Wireless Heart and Respiration Rate Monitoring in Birds Using Skin Mounted Eutectogel Coated Threads

Abstract

Animal-borne biologging technology allows researchers to understand the physiological responses of wild animals, especially songbirds, to environmental changes. Songbirds are of interest in studying these responses because of their visibility and relatively small body size yet high energetic demand of their various life-history stages (e.g., molt, migration, breeding). Previous methods for monitoring responses, such as heart rate activity, have relied on surgical implantation of electrodes connected to bulky electronic devices which affect the well-being of birds, indirectly influence bird behavior and create stress artifacts. A non-invasive, lightweight solution is needed. This study introduces eutectogels, a long-lasting gel made from deep eutectic solvents, combined with conductive threads and a wireless device to monitor the heart rate of house sparrows noninvasively through skin contact. In this work, heart rate and respiration rate measurements are validated on birds under anesthesia. These tests are repeated on birds that are awake but restrained. The eutectogel outperforms commercial electrodes and gels, yielding high signal-to-noise ratio measurements on restrained birds. The respiration rate is extracted and processed electronically from motion artifacts in the recorded signals without the need for a separate dedicated sensor. The system shows promise for future field studies on free-living species.