The study shows how even weak electromagnetic fields produced by AM radio signals are bad for birds. The research was outlined in the journal Nature, according to autoworldnews.com.
Electronic pollution, or "electrosmog" as it's called among researchers, is a growing issue that will likely just continue to get worse as more people plug in or listen to radio stations, computers, TVs, and other electrical devices.
Biologist Henrik Mouritsen, a professor at the University of Oldenburg, and his fellow researchers, made this conclusion after studying European robins.
The European robins have an internal magnetic compass, which helps them find their way when other cues, like visual ones, are bad.
"For decades, it has been hotly debated whether man-made electric and magnetic fields affected biological processes, including human health," the authors, from Oldenburg University, wrote in Nature.
The internal magnetic compass helps birds find their way at night, according to Mouritsen.
The team housed birds in windowless huts, which helped them figure out a way to easily turn on and off the bird's exposure to urban electromagnetic signals.
Only certain electromagnetic noise bothered the birds however. The birds were affected in the frequency range of two to five kilohertz megahertz, putting it right in the range of AM radio signals.
"These perturbations do not originate from power lines or mobile networks," Mouritsen said.
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