0191 -9067/8l/030297-07$02.00/0 Copyright ® 1981 SUNSAT Energy Council SURVIVAL, DEVELOPMENT, AND TERATOLOGY OF HONEY BEE BROOD (Apis mellifera L.) FOLLOWING EXPOSURE TO 2.45 GHz CONTINUOUS WAVE RADIATION BECKY BROWN WESTERDAHL and NORMAN E. GARY Department of Entomology University of California Davis, California 95616 Abstract—Honey bee brood (1,7, and 14 days old) in combs was exposed for 30 min to 2.45 GHz continuous wave microwave radiation at six power densities (0, 3, 6, 9, 25 and 50 mW/cm2). No significant effects were observed concerning developmental rate or survival to adult emergence. Teratological effects were not detected. Our study was conducted as a part of an ongoing program to determine if there are biological effects caused by the exposure of invertebrates to 2.45 GHz continuous wave microwaves (CWM). It is part of the Concept Development and Evaluation Program of a proposed Solar Power Satellite (SPS) system (1,2) that would collect solar energy and transport it to earth via microwave beams for conversion to electricity. Implementation of the SPS system first requires a careful assessment of environmental risks, including studies of possible effects of CWM radiation on a broad spectrum of animal life. High priority has been assigned to the definition of possible effects of CWM on airborne biota that cannot be excluded from irradiated areas where receiving antennas (rectennas) will be exposed to CWM at a maximum power density of 23 mW/cm2. In this study we wished to determine if short term exposures (30 min) of the immature stages of honey bee eggs, larvae, and pupae to CWM at power level densities approximating those in the rectenna! area would cause mortality, affect growth, or produce teratological effects. Insofar as we know, our studies are the first in which invertebrates have been exposed to continuous wave 2.45 GHz microwave radiation having a ripple of < 2%. Marha et al. (3) reviewed several studies in which development was altered after exposing immature stages of butterflies and beetles to 2.45 GHz fields. More recent research (4, 5) indicates that treatment levels at several hundred watts are lethal to immature stages of southern com root worm, Diabrotica undecimpunctata Howardi', cigarette beetles, Lasioderma serricorne; and tobacco moths, Ephestia eludella. Searle et al. (6) found no significant effects on larvae of the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, when exposed to power densities up to 1.0 W/cm2. Other studies (7) suggest that higher microwave frequencies may induce teratogenesis in the darkling ground beetle, Tenebrio molitor. In our research honey bees are being used because they are ideal experimental animals for studying the effects of CWM that are required in the current SPS refer-
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