51 Results Found

Artificial perches are implemented by many companies that mass-rear the black soldier fly (BSF), to emulate a natural breeding environment or provide additional surface area for flies to rest; however, basic information about perching behavior is lac...

Perching is one of the essential natural behaviors for avian species. Providing an optimal perching design (e.g., shape, dimension, and materials) for commercial poultry production is critical for maintaining bird health, welfare, and production effi...

Hens reared in aviaries (AVI) as pullets have improved spatial abilities compared to hens reared in non-enriched cages (CON). However, this effect on behavior has been shown only to 23 weeks of age. Lohmann LSL-Lite hens were reared in either CON or...

The climbing perch, Anabas testudineus, is one of the most widely distributed freshwater amphibious fishes in South and Southeast Asia, inhabiting both natural and artificial water bodies polluted by plastic waste. Current mesocosm experimental study...

The climbing perch Anabas testudineus is widespread in the inland waters of Vietnam and according to its ecology could have contact with floating plastic waste. Fragments of expanded polystyrene (EPS) are detected in the fresh waters of Vietnam in Kh...

300 healthy Chinese perch (Siniperca chuatsi) (34.35 ± 0.47 g) were randomly divided into five groups (P1–P5) fed diets supplemented with 0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.8, and 1.6 g/kg protease for 8 weeks. Compared to P1, protease supplementation signi...

Perches can enhance laying hen welfare, but their effectiveness might be age-dependent. We investigated early and late perch access effects on anxiety and fear in pullets through attention bias (AB) and tonic immobility (TI) tests. Pullets (n = 728)...

For small ectotherms, thermal conditions and habitat structure can drive local adaptations in behavior and habitat use. The water anole, Anolis aquaticus, is a semiaquatic lizard occurring along streams in lowland tropical sites, as well as at higher...

Throughout their range, Brown Pelicans (Pelecanus occidentalis) are one of the most common species to become entangled in fishing gear. We surveyed four piers every other week for one year (6/2019–5/2020) in the Tampa Bay region, FL, USA, to de...

The extinction of ecological functions is increasingly considered a major component of biodiversity loss, given its pervasive effects on ecosystems, and it may precede the disappearance of the species engaged. Dispersal of many large-fruited (>4 c...

Increased environmental complexity can improve animal welfare, depending on the resources provided and use by the animal. We provided chickens either with physical items that posed no biosecurity risk and were inexpensive (balls, chains, perches and...

Body-mounted sensors have significantly enhanced our understanding of individual animals through location tracking, behavior monitoring, and activity determination. However, attaching sensors may alter the behavior of the tested animals, which would,...

This study concerns the occurrence of arsenic in the groundwater system of the Cimino-Vico volcanic area (central Italy), different parts of which are currently widely used for local drinking water supply and for irrigation. The system shows a comple...

This study assessed the impact of untreated wastewater discharge in the Danube River on four native fish species: barbel (Barbus barbus), vimba bream (Vimba vimba), perch (Perca fluviatilis), and white bream (Blicca bjoerkna). Biomarkers of exposure...

This paper investigates the syntax and diachrony of Italian causal clauses introduced by perché, siccome, and poiché. Although often treated as near-synonyms in Contemporary Italian, these subordinators differ systematically in their sy...

Urbanization transforms natural ecosystems into novel habitats, which can result in negative consequences for biodiversity. Therefore, it is important to understand the mechanisms of maintenance of native species in urbanized environments, including...

Sustainable management of fisheries has proven to be a daunting exercise for Lake Victoria. Exploitation patterns in the fishery are driven by fishers who adopt different strategies as a response to changing economic, management, socio-economic, and...

The welfare of hens in cage-free systems is closely linked to their behaviors, such as feeding, drinking, pecking, perching, bathing, preening, and foraging. To monitor these behaviors, we developed and evaluated deep learning models based on YOLO (Y...

An increase in artificial night lighting has blurred the boundaries of day and night and transformed the natural day-night environment with alteration in the temporal niche of the animals. Male zebra finches were exposed to a dim light at night (dLAN...

A physically based mathematical model of the slope of Cervinara (southern Italy), which is characterized by a shallow pyroclastic soil cover laying upon a limestone fractured bedrock, has been developed. Previous and current ongoing monitoring sugges...

Severe feather pecking (SFP) is a major animal welfare problem in layers. It results in pain and injuries in the affected animal. It was the aim of this study to gain insight into the actual pecking behavior of laying hens kept on commercial farms wi...

Early experience of a complex environment can improve biologically relevant traits related to coping abilities. However, the mechanisms underlying these positive effects have not been well explored. We hypothesized that giving chicks possibilities to...

The most recent assessment (2008) of the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species classified Romanichthys valsanicola as critically endangered (CR). In December 2022, an expert team from the National Institute for Research and Development in Environmental...

Background/Objectives: Bone defects remain widespread. Type I collagen–hydroxyapatite composites suit bone engineering by mimicking matrix structure, making them pertinent materials for bone tissue engineering across a range of defect types. Th...

The objective was to evaluate the impacts of a complex environment and stocking density on Ross 708 broiler chicken behaviors. Eight pens contained either high complexity (HC) or low complexity (LC) environments, and high (HD) or low (LD) density. Th...

