Comparison of grassland management systems for beef cattle using self-contained farmlets: effects of contrasting nitrogen inputs and management strategies on nitrogen budgets, and herbage and animal production

Past research on nitrogen (N) inputs, losses and surpluses focused on separate components of grassland management, i.e., grazed or cut swards and the impact of fertiliser or slurry applications. In practice, however, grassland is both grazed and cut for conservation, and N fertiliser is supplied from both organic and inorganic sources. A whole systems approach was used to evaluate the effects of combinations of management strategies designed to reduce N losses on N budgets, and herbage and animal production in South West England. Three systems with contrasting N inputs were compared: CN, conventional mineral N application and broadcast slurry; TN, tactical mineral N application with slurry injection and the early housing of cattle; GC, a mixed grass/white clover sward with no mineral N addition and slurry injection. Comparisons were made on two contrasting soil types: a freely-draining sandy loam (Gleysol, Site 1), and a poorly drained clay (Luvisol, Site 2). 1 ha farmlets were grazed to a target sward height by beef cattle for a 5-year (Site 1) or a 4-year (Site 2) period. Herbage surplus to grazing requirements was cut for silage. On average, 185 kg N ha⁻¹ was applied annually to treatment TN compared with 280 kg N ha⁻¹ for CN. An additional 76, 102 and 67 kg N ha⁻¹ was applied in slurry to treatments CN, TN and GC, respectively. Substantial reductions in N surpluses were achieved for both treatments TN and GC compared with treatment CN (N surpluses ha⁻¹: 254, 168 and 119 kg at Site 1, and 247 kg, 190 and 73 kg at Site 2, for CN, TN and GC, respectively). The highest N input for treatment CN was associated with the greatest animal and herbage production. More land was required for grazing on treatment GC and less herbage was cut for silage so that self-sufficiency was not attained for winter fodder on this treatment. The early removal of cattle on treatment TN did not result in a significant increase in the amount of herbage cut for silage. It was concluded that the combinations of mitigation options used were successful in reducing N surpluses compared with the conventional N management system, but animal and herbage production was reduced.     

Mourning dove (Zenaida macroura) wing-whistles may contain threat-related information for con- and hetero-specifics

Distinct acoustic whistles are associated with the wing-beats of many doves, and are especially noticeable when doves ascend from the ground when startled. I thus hypothesized that these sounds may be used by flock-mates as cues of potential danger. To test this hypothesis, I compared the responses of mourning doves (Zenaida macroura), northern cardinals (Cardinalis cardinalis), and house sparrows (Passer domesticus) to audio playbacks of dove ‘startle wing-whistles’, cardinal alarm calls, dove ‘nonstartle wing-whistles’, and sparrow ‘social chatter’. Following playbacks of startle wing-whistles and alarm calls, conspecifics and heterospecifics startled and increased vigilance more than after playbacks of other sounds. Also, the latency to return to feeding was greater following playbacks of startle wing-whistles and alarm calls than following playbacks of other sounds. These results suggest that both conspecifics and heterospecifics may attend to dove wing-whistles in decisions related to antipredator behaviors. Whether the sounds of dove wing-whistles are intentionally produced signals warrants further testing.     

Integrated Use of GLEAMS and GIS to Prevent Groundwater Pollution Caused by Agricultural Disposal of Animal Waste

