THERMALIMAGING STATE · Thermal imaging to assess individual physiological state in wild animals
Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2022-02-01 → 2025-02-18
- EU contribution
- €253,052
- Participants
- 2
- Scheme
- MSCA-IF
Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.
Results in brief
Thermal imaging to assess individual physiological state in wild animals
Understanding variation in ability to survive and pass on genes (fitness) is vital for evolutionary biology and conservation ecology. Physiological state is especially important in this respect, because physiological processes are dynamically adjusted to maximise fitness in response to environmental changes - both predictable rhythmic environmental variation like the cycle of day and night and unpredictable challenges, such as an attack by a predator. As such, assessing physiological state is crucial to uncovering the fundamental reasons why some individuals perish, while others prosper, and therefore, to predicting which populations might face risk of extinction. However, assessing physiological state in wild animals still usually means subjects need to be trapped and handled, so blood can be sampled or measurement devices can be implanted or attached. While useful, these kinds of invasive techniques interrupt natural behaviour, can cause bias toward trappable individuals, and may alter subsequent performance. Additionally, welfare limits on repeated invasive sampling also restrict tracking of responses over time. This project sought to provide an alternative method for measuring physiological state by instead targeting body surface temperatures (BST). BST are expected to relate to underlying physiological processes in a predictable way, and can be measured non-invasively using infrared thermal imaging. BST in endothermic species (which generate heat internally, e.g. birds, mammals) have previously been shown to correlate with acute stress and energy metabolism. But, the mechanisms linking these traits are not fully understood, and have not been experimentally validated. Our overall objectives were to combine use of heart rate monitoring backpacks and thermal imaging to experimentally characterise the relationships between stress/energetic physiological states and body surface temperatures in the lab. This data was then used to inform experimental field tests aiming to demonstrate how body surface temperature responses to stress and energetic challenges are connected with fitness in wild animals.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
Understanding variation in ability to survive and pass on genes (fitness) is central to evolutionary biology and conservation ecology. Fitness differences are largely explained by physiological state, as physiological processes are dynamically adjusted to maximise fitness in response to environmental variation. However, assessing physiological state in wild animals is usually invasive, requiring trapping and handling. As well as raising ethical concerns, such techniques interrupt natural behaviour, can cause bias toward trappable individuals, and may alter subsequent performance. Welfare limits on repeated invasive sampling also restrict tracking of responses over time. Previously, I provided proof of concept for an innovative alternative approach to overcome these issues – non-invasive thermal imaging of body surface temperature. I showed body surface temperature reflects two physiological processes highly relevant to fitness – acute stress and maintenance of energy reserves. But, the mechanisms underlying these relationships remain unclear, calling for rigorous experimental exploration to build the foundations needed for this method to be applied in research and conservation. Hence, the aim of this proposal is to develop thermal imaging as a powerful new tool to advance understanding of the links between individual state and fitness in natural environments. An initial visit to the world leading wild-vertebrate stress lab (Tufts University, US) will be used to perform detailed physiological validations in captivity. Methods established in the US will then be field-trialled in the EU, guided by the expertise of internationally recognised ecophysiologists at the University of Groningen and Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, ensuring in-depth synthesis of results. Combined, this work will place me at the forefront of the exciting, transformative use of thermal imaging as a novel tool for studying how wild animals cope with changing environments.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- RIJKSUNIVERSITEIT GRONINGEN · GroningenCoordinatorNetherlands
- TRUSTEES OF TUFTS COLLEGE NON PROFIT CORPORATION · MEDFORD MAUnited States
Links
Data: CORDIS, © European Union