Behaviour and reproduction of Drosophila melanogaster exposed to 3.6 GHz radio-frequency electromagnetic fields
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Insects are exposed to radio-frequency electromagnetic fields emitted by wireless telecommunication networks. A part of these fields will be absorbed by these insects. This absorption might have biological effects, depending on the amount of absorbed power. It is currently unknown at what level of absorption this might occur. To investigate this, we used RF dosimetry of adult Drosophila melanogaster flies, which we combined with two assays studying the locomotor activity and fecundity of D. melanogaster exposed to electromagnetic fields at 3.6 GHz. To perform dosimetry, we created a 3D digital twin of an adult fly using micro-CT scans of a female D. melanogaster. We used this model in numerical EM simulations to estimate the absorbed power in the fly as a function of RF frequency in the far field of an antenna and during the two experimental assays at 3.6 GHz. In the behavioural experiments, no effects were found on the locomotor activity for a 5-day exposure to RF field values between 5.4 and 9 V/m, which correspond to 3.56 nW to 9.88 nW absorbed power. We also did not find any effects on fecundity, at an absorption level of 1.91 mW for 48h at 3.6 GHz. In our future work, we aim to investigate possible exposure effects at higher frequencies and exposures, and for immature stages.
Source: PLoS ONE
Authors: Pieterjan De Boose, Felipe Oliveira Ribas, Duncan Bell, Maria Bouga, Eline De Borre, Jürg Fröhlich, Fani Hatjina, Anke Huss, Anastasia Kalapouti, Orestis L. Katsamenis, Lewis Blackwell, Pantelitsa Georgiadou, Ayesha Mohiud-din, Elham Alshamrani, Christelle Lasbleiz, Menelaos Stavrinides, Zoi Thanou, Antonios Tsagkarakis, Andri Varnava, Marco Zahner, Herman Wijnen, Arno Thielens
Institutions: Ghent University, University of Suffolk, Agricultural University of Athens, Dimitra, Hellenic Agricultural Organization - DIMITRA, Utrecht University, University of Southampton, Inserm, École Pratique des Hautes Études, Université de Montpellier, Université Paris Sciences et Lettres, Cyprus University of Technology, The Graduate Center, CUNY, City University of New York, CUNY Advanced Science Research Center, Eindhoven University of Technology
Language: English
Subfield: Biophysics
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $2,382
OpenAlex ID: W4416947015