title: Magnetic orientation of garden warblers (Sylvia borin) under 1.4 MHz radiofrequency magnetic field.
abstract: We report on the experiments on orientation of a migratory songbird, the garden warbler (Sylvia borin), during the autumn migration period on the Courish Spit, Eastern Baltics. Birds in experimental cages, deprived of visual information, showed the seasonally appropriate direction of intended flight with respect to the magnetic meridian. Weak radiofrequency (RF) magnetic field (190 nT at 1.4 MHz) disrupted this orientation ability. These results may be considered as an independent replication of earlier experiments, performed by the group of R. and W. Wiltschko with European robins (Erithacus rubecula). Confirmed outstanding sensitivity of the birds' magnetic compass to RF fields in the lower megahertz range demands for a revision of one of the mainstream theories of magnetoreception, the radical-pair model of birds' magnetic compass.
authors.affiliation: St Petersburg State University, 7-9 Universitetskaya Emb., St Petersburg 199034, Russia A.F. Ioffe Physical Technical Institute, 26 Polytechnicheskaya, St Petersburg 194021, Russia kkavokin@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Kirill
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kavokin
authors.affiliation: St Petersburg State University, 7-9 Universitetskaya Emb., St Petersburg 199034, Russia Biological Station Rybachy, Zoological Institute, 238535 Rybachy, Kaliningrad Region, Russia.
authors.forename: Nikita
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Chernetsov
authors.affiliation: Biological Station Rybachy, Zoological Institute, 238535 Rybachy, Kaliningrad Region, Russia Moscow State University, Moscow 119991, Russia.
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pakhomov
authors.affiliation: St Petersburg State University, 7-9 Universitetskaya Emb., St Petersburg 199034, Russia.
authors.forename: Julia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bojarinova
authors.affiliation: St Petersburg State University, 7-9 Universitetskaya Emb., St Petersburg 199034, Russia Biological Station Rybachy, Zoological Institute, 238535 Rybachy, Kaliningrad Region, Russia.
authors.forename: Dmitry
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kobylkov
authors.affiliation: A.F. Ioffe Physical Technical Institute, 26 Polytechnicheskaya, St Petersburg 194021, Russia.
authors.forename: Barot
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Namozov
mesh_terms: D025041:Animal Migration / Q000502:physiology* / Q000528:radiation effects*; D000818:Animals; D004307:Dose-Response Relationship, Radiation; D060526:Magnetic Fields; D009949:Orientation / Q000502:physiology* / Q000528:radiation effects*; D011829:Radiation Dosage; D011846:Radio Waves; D012621:Seasons; D020308:Songbirds / Q000502:physiology*; D013028:Space Perception / Q000502:physiology* / Q000528:radiation effects
keywords: magnetoreception; orientation; radical-pair model; radiofrequency fields