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Responses of bristle field sensilla inApis mellifica to geomagnetic and astrophysical fields

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Summary

The response of a bristle field sensillum inApis mellifica may be described as follows.

  1. 1.

    Distinct artificial magnetic fields (especially tilting of the static vector) influence the impulse frequency of the sensory cell.

  2. 2.

    At certain hours of the day characteristic changes of the impulse frequency occur.

  3. 3.

    Under predominantly natural magnetic field (MF) conditions there are significant correlations between the variation of selected MF components and impulse frequency (IMP). However, when a spatially oscillating MF-vector is applied, the IMP course does not always show a formal coincidence with MF variation.

  4. 4.

    Our hypothesis is that in this case the trigonometric constellation of sun (S) and moon (M) becomes the dominant guiding factor.

  5. 5.

    IMP frequency — with a given total azimuthal shift of the SM-system — may be calculated by the following equation using S and M azimuth and height data:

    $$IMP_{freq} = \pm (0.46 \cdot (\sin Az_S + \sin h_S ) + (sin Az_M + \sin h_M ))/\Delta t$$

    Az=azimuth (in angular degrees),h=height (in angular degrees).

  6. 6.

    A quantization of the space in 90° steps and the preference of the north-south direction in this orientation system are evident. MF influences are discussed in relation to nuclear magnetic resonance; effects caused by the sun-moon constellation seem to be a gravitational modulation. A partial synthesis of both parameters is possible. Those results are discussed from a quantum mechanical point of view.

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Abbreviations

Az M :

azimuth of the moon

Az S :

azimuth of the sun

B :

magnetic induction in Gauss

B o :

static magnetic field in Gauss

β :

nuclear magneton = 0.5050 · 10−23 erg/Gauss

β n :

Bohr magneton = 0.9273·10−20 erg/Gauss

γ :

1γ=10−5 Oe

gg/2π :

gyromagnetic ratio (a nuclear specific constant) in Hz/Gauss

ΔC :

MF-variation of one of the components X, Y, Z

ΔE :

energy in erg (1 erg=10−7 W·s)

EMF :

earth's magnetic field

ESR :

electron spin resonance

g :

Landé-factor (without dimension) for the electron: 2.0023, for the proton: 5.5855

H :

magnetic field force in Oersted

h :

Planck's constant 6.6256·10−34 Js

h M :

height of the moon

h S :

height of the sun

IMP :

impulses of the sensory cell

k :

Boltzmann-constant=1.3804·10−16 erg/Kelvin

MET :

middle European time

MF :

magnetic field

m S :

magnetic spin moment (+or −)

n 1,n 2 :

population number of nuclear spin states at the lower and upper energy level. The ratio n2/n1 is governed by the Boltzmann law

NMR :

nuclear magnetic resonance

v o :

resonance frequency in Hertz

Oe :

Oersted, unit of the magnetic field force

SEMI :

semi-transformation

SMC :

sun-moon constellation

T :

absolute temperature in Kelvin

TOTAL :

total transformation

ω :

angular frequency

ω L :

Larmor-frequency

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Zoologisches Institut II der Universität Würzburg, Röntgenring 10, D-8700, Würzburg, Federal Republic of Germany

    Herbert Korall & Hermann Martin

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  1. Herbert Korall
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  2. Hermann Martin
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Dedicated in gratitude to Prof. Dr. Drs. h.c. M. Lindauer.

This research was supported by the Akademie der Wissenschaf-ten und der Literatur, Mainz, and the Deutsche Forschungsge-meinschaft

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Korall, H., Martin, H. Responses of bristle field sensilla inApis mellifica to geomagnetic and astrophysical fields. J. Comp. Physiol. 161, 1–22 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00609451

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