Special Issue "Biotechnologies for the Advancement of Wildlife Conservation"

A special issue of Animals (ISSN 2076-2615). This special issue belongs to the section "Wildlife".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 September 2021.

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Anneke Moresco
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Reproductive Health Surveillance Program, Morrison, CO, USA
Interests: animal physiology; veterinary diagnostics; wildlife management; wildlife biology; mammals; conservation; endangered species; reproductive biology; wildlife conservation
Dr. Brigid Troan
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
North Carolina Zoo, Asheboro, NC 27205, USA
Interests: comparative pathology; anatomic pathology; avian pathology; herptile pathology; zoological medicine; comparative oncology

Special Issue Information

As the importance of wildlife ecosystems, the human–wildlife interface, and One Health medicine increase, we have the opportunity and obligation to use new technologies in order to further global conservation efforts. New biotechnologies have actively contributed to conservation efforts through the discovery of new animal species, a more complete understanding of present and emerging diseases, advances in assisted reproduction, and precise monitoring of wild and released animals. These biotechnologies have also enabled the addition of strong, quantitative assessments in fields such as welfare, which previously relied heavily on subjective or qualitative data. Ex situ and in situ projects contribute to conservation in different ways, and both are needed to address shrinking habitat and resources for wildlife. Additionally, while biotechnological advances often focus on positive results, many negative results are also encountered, which should be published to avoid unnecessary and expensive duplication.

Original manuscripts that address any of these issues in “Biotechnologies in Wildlife Conservation” are invited for this Special Issue, particularly those that: (1) report on new biotechnology or new applications of existing biotechnology; (2) review tangible results and benefits of technology that has been used; or (3) outline well-designed research that has yielded negative results which may be useful for future research.

Dr. Anneke Moresco
Dr. Brigid Troan
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All papers will be peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Animals is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • conservation
  • genetics
  • assisted reproductive techniques
  • pathology
  • diagnostics
  • emerging diseases

Published Papers (2 papers)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

Article
IGF-I Medium Supplementation Improves Singly Cultured Cat Oocyte Maturation and Embryo Development In Vitro
Animals 2021, 11(7), 1909; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11071909 - 27 Jun 2021
Viewed by 473
Abstract
Embryo production is a routine procedure in several species. However, in felids, the effectiveness of this approach is far behind that in the majority of laboratory species. The development of a suitable environment starts with the proper composition of culture media. Therefore, for [...] Read more.
Embryo production is a routine procedure in several species. However, in felids, the effectiveness of this approach is far behind that in the majority of laboratory species. The development of a suitable environment starts with the proper composition of culture media. Therefore, for the improvement of assisted reproduction techniques and their outcome in cats, this is an urgent task. As the addition of insulin-like growth factors (IGF-I, IGF-II) or granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) was beneficial in other mammalian species, this study aims to check whether these components, combined with other factors (such as type of fertilisation or type of culture) can provide a benefit in the felid culture system in current use. Thus, these supplements, in different concentrations and combinations, were merged with the use of two fertilisation techniques and randomly assigned to single or group culturing. The results showed that the addition of IGF-I and/or GM-CSF produced an increase in morula and blastocyst rate in a single culture system. In particular, the supplementation with 20 ng/mL of IGF-I incremented the maturation rate by 10% and significantly increased the morula and blastocyst rates in single culturing. This result is especially remarkable for wild felids, where only a few oocytes and/or embryos are available. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biotechnologies for the Advancement of Wildlife Conservation)
Article
Abiotic and Biotic Influences on the Movement of Reintroduced Chinese Giant Salamanders (Andrias davidianus) in Two Montane Rivers
Animals 2021, 11(6), 1480; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11061480 - 21 May 2021
Viewed by 570
Abstract
Understanding animal movement is a key question in ecology and biodiversity conservation, which is particularly important for the success of reintroduction projects. The movement of critically endangered Chinese giant salamander (Andrias davidianus) remains poorly understood due to the rareness of wild [...] Read more.
Understanding animal movement is a key question in ecology and biodiversity conservation, which is particularly important for the success of reintroduction projects. The movement of critically endangered Chinese giant salamander (Andrias davidianus) remains poorly understood due to the rareness of wild individuals of this species. We lack movement details about the full annual cycle after reintroduction, especially the abiotic and biotic influences that affect its movement. We utilized pilot reintroduction projects as opportunities to fill in some knowledge gaps on their movement ecology. We released 31 juvenile captive-reared Chinese giant salamanders of two age groups in two rivers in the Qinling Mountains of central China and monitored their daily movements for 16 months using surgically implanted radio transmitters. We examined the impacts of individual traits (body mass, body condition) and environmental conditions (temperature, precipitation, and moon phase) on their daily movement patterns. Data were analyzed using a mixed-effects logistic regression model to understand the drivers of their movement tendency (i.e., whether they move or not) and a linear mixed-effects model was used to understand the drivers of their movement distance. We found that movement tendency of the older salamander cohort was positively affected by the moon phase, increasing near the Full Moon, whereas the younger cohort of animals were not impacted by the moon phase. For daily distance moved, we found temperature had a strong positive effect on both cohorts, whereas precipitation had moderate but opposite effects on the two cohorts Body mass and body condition did not have any significant impacts on either age classes’ movement tendency or distance. This study provides insight into the abiotic factors that impact the temporal and spatial movement ecology of reintroduced giant salamander, which will in turn help with designing best practices for future releases and conservation of this iconic montane aquatic predator. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biotechnologies for the Advancement of Wildlife Conservation)
Show Figures

Figure 1

Back to TopTop