Physiological Indices and Behavioural Indicators for the Evaluation of Animal Health and Welfare under the Changing Climate Scenarios—Second Edition

Dear Colleagues,

Farm animals, particularly rapidly growing and high-producing livestock, are vulnerable to the effects of climate change, partly because their internal heat load is already high; however, there is a dearth of scientific information regarding the adaptation of livestock production to the changing climate. Therefore, it is essential that monitoring methods are developed for specific parameters (body temperature detection, locomotory activity detection, heart and respiratory rate activity, and the non-invasive dosage of hormones) that undergo changes under thermal stress conditions. Each animal species is characterized by its own ethogram, a catalogue that describes different behaviours based on the stimuli it receives. Recent studies have shown that environmental temperature increases influence social, aggressive, and explorative behaviours. This Special Issue focuses on tools (including behaviour, physiology, health, emotion, molecular activity, productive performance, etc.) and techniques (biosensor technologies, remote behavioural monitoring, and data analysis of complex systems) for the surveillance of animal physiology and behaviour seeking to incorporate animal data with the prevailing climatic conditions. The development and application of methodologies that link climate data with health surveillance systems should be fostered to aid in the prevention of diseases as well as animals’ mitigation and adaptation responses to climate change.

Dr. Daniela Alberghina
Guest Editor

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 submissions that pass pre-check are 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 semimonthly 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 2400 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.

• heat stress
• climate change
• health
• welfare

• Physiological Indices and Behavioural Indicators for the Evaluation of Animal Health and Welfare under the Changing Climate Scenarios in Animals (4 articles)