Developmental instability as a means of assessing stress in plants: A casestudy using electromagnetic fields and soybeans

Developmental instability is often assessed using deviations from perfect b ilateral symmetry Here, we review the literature describing previous studie s, suggest mechanisms that may account for both the generation and disrupti on of bilateral symmetry, and examine the influence of electromagnetic fiel ds on the asymmetry of soybean leaves. Leaves from plants under high-voltag e power lines generating pulsed magnetic fields of <3 to >50 mG were more a symmetrical for two parameters (the terminal leaflet widths and lateral rac hilla lengths) than leaves of plants even 50 or 100 m away from power lines , This asymmetry could not be attributed to either size scaling or measurem ent error.