Thermal imaging to assess individual physiological state in wild animals

Fitness – the ability of an organism to survive and reproduce – is central to evolutionary biology and conservation ecology. Thermal imaging of body surface temperature has been proposed as a non-invasive means to examine how physiological processes in wild animals are dynamically adjusted to maximise fitness in response to environmental variation. The aim of the EU-funded THERMALIMAGING STATE project is to develop thermal imaging as a powerful new tool to advance our understanding of the links between individual state and fitness in natural environments. This novel technique will be validated in the US and then field-trialled in the EU, guided by the expertise of internationally recognised ecophysiologists at the University of Groningen and the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology.