scholarly journals Introduction to the Special Issue: Assessing the Environmental Adaptation of Wildlife and Production Animals: Applications of Physiological Indices and Welfare Assessment Tools

Animals ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. 2280
Author(s):  
Edward Narayan
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Environmental Adaptation ◽  
Assessment Tools ◽  
Wild Animals ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Welfare Assessment ◽  
Farm Production ◽  
Physiological Indices ◽  
Human Care ◽  
Production Animals

Wild animals under human care as well as domesticated farm production animals are often exposed to environmental changes (e [...]

scholarly journals Enhancing the resilience of coupled human and natural systems of alpine rangelands on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau

2015 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. i ◽  
Author(s):  
Shikui Dong ◽  
Ruth Sherman
Keyword(s):  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Science Policy ◽  
Sustainable Management ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Policy Design ◽  
Rangeland Management ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Natural Systems ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Science Policy Interface

This special issue covers a wide range of topics on the protection and sustainable management of alpine rangelands on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (QTP), including Indigenous knowledge of sustainable rangeland management, science-policy interface for alpine rangeland biodiversity conservation, adaptations of local people to social and environmental changes and policy design for managing coupled human-natural systems of alpine rangelands.

scholarly journals Developing Recommendations for Cumulative Endpoints and Lifetime Use for Research Animals

Animals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 2031
Author(s):  
Elizabeth A. Nunamaker ◽  
Shawn Davis ◽  
Carly I. O’Malley ◽  
Patricia V. Turner
Keyword(s):  
Assessment Tools ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Affective States ◽  
Welfare Assessment ◽  
Research And Teaching ◽  
Scientific Advancement ◽  
Institutional Strategies ◽  
Made In ◽  
Use Of Research

Research animals are important for scientific advancement, and therefore, their long-term welfare needs to be monitored to not only minimize suffering, but to provide positive affective states and experiences. Currently, there is limited guidance in countries around the world on cumulative and experimental endpoints. This paper aims to explore current opinions and institutional strategies regarding cumulative use and endpoints through a scoping survey and review of current regulations and welfare assessment tools, and ultimately to provide recommendations for assessment of cumulative and lifetime use of research animals. The survey found that only 36% of respondents indicated that their institution had cumulative use endpoint policies in place, but these policies may be informal and/or vary by species. Most respondents supported more specific guidelines but expressed concerns about formal policies that may limit their ability to make case-by-case decisions. The wide diversity in how research animals are used makes it difficult for specific policies to be implemented. Endpoint decisions should be made in an objective manner using standardized welfare assessment tools. Future research should focus on robust, efficient welfare assessment tools that can be used to support planning and recommendations for cumulative endpoints and lifetime use of research and teaching animals.

scholarly journals Identification of Fecal Escherichia colifrom Humans and Animals by Ribotyping

2001 ◽  
Vol 67 (4) ◽  
pp. 1503-1507 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Andrew Carson ◽  
Brian L. Shear ◽  
Mark R. Ellersieck ◽  
Amha Asfaw
Keyword(s):  
Classification Accuracy ◽  
Environmental Problem ◽  
Fecal Coliforms ◽  
Pollution Reduction ◽  
Wild Animals ◽  
Human Origin ◽  
E Coli ◽  
Extended Application ◽  
Individual Host ◽  
Production Animals

ABSTRACT Fecal pollution of water resources is an environmental problem of increasing importance. Identification of individual host sources of fecal Escherichia coli, such as humans, pets, production animals, and wild animals, is prerequisite to formulation of remediation plans. Ribotyping has been used to distinguish fecalE. coli of human origin from pooled fecal E. coli isolates of nonhuman origin. We have extended application of this technique to distinguishing fecal E. coli ribotype patterns from human and seven individual nonhuman hosts. Classification accuracy was best when the analysis was limited to three host sources. Application of this technique to identification of host sources of fecal coliforms in water could assist in formulation of pollution reduction plans.

