the perspective of the radical pair mechanism

Migratory bats are sensitive to magnetic inclination changes during the compass calibration period

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