Advances in Thermal Imaging

Thermal imaging, or more correctly infrared thermography, has been widely applied to studies of animal and human biology (see Burnay et al. 1988; McCafferty 2007; Soerensen and Pedersen 2015; Fernandez-Cuevas et al., 2015; Tattersall 2016). This technique provides non-contact measurement of surface temperature, allowing real-time recording of the spatial temperature distribution of a body region, physical structure or habitat of interest. Thermal imaging technology has advanced rapidly in the last decade and is now becoming a key tool in thermal biology. Technological advances include greater spatial and temporal resolution, increased capacity to record and store high resolution radiometric video, as well as reduced device size and portability. In addition, high-quality thermal imaging devices are quickly becoming more affordable, meaning thermal imaging is an increasingly common item of the research tool-kit in many pure and applied fields. The aim of this Special Issue was to highlight how advances in thermal imaging can
be used to answer important questions in biology, and to demonstrate how the combination of this technology with novel analytical methods can further advance our conceptual understanding of thermal biology.