CANBERRA, July 10 (Xinhua) -- Australian scientists have pioneered a video technology that allows for non-invasive monitoring of insect heart health.
By analyzing footage captured from everyday digital cameras, researchers can accurately track the heart rates of various insect species without physical contact or disruption to their natural behavior, researchers from the University of South Australia (UniSA) said on Thursday.
This innovation could revolutionize insect research by providing a gentle, effective way to assess insect wellbeing and responses to environmental changes, according to a UniSA statement.
Researchers showed that video from smartphones, social media, and digital cameras can accurately measure the heart activity of insects like ants, bees, caterpillars, spiders, grasshoppers, and stick insects, all without physical contact or disturbance.
The technique uses sophisticated video analysis to detect tiny movements from insect heartbeats, then applies spectral filtering to extract accurate heart rate data, matching the precision of traditional invasive methods, said the pilot study published in the Archives of Insect Biochemistry and Physiology, an international insect science journal.
This approach accurately captured species-specific heart rates, such as 50 bpm (beats per minute) in ants and 119 bpm in bees, as well as notable interspecies variations, particularly among spiders, according to senior author Professor Javaan Chahl of UniSA.
"Not just for studying insect health, but also for understanding environmental stressors, pesticide effects, or even the well-being of social insects like ants and bees, where heart signals can provide insights into colony health and behavior," Chahl said.
The team plans further field testing and aims to enhance accuracy with machine learning, making this a cost-effective and widely accessible tool for monitoring arthropods, which account for more than 80 percent of animal species. ■
