In a new study, scientists show that living things can have an impact on atmospheric electricity. In fact, insects can produce as much atmospheric electrical charge as a storm cloud. (Artist’s representation.)
The researchers measured the electric fields near the swarming bees and found that the insects can produce as much atmospheric electrical charge as a storm cloud. This type of electricity helps shape weather events, helps insects find food, and lifts spiders into the air to migrate long distances. Research shows that living things can have an impact on atmospheric electricity. The study was published in the journal iScience on October 24.
“We always looked at how physics was influencing biology, but at some point we realized that biology might also be influencing physics,” says first author Ellard Hunting, a biologist at the University of Bristol. “We are interested in how different organisms use the static electric fields that are found virtually everywhere in the environment.”
As with most living things, bees carry an innate electrical charge. The research team found that swarms of bee hives change atmospheric electricity by 100 to 1,000 volts per meter, increasing the strength of the electric field normally experienced at ground level. They used their data to develop a model that can predict the influence of other insect species.
“How insect swarms influence atmospheric electricity depends on their density and size,” says co-author Liam O’Reilly, a biologist at the University of Bristol. “We also calculated the influence of locusts on atmospheric electricity, since locusts swarm on biblical scales, 460 square miles in size with 80 million locusts in less than a square mile; their influence is probably very bigger than bees.”
“We have recently discovered that biology and static electric fields are intimately related and that there are many unsuspected links that may exist at different spatial scales, ranging from soil microbes and plant-pollinator interactions to insect swarms and perhaps the global electrical circuit.” says Ellard.
“Interdisciplinarity is valuable here: electric charge may seem to live solely in physics, but it’s important to know how much the whole natural world has from electricity to the atmosphere,” says co-author Giles Harrison, a physicist atmosphere of the University. of Reading
Reference: “Observed electric charge of insect swarms and their contribution to atmospheric electricity” by Ellard R. Hunting, Liam J. O’Reilly, R. Giles Harrison, Konstantine Manser, Sam J. England, Beth H. Harris and Daniel Robert, 24 October 2022, iScience.DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2022.105241
Financial support provided by the Swiss National Science Foundation and the European Research Council.