Psychotropic pharmaceuticals present in the environment may impact organisms both directly and via interaction strengths with other organisms, including predators; therefore, this study examined the potential effects of pharmaceuticals on behavioral...

In recent years, artificial intelligence (AI) has significantly impacted agricultural operations, particularly with the development of deep learning models for animal monitoring and farming automation. This study focuses on evaluating the Depth Anyth...

The effects of light intensity (L) are not well studied in pullets. Our research objective was to study the effect of L on navigational success, behavior, and welfare of two pullet strains (S). In two repeated trials, a 3 × 2 × 4 factoria...

Identifying coping styles in cats may lead to improved health and welfare. The aims of this study were to (1) identify individual differences in response to acute confinement, and (2) to assess the predictability of guardian-rated personality traits...

Animal welfare is a key and distinct component of sustainable agriculture and food security. People, both as citizens and consumers, have become more concerned about the husbandry of livestock species. Positive welfare goes a step further than the co...

Collagen is well-known as an essential and structural protein in the body and is classified into many types, with different roles. Type I collagen is the most abundant, offering firmness, elasticity, and resistance to the skin. Starting from natural...

A new hybrid metaheuristic method for optimizing the objective function on a parallelepiped set of admissible solutions is proposed. It mimics the behavior of a school of river perch when looking for food. The algorithm uses the ideas of several meth...

The scarlet macaw (Ara macao) is a charismatic species that is native to Central and South America and commonly housed in captivity. Gaps in knowledge about these birds’ behavioral ecology in the wild hinders both in situ and ex situ management...

Coragen 20 SC is an insecticide based on chlorantraniliprole that is applied on many crops. Considered an effective product with an incremental cost-benefit ratio, it has been widely used globally. Residual pesticides affect non-target organisms, so...

Due to cyclic wetting and drying, the hydro-mechanical behavior of unsaturated soil is impacted significantly. In order to assess the soil strength parameters, knowing the unsaturated behavior is important. Soil moisture content is an important param...

The welfare of laying hens in conventional caged houses has become an increased public concern, leading primary food chains, restaurants, and grocers in the United States to pledge to source only cage-free (CF) eggs by 2025 or 2030. Cage-free housing...

This study investigates the morphodynamic evolution of an embayed cobble beach located on a mesotidal cliff coast in northern Spain. La Maruca/Pinquel beach was selected for its distinctive geomorphological setting, perched on a well-sorted cobble su...

Enrichment during the indoor rearing of pullets destined for free-range systems may optimize pullet development including increasing motivated natural behaviors (termed ‘positive behaviors’) including foraging, dust bathing and chick play...

Intra-species variability in isotopic niches, specifically isotopic total niche width (ITNW), isotopic individual niche width (IINW), and isotopic individual specialization (IIS), was studied using an innovative approach without sacrificing the verte...

Birds are a popular group of organisms for researchers and laymen alike, and citizen science data are widely used in understanding bird ecology. This study investigates the correlates of bird visits to a single tree in the suburb of Westville, locate...

Studies on animal behavior and welfare have reported that improving the management practices of pullets can enhance their growth, as well as their physical and mental condition, thus benefiting the productivity of laying hens. There is growing confid...

The Doñana National Park (DNP) is a protected area with water resources drastically diminishing due to the unsustainable extraction of groundwater for agricultural irrigation and human consumption of a nearby coastal city. In this study, we ex...

The nematode Eustrongylides excisus is a parasite of freshwater fish- and fish-eating birds, with known differences on prevalence values among fish species. Thus, the present study aims to explore the hypothesis that the feeding behavior and the size...

Studying bird, insect, and other wildlife interactions with photovoltaic (PV) solar energy facilities is difficult due to limited multi-season, multi-site data. Researchers can address such data gaps by combining passive monitoring and artificial int...

Environmental enrichment is key for improving the broiler welfare in intensive production systems. This study lasted for 43 days and evaluated the effects of physical and social enrichment on broiler welfare. A total of 96 one-day-old male broilers w...

The new legislation for laying hens in the European Union put a ban on conventional cages. Production systems must now provide the hens with access to a nest, a perch, and material for dust bathing. These requirements will improve the behavioral aspe...

Bar racks at water intakes of hydropower plants serve mainly to protect the turbines from floating debris. Additionally, they can be utilized to protect downstream migrating fish in order to prevent a potentially harmful turbine passage. The Bar Rack...

Expansive Yazoo clay soil is susceptible to volumetric deformation and is dominant in central Mississippi and other neighboring southern states of the United States. Recurring shrink-swell behavior causes a significant problem to infrastructures in t...

Landslides are a major natural hazard capable of causing severe damage to infrastructure, ecosystems, and human life. They result from complex interactions of geological, hydrological, and environmental factors, with soil properties playing a crucial...

The objective of this study was to describe the ontogeny of the severe feather pecking (SFP), gentle feather pecking (GFP), aggressive pecking (AP), and enrichment pecking (EP) of non-beak-trimmed Lohmann Brown (LB)-pullets during the first 4 weeks o...