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First published online September 19, 2006
Journal of Experimental Biology 209, 3882-3886 (2006)
Published by The Company of Biologists 2006
doi: 10.1242/jeb.02456

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Laboratory behavioural assay of insect magnetoreception: magnetosensitivity of Periplaneta americana

Martin Vácha

Department of Animal Physiology and Immunology, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Kotlárská 2, Brno, 611 37, Czech Republic

e-mail: vacha{at}sci.muni.cz

Accepted 24 July 2006

A relatively simple all-laboratory behavioural assay of insect magnetoreception has been developed. We found non-conditioned reactions of American cockroach to the periodical shifts of the geomagnetic field. The movement activity of animals individually placed into Petri dishes was scored as a number of body turns. Test groups were exposed to a 90-min interval with the horizontal component of the geomagnetic field periodically rotated by 60° back and forth with 5 min periodicity. The number of body turns was compared with the preceding and following intervals and with the corresponding interval of the control group kept in the natural field. We obtained a significant increase in activity when changes in field were applied. Interestingly, the period of increased activity did not coincide precisely with the 90 min stimulation interval. The onset of animal restlessness was delayed by tens of minutes and persisted correspondingly after the stimulation stopped. A respective evaluation criterion was suggested and verified.

Owing to its simplicity and minimal manipulation of the insects, together with low demands on the memory and motivation state of animals, the approach potentially may be used as a laboratory diagnostic tool indicating magnetoreception in insect neurophysiology research.

Key words: magnetoreception, insects, Periplaneta americana

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This article has been cited by other articles:

				M. Vacha, T. Puzova, and M. Kvicalova Radio frequency magnetic fields disrupt magnetoreception in American cockroach J. Exp. Biol., November 1, 2009; 212(21): 3473 - 3477. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]