Flexible simulation of animal thermoregulatory behavior in three-dimensional synthetic environments from thermal and optical images

Abstract

Several animals have low metabolism and show body temperatures that are in accordance with environmental temperatures. The relationship between environmental temperature and body temperature is influenced by body size and behavior, in which that some animals accept thermal variation whereas others regulate temperature through behavior. Three-dimensional (3D) environments based on thermal imaging represent a solid tool to elucidate this thermoregulatory behavior to help understand important topics in thermal ecology such as estimating cost of thermoregulation under realistic field conditions, as well as compute the risk of overheating and thermal damage under different ecological scenarios. Although in some studies the proposed models simulate thermoregulation, the connection between thermal and optical image is not explored. This junction can offer a more useful 3D visualization, where topological structures of the landscape can be observed together with thermal information. In this article we present a computational system that is not only capable of generating 3D models by using both thermal and optical images, but is also capable of simulating the thermoregulation behaviors of several animals by means of parameter adjustments made by the user. Our system was analyzed by 22 experts in the biology area – most of them with teaching experience –, who answered objective questions based on their knowledge about the topic, as well as questions about their perception on the simulation provided by our proposal. We used a technology acceptance questionnaire and asked for their contributions through their suggestions. The objective questions reached a hit rate of 68%, which suggests that is relatively easy to use the environment, providing clear comprehension about the simulation, although there is the possibility for improvements. We also found that the hit rate is not related to the experts' level of experience nor with the volunteers' familiarity with 3D environments. Also, 95% of the volunteers indicate a high degree of perceived usefulness, suggesting a potential for using our proposal in teaching and research activities.