/ In modern intensive animal farming the disposal of a large amount of waste is of great concern, as, if not properly performed, it can cause the pollution of water, mainly because of the high content of nitrate and phosphate. This paper presents the results of a study intended to assess the environmental sustainability of animal waste disposal on agricultural soils in the alluvial plain of the River Chiana (Tuscany, Italy), a particularly sensitive area because of the high vulnerability of the shallow aquifer and of the intensive agricultural and breeding activities. With this aim, a strategy has been employed, that consists of the integrated use of a management model and GISs. The consequences on groundwater of applying animal waste to different kind of soils and crop arrangements have been simulated by means of the management model GLEAMS (Groundwater Loading Effects of Agricultural Management Systems, ver 2.01). As the huge amount of data required by such a sophisticated model does not allow applications at a scale larger than the field size, IDRISI and GRASS GIS packages have been used to divide the study area into land units, with homogeneous environmental characteristics, and then to generalize on these units the outputs of the model. The main conclusions can be synthesized as follows: The amount of animal waste produced in some of the investigated areas (i.e., municipal territory) is greater than that disposable on their own agricultural soil with no risks to the groundwater; consequently a cooperative approach among municipalities is necessary in order to plan waste disposal in a comprehensive and centralized way.KEY WORDS: Land use; Animal waste disposal; Groundwater protection; GIS, Management models     

Social dominance,seasonal movements,and spatial segregation in African elephants: a contribution to conservation behavior

The structure of dominance relationships among individuals in a population is known to influence their fitness, access to resources, risk of predation, and even energy budgets. Recent advances in global positioning system radio telemetry provide data to evaluate the influence of social relationships on population spatial structure and ranging tactics. Using current models of socio-ecology as a framework, we explore the spatial behaviors relating to the maintenance of transitive (i.e., linear) dominance hierarchies between elephant social groups despite the infrequent occurrence of contests over resources and lack of territorial behavior. Data collected from seven families of different rank demonstrate that dominant groups disproportionately use preferred habitats, limit their exposure to predation/conflict with humans by avoiding unprotected areas, and expend less energy than subordinate groups during the dry season. Hence, our data provide strong evidence of rank derived spatial partitioning in this migratory species. These behaviors, however, were not found during the wet season, indicating that spatial segregation of elephants is related to resource availability. Our results indicate the importance of protecting preexisting social mechanisms for mitigating the ecological impacts of high density in this species. This analysis provides an exemplar of how behavioral research in a socio-ecological framework can serve to identify factors salient to the persistence and management of at risk species or populations. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

Ambient noise, motor fatigue, and serial redundancy in chaffinch song

Many animal signals are performed in a highly redundant manner as in some bird species where males sing several renditions of one song type before switching to another. However, differences in signal redundancy between contexts and between individuals are only poorly understood. We found that chaffinches (Fringilla coelebs) in noisier areas (i.e., close to waterfalls and torrents) sang longer bouts of the same song type before switching to a new type, suggesting that they use increased serial redundancy to get the message across in noisy conditions. This is the first evidence of a noise-dependent adjustment of signal redundancy in a songbird. In addition, we found that song types with faster trills were sung in shorter bouts suggesting that the performance of highly redundant song series is probably limited by motor constraints. Thus, in noisy environments, serial redundancy in bird song may reflect a trade-off between successful signal transmission and preventing motor fatigue.     

Impact of climate change on food security of small islands: The case of Mauritius

This paper studies the implications of high food prices resulting from climate change on food security in small islands, using Mauritius as a case‐study. Climate change may adversely impact prices of agricultural commodities. The study derives and calculates the government costs and the welfare effects of an increase in the world price of rice on consumers in Mauritius. Using an equilibrium displacement model, this study finds that an increase in the price of rice by 35%, as predicted by the literature on climate change and rice prices, will result in an increase of 28.8% in government spending, representing the additional outlays to support the subsidy scheme for food security. Using 2012 as the baseline, the welfare analysis results suggest that consumer surplus for ration rice consumers increases by 626 million Mauritian Rupees (MUR) or US$18 million while consumer surplus decreases by MUR454 million (US$13 million) for basmati rice consumers.     

Measuring the welfare cost of air pollution in Shanghai: evidence from the housing market

The purpose of this study is to quantify the marginal willingness to pay (MWTP) for clean air in China. We provide the first estimate of MWTP for clean air by implementing a hedonic method using housing price and air quality data from Shanghai. Our estimates imply that air pollution has a significant and negative impact on housing price. We also find that the willingness to pay for better air quality varies significantly across different income groups. This paper helps to deepen our understanding of the economic impacts of air pollution in emerging Asian metropolises where residents are suffering from the most severe respiratory health problems.     

