Evidence map›Paper›PMID 27047356›Full record

ArticleFrontiers in behavioral neuroscience2016

Weak Broadband Electromagnetic Fields are More Disruptive to Magnetic Compass Orientation in a Night-Migratory Songbird (Erithacus rubecula) than Strong Narrow-Band Fields.

Susanne Schwarze, Nils-Lasse Schneider, Thomas Reichl, David Dreyer, Nele Lefeldt, Svenja Engels, Neville Baker, P J Hore, Henrik Mouritsen

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 55 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
55citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
19.1field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

55 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 112 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Directionality range in Emlen funnels.Journal of the Royal Society, Interface · 2026
    Pooled it
  2. Article
  3. Review
  4. Article
  5. Magneto-oncology: a radical pair primer.Frontiers in oncology · 2025
    Review
  6. Article
  7. Article
  8. Article
  9. Review
  10. Review
  11. Article
  12. Article
  13. Article
  14. Article
  15. Upper bound for broadband radiofrequency field disruption of magnetic compass orientation in night-migratory songbirds.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2023
    Article
  16. Article
  17. Article
  18. Article
  19. Article
  20. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

9 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.

Susanne SchwarzeInstitut für Biologie und Umweltwissenschaften, Carl von Ossietzky Universität OldenburgOldenburg, Germany; Research Centre for Neurosensory Sciences, University of OldenburgOldenburg, Germany.
Nils-Lasse SchneiderInstitut für Biologie und Umweltwissenschaften, Carl von Ossietzky Universität OldenburgOldenburg, Germany; Research Centre for Neurosensory Sciences, University of OldenburgOldenburg, Germany.
Thomas ReichlInstitut für Biologie und Umweltwissenschaften, Carl von Ossietzky Universität OldenburgOldenburg, Germany; Research Centre for Neurosensory Sciences, University of OldenburgOldenburg, Germany.
David DreyerInstitut für Biologie und Umweltwissenschaften, Carl von Ossietzky Universität OldenburgOldenburg, Germany; Research Centre for Neurosensory Sciences, University of OldenburgOldenburg, Germany.
Nele LefeldtInstitut für Biologie und Umweltwissenschaften, Carl von Ossietzky Universität OldenburgOldenburg, Germany; Research Centre for Neurosensory Sciences, University of OldenburgOldenburg, Germany.
Svenja EngelsInstitut für Biologie und Umweltwissenschaften, Carl von Ossietzky Universität OldenburgOldenburg, Germany; Research Centre for Neurosensory Sciences, University of OldenburgOldenburg, Germany.
Neville BakerDepartment of Chemistry, University of Oxford, Physical and Theoretical Chemistry Laboratory Oxford, UK.
P J HoreDepartment of Chemistry, University of Oxford, Physical and Theoretical Chemistry Laboratory Oxford, UK.
Henrik MouritsenInstitut für Biologie und Umweltwissenschaften, Carl von Ossietzky Universität OldenburgOldenburg, Germany; Research Centre for Neurosensory Sciences, University of OldenburgOldenburg, Germany.
Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg · DEUniversity of Oxford · GB

Funding

European Research Council 340451
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Magnetic compass orientation in night-migratory songbirds is embedded in the visual system and seems to be based on a light-dependent radical pair mechanism. Recent findings suggest that both broadband electromagnetic fields ranging from ~2 kHz to ~9 MHz and narrow-band fields at the so-called Larmor frequency for a free electron in the Earth's magnetic field can disrupt this mechanism. However, due to local magnetic fields generated by nuclear spins, effects specific to the Larmor frequency are difficult to understand considering that the primary sensory molecule should be organic and probably a protein. We therefore constructed a purpose-built laboratory and tested the orientation capabilities of European robins in an electromagnetically silent environment, under the specific influence of four different oscillating narrow-band electromagnetic fields, at the Larmor frequency, double the Larmor frequency, 1.315 MHz or 50 Hz, and in the presence of broadband electromagnetic noise covering the range from ~2 kHz to ~9 MHz. Our results indicated that the magnetic compass orientation of European robins could not be disrupted by any of the relatively strong narrow-band electromagnetic fields employed here, but that the weak broadband field very efficiently disrupted their orientation.

Indexed as

bird orientationmagnetic compassmagnetoreceptionnarrow-band electromagnetic fieldradical pair mechanismtime-dependent electromagnetic fields

Identifiers

PMID27047356
PMCPMC4801848
OpenAlexW2328850614

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.