Infrared Thermal Imaging System for High Precision Field Thermography Research

我们的研究项目调查了影响热生物学的压力源和环境因素，重点关注鸟类。这项研究将我们带到世界各地，从事环境和进化热生物学的发现研究。虽然鸟类可能采用不同的体温调节机制，但大多数试图通过改变外周血流量或表现出蒸发冷却来保持合理的恒定体温。研究从外周传递热量的控制有助于了解大脑如何平衡热量产生和热量损失，从而使我们能够研究潜在的体温调节控制。我们研究项目的最终目标是了解动物用来科普环境变化的策略，并根据其热生物学对物种如何应对气候变化做出基于证据的预测。 鉴于我们采取的比较生物学方法，PI的实验室已成为热生理学，生态生理学和新科学发现交叉领域的世界领导者。 该申请的申请人团队在鸟类生态学和生态生理学方面具有很强的专业知识，特别关注温带和北极物种。该提案是为了购买中波红外热成像摄像机（目前的型号功能不全，无法满足目前的需求，公司不再维修），镜头，视频采集软件和计算组件，这些都是我们进行研究所迫切需要的。这些仪器一起形成了一个集成的红外热成像（IRT）系统，这将最好地解决我们的研究计划的总体目标，并允许学生项目及时完成。在过去的6年里，178名高素质人员（HQP）在我们的实验室和现场接受了培训，所需的设备是当前和未来HQP在热生物学中的科学问题的基础。 在PI实验室工作和访问的HQP数量的增长对我们的旧IRT提出了很大的要求，以至于它需要维修，不再可用，不适合现场使用。拟议的IRT系统将丰富我们的研究成果，扩大研究应用的范围，使我们能够捕捉呼吸气体光学允许生理测量与IRT，并使图像采集和分析更有效，允许更多的访问设备的HQP。MWIRT系统对于Tattersall的研究计划、申请人团队的现场热成像应用以及HQP项目的及时完成至关重要。

Our research programs investigate the stressors and environmental contributors that influence thermal biology, with a strong focus on birds. This research has taken us to different parts of the world to engage in discovery research on environmental and evolutionary thermal biology. Although birds may employ different thermoregulatory mechanisms, most attempt to maintain a reasonably constant body temperature, and do so by altering peripheral blood flow or exhibiting evaporative cooling. Studying the control of heat transfer from the periphery sheds light on how the brain attempts to balance heat production and heat loss, and thus allows us to examine underlying thermoregulatory control. The ultimate goal of our research programs is to understand the strategies that animals use to cope with environmental changes and to make evidence-based predictions about how species will respond to climate change based on their thermal biology. Given the comparative biological approach we take, the PI's laboratory has become a world leader in the intersection of thermal physiology, ecophysiology, and novel scientific discoveries. The team of applicants on this application have strong expertise in avian ecology and ecophysiology, with a particular focus on temperate and arctic species. This proposal is for the purchase of a Mid Wave Infrared Thermal (MWIRT) imaging camera (the current model is not fully functional, unable to meet present needs, and no longer being repaired by the company), lenses, video acquisition software, and computational components, which are urgently required to proceed with our research. Together, these instruments form an integrated Infrared Thermographic (IRT) system which will best address the overarching goals of our research program and allow student projects to be completed in a timely manner. Over the past 6 years, 178 highly qualified personnel (HQP) were trained in our laboratories and in the field, and the equipment requested is foundational to the scientific questions of current and future HQP in thermal biology. The growth in the number of HQP working in and visiting the PI's lab has placed great demands on our older IRT, to the point that it is need of repair and no longer serviceable and is not suited for field purposes. The proposed IRT system will enrich our research findings by expanding the range of research applications, allow us to capture respiratory gases optically allowing for physiological measurements with IRT, and make image acquisition and analysis more efficient, allowing for greater access to the equipment by HQP. The MWIRT system is essential for Tattersall's research program, for the field thermography applications of the team of applicants, and for the timely completion of HQP projects.