Abstract
Proximal imaging remote sensing technologies are used to phenotype and to characterize organisms based on specific external body reflectance features. These imaging technologies are gaining interest and becoming more widely used and applied in ecological, systematic, evolutionary, and physiological studies of plants and also of animals. However, important factors may impact the quality and consistency of body reflectance features and therefore the ability to use these technologies as part of non-invasive phenotyping and characterization of organisms. We acquired hyperspectral body reflectance profiles from three insect species, and we examined how preparation procedures and preservation time affected the ability to detect reflectance responses to gender, origin, and age. Different portions of the radiometric spectrum varied markedly in their sensitivity to preparation procedures and preservation time. Based on studies of three insect species, we successfully identified specific radiometric regions, in which phenotypic traits become significantly more pronounced based on either: 1) gentle cleaning of museum specimens with distilled water, or 2) killing and preserving insect specimens in 70% ethanol. Standardization of killing and preservation procedures will greatly increase the ability to use proximal imaging remote sensing technologies as part of phenotyping and also when used in ecological and evolutionary studies of invertebrates.
Highlights
The main goals with this study were to demonstrate the potential power of organismal description based on proximal remote sensing
We demonstrated that subtle cleaning of museum specimens enabled identification of origin-related reflectance features, and these features were not detectable prior to cleaning
Our analysis emphasizes the importance of subtle cleaning with distilled water, if proximal remote sensing is used in studies of specimens, which have been stored for long periods of time and/or under conditions where dust may deposit on the examined specimens
Summary
We hypothesized that the ability to detect phenotypic body reflectance features associated with gender, origin, age, and time of storage are influenced by preparation and preservation procedures of insect specimens. We examined the effect of cleaning stored museum specimens and killing method of fresh insects, and the analysis was based on interpretation of F-values from generalized linear models of variance (glm) of average reflectance data in each of 211 spectral bands from 405–1010 nm.
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