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AntVideoRecord: Autonomous system to capture the locomotor activity of leafcutter ants - PubMed

  • ️Sat Jan 01 2022

AntVideoRecord: Autonomous system to capture the locomotor activity of leafcutter ants

J A Sabattini et al. HardwareX. 2022.

Abstract

The leafcutter ants (LCA) are considered plague in a great part of the American continent, causing great damage in production fields. Knowing the locomotion and foraging rhythm in LCA on a continuous basis would imply a significant advance for ecological studies, fundamentally of animal behavior. However, studying the forage rhythm of LCA in the field involves a significant human effort. This also adds a risk of subjective results due to the operator fatigue. In this work a new development named 'AntVideoRecord' is proposed to address this issue. This device is a low-cost autonomous system that records videos of the LCA path in a fixed position. The device can be easily reproduced using the freely accessible source code provided. The evaluation of this novel device was successful because it has exceeded all the basic requirements in the field: record continuously for at least seven days, withstand high and low temperatures, capture acceptable videos during the day and night, and have a simple configuration protocol by mobile devices and laptops. It was possible to confirm the correct operation of the device, being able to record more than 1900 h in the field at different climate conditions and times of the day.

Keywords: Animal behavior; Continuous monitoring; Embedded systems; Survival camera.

© 2022 The Author(s).

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

None
Graphical abstract
Fig.1
Fig.1

Overview of the AntVRecord mechanical design and electronic component. The parts are detailed in Section 4 (Bill of materials).

Fig. 2
Fig. 2

Design of the physical support of the initial AntVRecord model.

Fig. 3
Fig. 3

AntVRecord design with various degrees of freedom.

Fig 4
Fig 4

Design of the AntVRecord with two support points using conventional manufacturing hardware.

Fig. 5
Fig. 5

Waterproof IP65 box with electronic component installed.

Fig. 6
Fig. 6

Raspberry Pi desktop with installation and opening of AntVRecord OS.

Fig. 7
Fig. 7

Pantallas de configuración del AntVRecord OS.

Fig. 8
Fig. 8

Example of a configuration screen taking a video capture in the field.

Fig. 9
Fig. 9

Example of video capture in the field for Acromyrmex lundi in Oro Verde (Entre Ríos, Argentina) during the day (a) and at night (b) using an active lighting system.

Fig. 10
Fig. 10

Locomotion rhythms autumn of Acromyrmex lundi in Mesopotamia Argentina and its relationship with meteorological variables: temperature, humidity and light.

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