Orientation and Navigation of Bees may be disturbed by man-made electric, magnetic and electromagnetic fields.

Dr Warnke, May 2007.

The conclusions of the research of other scientists and of my own research result in the following statement:

1. The outer skin, or integument, of bees (and bird feathers) has semi conductive and piezoelectric functions.
2. This means they act as a transducer of pulse modulated high frequency microwave fields into an audio frequency range. Certain parts of the structure of the integument function as dielectric receptors of electromagnetic radiation in the microwave region.
3. The presence of magnetite nanoparticles has been demonstrated in the abdomen of bees. Magnetite is an excellent absorber of microwave radiation at frequencies between 0.5 and 10.0 GHz through the process of ferromagnetic resonance. Pulsed microwave energy absorbed by this process is first transduced into acoustic vibrations (magneto acoustic effect).
4. It has been demonstrated that free-flying honeybees are able to detect static intensity fluctuations and ultra low frequency magnetic fields as weak as 26 nT against the background earth-strength magnetic field.
5. Magnetic field bursts at a frequency of 250 Hz oriented parallel to the field lines of the Earth’s magnetic field induce unequivocal jumps of misdirection of up to +10°.
6. The magnetic induction levels in today’s environment range usually between
1 nT and 170,000 nT in the low frequency range and between several nT and several 1000 nT in the high frequency range. Hence, these levels are commonly higher than the threshold of sensibility of bees to variations of magnetic fields.
7. In the honeybee, the nitric oxide (NO)-system in the antennal lobes is implicated in chemosensory processing and in memory formation. Disturbance of the NO-system through electromagnetic fields with low and high frequency is proved today only in mammals, but it is expected to work in the same manner also in insects. In this case, olfactory function and the memory of bees are fading.

On balance, the consequence of all these investigations is that the orientation and navigation of bees may be disturbed by man-made technical communication fields.