About the Project
Through an iterative process with Tijuana River NERR and other users, this project co-developed a biosensor system that uses shellfish (oysters and mussels) as biosentinels. Alongside land managers and other wetland and aquaculture professionals, the team designed an open-source electronic sensor that attaches to shellfish and monitors gaping behavior and heart rate. The resulting data provides a direct metric of biotic stress. The team deployed this technology in three field locations in San Diego. The biosentinels provided real-time data streams associated with a variety of changing water quality conditions, including frequent salinity and oxygen fluctuations in Tijuana River Estuary and mouth closure events in Los Peñasquitos Lagoon.
About this Resource
The Habitat Heartbeats project involved the development and testing of data-logging equipment that can record bivalve shell opening and closing (“valve gape”) and heart rate. These tools were developed using open source hardware and software tools and released under a Creative Commons license, which allows users to replicate the equipment and modify it for their own uses without charge. The files are organized into repositories that include documentation, design files for circuit boards, and software written in C++ for programming the data loggers, similar to Arduino open-source software.
Shell gaping monitoring hardware and software with real-time reporting capabilities
Mayfly_adapter repository: A circuit board for interfacing 8 analog sensors with an EnviroDIY Mayfly v1.1 data logger. This can be used to monitor multiple simple analog voltage inputs. The user can cycle through 8 analog voltage inputs to be recorded on the Mayfly data logger or broadcast in real time.
Allegro_A139x_8channel_mux: An Arduino-style (C++) library to allow the use of an 8-channel analog Hall effect circuit board adapter with an EnviroDIY Mayfly data logger.
PCA9557 library: An Arduino-style (C++) library to allow use of a PCA9557PWR port expander with the Mayfly adapter board.
Hardware designs for infrared heart rate sensor
MusselHeartRate repository: Circuit designs used to produce printed circuit boards to interface with pulse oximeters used to measure bivalve heart movement.
Hardware and software for a data logger used to monitor shell opening and heart rate
BivalveBit_setup_guide: A walkthrough of the steps to get Arduino software installed and communicating with the BivalveBit data logger.
BivalveBit_hardware: Circuit designs used to produce printed circuit boards to interface with pulse oximeters and Hall effect sensors used to monitor bivalves.
BivalveBit_lib: Software library required for the operation of the BivalveBit data logger.
BivalveBit: Software used to set up and run a BivalveBit data logger with VCNL4040 infrared heart sensor, using the Arduino software environment
BivalveBitMax: Software used to run a BivalveBit data logger with a MAX30101 pulse oximeter heart sensor.