Gupta Saumya, Marchetto Peter M, Bee Mark A
Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities, St. Paul, MN 55108, United States.
Department of Bioproducts and Biosystems Engineering, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities, St. Paul, MN 55108, United States.
HardwareX. 2020 Jun 10;8:e00116. doi: 10.1016/j.ohx.2020.e00116. eCollection 2020 Oct.
Accurately quantifying animal activity and movements is of fundamental importance in a broad range of disciplines, from biomedical research to behavioral ecology. In many instances, it is desirable to measure natural movements in controlled sensory environments in which the animals are not physically or chemically restrained, but their movements are nevertheless constrained to occur within a fixed volume. Here, we describe a novel device to quantify the movements of small animals in response to sensory stimulation. The device consists of an Arduino controlled inertial measurement unit that senses angular velocity (along three axes) of a suspended mesh enclosure that temporarily houses the animal subject. We validated the device by measuring the phonotaxis behavior of gravid female frogs in response to acoustic broadcasts of male mating calls. The system, as designed, proved effective at measuring natural movements made in response to acoustic stimulation.
准确量化动物的活动和运动在从生物医学研究到行为生态学等广泛学科中具有至关重要的意义。在许多情况下，希望在受控的感官环境中测量自然运动，在这种环境中动物没有受到物理或化学限制，但其运动仍被限制在固定体积内发生。在此，我们描述了一种用于量化小动物对感官刺激做出反应时运动的新型装置。该装置由一个由Arduino控制的惯性测量单元组成，该单元可感测临时容纳动物对象的悬挂网箱的角速度（沿三个轴）。我们通过测量怀孕雌蛙对雄性求偶叫声的声刺激做出反应的趋声行为来验证该装置。按设计，该系统在测量对声刺激做出的自然运动方面被证明是有效的。
