ArticleiScience2022
Observed electric charge of insect swarms and their contribution to atmospheric electricity.
Article in iScience, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers.
What it found
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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.
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.
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Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed.
- The sensory ecology of caterpillars.Journal of comparative physiology. A, Neuroethology, sensory, neural, and behavioral physiology · 2026Review
- Electrostatics facilitate midair host attachment in parasitic jumping nematodes.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- Electroreception in treehoppers: How extreme morphologies can increase electrical sensitivity.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- Electric transportation and electroreception in hummingbird flower mites.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- Electrostatic pollination by butterflies and moths.Journal of the Royal Society, Interface · 2024Article
- Prey can detect predators via electroreception in air.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2024Article
- An analysis of time-varying dynamics in electrically sensitive arthropod hairs to understand real-world electrical sensing.Journal of the Royal Society, Interface · 2023Article
- Static electricity passively attracts ticks onto hosts.Current biology : CB · 2023Article
- Synthetic fertilizers alter floral biophysical cues and bumblebee foraging behavior.PNAS nexus · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The atmosphere hosts multiple sources of electric charge that influence critical processes such as the aggregation of droplets and the removal of dust and aerosols. This is evident in the variability of the atmospheric electric field. Whereas these electric fields are known to respond to physical and geological processes, the effect of biotic sources of charge has not hitherto been considered. Here, we combine theoretical and empirical evidence to demonstrate that honeybee swarms directly contribute to atmospheric electricity, in proportion to the swarm density. We provide a quantitative assessment of this finding, by comparing the electrical contribution of various swarming insect species with common abiotic sources of charge. This reveals that the charge contribution of some insect swarms will be comparable with that of meteorologically induced variations. The observed transport of charge by insects therefore demonstrates an unexplored role of biogenic space charge for physical and ecological processes in the atmosphere.
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Registered trials
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.