Data loggers for high altitude studies

斑头雁是一种越冬在南亚，夏季在中国和蒙古的高海拔高原繁殖的鸟类。在它们一年两次的迁徙中，它们会飞过世界上最高的山脉喜马拉雅山脉。在这样的海拔高度，空气中的氧气非常少，其他动物会陷入昏迷。尽管生物学家对人类和其他动物如何在高海拔地区活动非常感兴趣，但斑头雁如何在低氧条件下完成这项令人难以置信的运动壮举仍然未知。本申请所要求的设备将用于确定斑头雁如何在如此高的高度飞行。定制设计的数据记录设备将被建造，可以植入这些野生动物体内，在飞行过程中测量和记录它们生理的关键方面。具体来说，这些记录仪将测量心率（以及间接的代谢率）、血液中携带的氧气量、体温、加速度、拍打翅膀的频率和气压。使用这些数据记录仪收集的信息将为了解在高海拔地区体内运输氧气的生理系统如何工作提供有价值的见解。这也将为斑头雁提供重要的生态信息。据信，该物种在野外受到威胁，数量正在减少，有关它们迁徙路线的详细信息将有助于保护工作。最后，由于候鸟可能在亚洲和世界其他地区传播禽流感，描述迁徙模式的数据应有助于制定适当的战略，以避免潜在的大流行。由于所有这些原因，使用所要求的设备收集的信息应对基础研究和人类健康问题作出重要贡献，这将使所有加拿大人受益。

The bar-headed goose is a bird species that winters in southern Asia and breeds in the summer on the high altitude plateaus of China and Mongolia. During its biannual migration between these areas this species flies over the Himalayas, the highest mountain range in the world. At these altitudes, there is so little oxygen in the air that other animals would be rendered comatose. Despite the intense interest among biologists in how humans and other animals function at high altitudes, how bar-headed geese can perform this incredible feat of exercise in low oxygen conditions remains unknown. The equipment requested in this application will be used to determine how bar-headed geese can fly at such high altitudes. Custom designed data logging equipment will be built that can be implanted in these animals in the wild with the capability to measure and record key aspects of their physiology during flight. Specifically, these loggers will measure heart rate (and indirectly metabolic rate), the amount of oxygen carried in the blood, body temperature, acceleration, frequency of wing flapping, and barometric pressure. The information collected using these data loggers will provide valuable insight into how the physiological systems that transport oxygen within the body work at high altitude. This information will also provide important ecological information about bar-headed geese. This species is believed to be threatened and declining in the wild, and detailed information about their migration routes will assist conservation efforts. Finally, because migratory birds could spread avian influenza throughout Asia and the rest of the world, data describing migration patterns should assist the development of appropriate strategies for avoiding a potential pandemic. For all these reasons, the information collected using the requested equipment should make important contributions to both basic research and human health issues that will benefit all Canadians.