Public receptiveness to policies promoting plant-based diets: framing effects and social psychological and structural influences

Governmental and non-governmental organizations, social movements, and academics have called for reductions in meat consumption due to the environmental, animal welfare, and public health consequences of industrial animal agribusiness. An impactful move toward plant-based diets would require changes in public policy. First, we assess if there are different social and structural factors that influence support for policies that promote plant-based diets. We look at four categories of policies (action frames) that will likely reduce meat consumption: environmental, animal welfare, public health, and direct meat reduction. Second, we use a manipulation rhetorical frame to see if support can be altered by providing individuals with information about meat reduction, framing the issue in terms of environmental protection, animal welfare, or public health. Different social and structural factors predict support for different policy groupings, meaning that it matters how policies are enclosed in action frames. However, providing information to individuals about a particular impact (rhetorical frame) has limited influence on policy support.     

A Systematic Review of Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses of Animal Experiments with Guidelines for Reporting

To maximize the findings of animal experiments to inform likely health effects in humans, a thorough review and evaluation of the animal evidence is required. Systematic reviews and, where appropriate, meta-analyses have great potential in facilitating such an evaluation, making efficient use of the animal evidence while minimizing possible sources of bias. The extent to which systematic review and meta-analysis methods have been applied to evaluate animal experiments to inform human health is unknown. Using systematic review methods, we examine the extent and quality of systematic reviews and meta-analyses of in vivo animal experiments carried out to inform human health. We identified 103 articles meeting the inclusion criteria: 57 reported a systematic review, 29 a systematic review and a meta-analysis, and 17 reported a meta-analysis only. The use of these methods to evaluate animal evidence has increased over time. Although the reporting of systematic reviews is of adequate quality, the reporting of meta-analyses is poor. The inadequate reporting of meta-analyses observed here leads to questions on whether the most appropriate methods were used to maximize the use of the animal evidence to inform policy or decision-making. We recommend that guidelines proposed here be used to help improve the reporting of systematic reviews and meta-analyses of animal experiments. Further consideration of the use and methodological quality and reporting of such studies is needed.     

Do Regulators of Animal Welfare Need to Develop a Theory of Psychological Well-Being?

The quest for a ``theory of nonhuman minds' to assessclaims about the moral status of animals is misguided. Misframedquestions about animal minds facilitate the appropriation ofanimal welfare by the animal user industry. When misframed, thesequestions shift the burden of proof unreasonably to animalwelfare regulators. An illustrative instance of misframing can befound in the US National Research Council's 1998 publication thatreports professional efforts to define the psychologicalwell-being of nonhuman primates, a condition that the US 1985animal welfare act requires users of primates to promote. Thereport claims that ``psychological well-being' is a hypotheticalconstruct whose validity can only be determined by a theory thatdefines its properties and links it to observed data. Thisconception is used to contest common knowledge about animalwelfare by treating psychological well-being as a mentalcondition whose properties are difficult to discover. Thisframework limits regulatory efforts to treat animal subjects lessoppressively and serves the interests of the user industry.A more liberatory framework can be constructed by recognizing thecontested nature of welfare norms, where competing conceptions ofanimal welfare have implications about norm-setting authority, asit does in other regulatory contexts, e.g., food safety. Properlyconceptualized welfare should include both the avoidance ofdistressful circumstances and the relationship between ananimal's capacities to engage in enjoyable activities and itsopportunities to exercise these capacities. This conception ofanimal welfare avoids appropriation by scientific experts.The development of the psychological well-being regulation is agood illustration of how social norms are contested and thenappropriated, and a critique of this appropriation shows how itcan be challenged.