ABSTRACT
During the past few decades, millions of mobile telephony (MT) base antennas and antennas of other types of wireless communications (WC) have been installed around the world, in cities and in nature, including protected natural areas, in addition to pre-existing antennas (e.g., for television, radio broadcasting, radars, etc.) and high-voltage power lines. Only the aesthetic aspects or urban regulations have been generally considered in this deployment by the responsible authorities, while the biological and environmental impacts of the associated electromagnetic fields (EMFs) and corresponding non-ionizing electromagnetic radiation (EMR) emissions have not been assessed so far. Therefore, the effects on animals (including humans) and plants living around the anthropogenic EMF sources have not been considered. This deficit is particularly concerning because these EMFs/EMR are very different from natural EMFs/EMR, such as light, geomagnetic and geoelectric fields, atmospheric (Schumann) oscillations, or cosmic microwaves, which not only are not dangerous at normal intensities, but, on the contrary, they are vital to the environment and to all forms of life. This chapter reviews the available research on the effects of anthropogenic and especially WC EMFs on wildlife and the natural environment, published mainly during the past 30 years. It includes studies conducted both in the nature and in the laboratory, with vertebrates (mammals, birds, fish, amphibians, and reptiles), invertebrates (mostly insects), plants, and trees. Most of these studies have shown significant detrimental effects of the anthropogenic EMFs on wildlife, at intensities comparable to the current ambient exposure levels, suggesting that we are facing a new environmental pollutant which threatens the health and existence of these species. It is worrying that, despite the accumulating evidence, the people, governments, and even nature conservation organizations are uninformed and unaware of the risks that anthropogenic, and especially WC EMFs pose to the welfare of biodiversity and ultimately to humans.
