Meeting Abstract
At the very highest levels Respirometry (the measurement of respiratory gases to determine metabolic rates) is a combination of science and art that requires advanced mathematics and expensive equipment – neither of which are tractable to the undergraduate laboratory teaching environment. To address this issue, we developed an easy-to-use respirometry system paired with a flow-through facemask and respirometry tent. We gave it to a 19-year-old biology student and asked her to measure her EE during various activities (i.e., sitting, standing, reading, texting, cycling, and crunches) for 4 weeks. Paired-tests of EE between modalities (mask; 5-min vs. tent; 10-min) showed no significant differences while sitting (p=0.487), laying (df=18, p=0.370), or reading (p=0.160). Furthermore, the similar outcomes in EE between the mask and tent measurements permitted comparisons of more complex activities where only the tent (e.g., crunches) or the mask (e.g., cycling) were used. No differences were found in EE between different body positions (laying vs. sitting; df=38, p=0.968), or different light activities such as reading vs. texting (t-test: p=0.414, df=18). Interestingly, standing EE was 15.2% higher than sitting (df=18, p=0.033), and the two forms of exercise (crunches vs. cycling) revealed 3.4-fold differences in energy expenditure (df=18, p<0.001). The student particularly enjoyed watching the integrated graphical display that provided real-time data as she changed between activities. We concluded that this system is a powerful tool enabling instructors to teach the fundamentals of energy expenditure, experimental design, and hypothesis testing in a laboratory teaching environment.
