GSM 900 MHz radiation inhibits ants' association between food sites and encountered cues

Abstract

The kinetics of the acquisition and loss of the use of olfactory and visual cues were previously obtained in six experimental colonies of the ant Myrmica sabuleti meinert 1861, under normal conditions. In the present work, the same experiments were conducted on six other naive identical colonies of M. sabuleti, under electromagnetic radiation similar to those surrounding GSM and communication masts. In this situation, no association between food and either olfactory or visual cues occurred. After a recovery period, the ants were able to make such an association but never reached the expected score. Such ants having acquired a weaker olfactory or visual score and still undergoing olfactory or visual training were again submitted to electromagnetic waves. Not only did they lose all that they had memorized, but also they lost it in a few hours instead of in a few days (as under normal conditions when no longer trained). They kept no visual memory at all (instead of keeping 10% of it as they normally do). The impact of GSM 900 MHz radiation was greater on the visual memory than on the olfactory one. These communication waves may have such a disastrous impact on a wide range of insects using olfactory and/or visual memory, i.e., on bees.

Keywords::

• Ant
• Colony collapse disorder
• Food collection
• Myrmica sabuleti
• Olfactory memory
• Visual memory

Acknowledgements

We are very grateful to Drs. R. Cammaerts and S. Patigny (Entomologists) who helped with the writing of this manuscript. We thank again Dr. S. Patigny for providing us with several references. Once more, Dr. M. Stachowitsch corrected our English, and we feel indebted to him. Finally, we very sincerely thank the Editor of the journal as well as two anonymous referees whose judicious remarks allowed us to improve our article.

Declaration of interest

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content of and writing of the article.