2018/05/22 by Laurent Seuront, Terence P T Ng, Terence P. T. Ng +2 · 2 citations
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Environmental Science · Neuroscience · #Insect and Arachnid Ecology and Behavior #Physiological and biochemical adaptations #Neurobiology and Insect Physiology Research
paper · doi:10.1093/mollus/eyy023
In an era of global change, thermal biology and ecology are becoming increasingly popular topics in invertebrateresearch, including molluscs. However, this area of research is still very limited, essentially due tothe intrinsic spatial limitations of traditional single-point temperature measurements (e.g. thermocouples,iButtons and infrared thermometers). This is not the case, however, with infrared thermography, whichhas the desirable attribute of producing images that allow for simultaneous measurements of multiple molluscanindividuals, species and communities. Infrared thermography allows for spatial and temporal monitoringof microclimates at scales relevant to individual organisms and hence may represent a first step tobridge the gap between field-based approaches (typically spanning from centimetres to tens of metres) toclimatic scenarios (typically coarse-grained, i.e. 10 × 10 km). This review first provides a brief history ofinfrared thermography, followed by a description of the fundamental physical properties and quantitiesthat bridge the gap between the physics of heat transfer and the physics of infrared thermography. Wethen thoroughly review the thermal biology and ecology of molluscs, and the previous biological and ecologicalapplications of infrared thermography—including the very few in molluscan research. We providedetailed recommendations related to the proper use of infrared thermography. Finally, we discuss thepotential applications of infrared thermography in molluscan research, based on case studies involvingboth terrestrial and intertidal molluscs, with emphasis on its use as a tool for monitoring impacts of climatechange.