“If birds can't
use one of their most significant compasses when they are in towns,
what effect will that have on survival?”
Past experiments
have shown that migratory birds can migrate using their internal
compasses. Their internal compasses is the Earth's magnetic field.
There is now research that shows that electronics and AM radio
signals can disrupt the internal magnetic compasses. An experiment
showed that the birds are unable to find their way with other
frequencies like electronic devices and AM radio signals. They put
birds in huts and then covered the huts with aluminum plates that cut
out noise frequencies. The birds were able to position themselves.
Although, when the plates did not cut out the noise, the birds were
not able to position themselves, and became disoriented. These
findings show that the birds' navigation is controlled by a
biological system sensitive to artificial electromagnetic noise.
NOS:
- Science is based on evidence
- Science is subject to debate and tentative
- Role of skepticism
- Importance of repeatability
- Role of motivation and curiosity
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/noise-from-our-electronics-and-radio-signals-disorients-migratory-birds/
I believe that this is an interesting issue. In the future, with the advancement of electronics I think that this could cause some serious problems. What if, say, a scientist wanted to collect data about an animal using a piece of technology that emitted frequencies that disturbed the animal and changed their behavior or something which would effect the data? Also, as our cities become more filled with technology, what if it begins to effect local animal populations' health or well being? What if it scares them away into unknown territories where they are eaten and the population is wiped out? What if a migrating flock of birds flying through a city lose their direction and fly to even colder areas and all freeze and die? Of course I could come up with an infinite amount of crazy, hypothetical situations, but I seriously think this could become a serious issue and more research needs to be done quickly before any damage is done...
ReplyDeleteI am not at all surprised to here this but it is still interesting. It would never occur to me that this would happen but the mention of it makes complete sense in my mind. We cause so much interference with nature that there seems to be no bounds. My question is simply whether we can stop from doing any serious damage.
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ReplyDeleteI wonder if there is any way that a sort of shield can be created to protect the birds. For example, production of electronics that don't give off frequencies that harm the birds. I did some research to find out more about and found an article on an experiment a lot like the one above. Using aluminum, the birds were effected. I wonder how scientists could incorporate that into a "shield" of some sort? http://www.nature.com/news/electronics-noise-disorients-migratory-birds-1.15176
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