scholarly journals Stronger Environmental Adaption of Abundant than Rare Microbes in Wetland Soils from the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wenjie Wan ◽  
Geoffrey Michael Gadd ◽  
Yuyi Yang ◽  
Wenke Yuan ◽  
Jidong Gu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Stochastic Process ◽  
Community Assembly ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Model Analysis ◽  
Ammonia Nitrogen ◽  
Environmental Adaptation ◽  
Tibet Plateau ◽  
Wetland Soils ◽  
Phylogenetic Distance ◽  
Qinghai Tibet Plateau

Abstract Background: Disentangling the biogeographic patterns of rare and abundant microbial sub-communities is essential in order to understand the generation and maintenance of microbial diversity with respect to the functions they provide. However, little is known about ecological assembly processes and environmental adaptation of rare and abundant microbial sub-communities across large spatial-scale wetlands. Using Illumina sequencing, we investigated the taxonomic and phylogenetic β-diversity of rare and abundant bacterial and fungal sub-communities in Qinghai-Tibet Plateau wetland soils. Additionally, we determined environmental breadths and phylogenetic signals of ecological preferences of rare and abundant microbial sub-communities, and investigated community assembly processes of microbial taxa. Results: We found that both taxonomic and phylogenetic similarities of rare and abundant microbial sub-communities attenuated with geographical distance. Based on threshold indicator taxa analysis and Blomberg’s K statistic, abundant microbial taxa exhibited broader environmental thresholds and stronger phylogenetic signals for ecological traits than rare microbial taxa. The strong correlations between community compositional dissimilarity and phylogenetic distance of rare microbial sub-communities also revealed that rare taxa may be more sensitive to environmental changes. In addition, the rare microbial sub-communities exhibited closer phylogenetic clustering compared with abundant microbial sub-communities. The null model analysis revealed that dispersal limitation belonging to stochastic process dominated ecological assembly of abundant bacterial sub-community, and rare and abundant fungal sub-communities; variable selection belonging to deterministic process governed community assembly of rare bacterial taxa. Neutral model analysis and variation partitioning analysis further confirmed that abundant microbial sub-communities were less environmentally constrained. Soil ammonia nitrogen was the crucial factor in mediating the balance between stochasticity and determinism of both rare and abundant microbial sub-communities, as reflected by distinct differences in stochastic process with higher ammonia nitrogen content.Conclusions: Abundant microbial sub-communities may have better environmental adaptation potential and are less dispersed by environmental changes compared with rare microbial sub-communities. Our findings extend knowledge of the adaptation of rare and abundant microbial taxa to ongoing environmental change and could facilitate prediction of biodiversity loss caused by global climate change and increasing human activity in wetlands of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

Welfare Assessment Tools in Zoos: From Theory to Practice

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Narelle Jones ◽  
Sally Sherwen ◽  
Rachel Robbins ◽  
David McLelland ◽  
Alexandra Whittaker
Keyword(s):  
Assessment Tools ◽  
Review Of The Literature ◽  
Comprehensive Review ◽  
Welfare Assessment ◽  
Theory To Practice ◽  
Zoo Animals ◽  
Specific Assessment ◽  
Scoring Schemes ◽  
Species Specific ◽  
Over Time

Zoos are increasingly putting in place formalized animal welfare assessment programs to allow monitoring of welfare over time, as well as to aid in resource prioritization. These programs tend to rely on assessment tools that incorporate resource-based and observational animal- focused measures since it is rarely feasible to obtain measures of physiology in zoo-housed animals. A range of assessment tools are available which commonly have a basis in the Five Domains framework. A comprehensive review of the literature was conducted to bring together recent studies examining welfare assessment methods in zoo animals. A summary of these methods is provided with advantages and limitations of the approach es presented. We then highlight practical considerations with respect to implementation of these tools into practice, for example scoring schemes, weighting of criteria, and innate animal factors for consideration. It is concluded that would be value in standardizing guidelines for development of welfare assessment tools since zoo accreditation bodies rarely prescribe these. There is also a need to develop taxon or species- specific assessment tools to inform welfare management.

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