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Chadwick FJ, Haydon DT, Husmeier D, Ovaskainen O, Matthiopoulos J. LIES of omission: complex observation processes in ecology. Trends Ecol Evol 2024; 39:368-380. [PMID: 37949794 DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2023.10.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/29/2023] [Revised: 10/13/2023] [Accepted: 10/16/2023] [Indexed: 11/12/2023]
Abstract
Advances in statistics mean that it is now possible to tackle increasingly sophisticated observation processes. The intricacies and ambitious scale of modern data collection techniques mean that this is now essential. Methodological research to make inference about the biological process while accounting for the observation process has expanded dramatically, but solutions are often presented in field-specific terms, limiting our ability to identify commonalities between methods. We suggest a typology of observation processes that could improve translation between fields and aid methodological synthesis. We propose the LIES framework (defining observation processes in terms of issues of Latency, Identifiability, Effort and Scale) and illustrate its use with both simple examples and more complex case studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fergus J Chadwick
- School of Biodiversity, One Health and Veterinary Medicine, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, G12 8QQ, UK; Centre for Research Into Ecological and Environmental Monitoring, School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of St Andrews, St. Andrews, Scotland, UK.
| | - Daniel T Haydon
- School of Biodiversity, One Health and Veterinary Medicine, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, G12 8QQ, UK
| | - Dirk Husmeier
- School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, G12 8TA, UK
| | - Otso Ovaskainen
- Department of Biological and Environmental Science, P.O. Box 35 FI-40014, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland
| | - Jason Matthiopoulos
- School of Biodiversity, One Health and Veterinary Medicine, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, G12 8QQ, UK
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2
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Whitham JC, Miller LJ. Utilizing vocalizations to gain insight into the affective states of non-human mammals. Front Vet Sci 2024; 11:1366933. [PMID: 38435367 PMCID: PMC10904518 DOI: 10.3389/fvets.2024.1366933] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/07/2024] [Accepted: 02/01/2024] [Indexed: 03/05/2024] Open
Abstract
This review discusses how welfare scientists can examine vocalizations to gain insight into the affective states of individual animals. In recent years, researchers working in professionally managed settings have recognized the value of monitoring the types, rates, and acoustic structures of calls, which may reflect various aspects of welfare. Fortunately, recent technological advances in the field of bioacoustics allow for vocal activity to be recorded with microphones, hydrophones, and animal-attached devices (e.g., collars), as well as automated call recognition. We consider how vocal behavior can be used as an indicator of affective state, with particular interest in the valence of emotions. While most studies have investigated vocal activity produced in negative contexts (e.g., experiencing pain, social isolation, environmental disturbances), we highlight vocalizations that express positive affective states. For instance, some species produce vocalizations while foraging, playing, engaging in grooming, or interacting affiliatively with conspecifics. This review provides an overview of the evidence that exists for the construct validity of vocal indicators of affective state in non-human mammals. Furthermore, we discuss non-invasive methods that can be utilized to investigate vocal behavior, as well as potential limitations to this line of research. In the future, welfare scientists should attempt to identify reliable, valid species-specific calls that reflect emotional valence, which may be possible by adopting a dimensional approach. The dimensional approach considers both arousal and valence by comparing vocalizations emitted in negative and positive contexts. Ultimately, acoustic activity can be tracked continuously to detect shifts in welfare status or to evaluate the impact of animal transfers, introductions, and changes to the husbandry routine or environment. We encourage welfare scientists to expand their welfare monitoring toolkits by combining vocal activity with other behavioral measures and physiological biomarkers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jessica C. Whitham
- Chicago Zoological Society-Brookfield Zoo, Brookfield, IL, United States
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3
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Gavojdian D, Mincu M, Lazebnik T, Oren A, Nicolae I, Zamansky A. BovineTalk: machine learning for vocalization analysis of dairy cattle under the negative affective state of isolation. Front Vet Sci 2024; 11:1357109. [PMID: 38362300 PMCID: PMC10867142 DOI: 10.3389/fvets.2024.1357109] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/17/2023] [Accepted: 01/19/2024] [Indexed: 02/17/2024] Open
Abstract
There is a critical need to develop and validate non-invasive animal-based indicators of affective states in livestock species, in order to integrate them into on-farm assessment protocols, potentially via the use of precision livestock farming (PLF) tools. One such promising approach is the use of vocal indicators. The acoustic structure of vocalizations and their functions were extensively studied in important livestock species, such as pigs, horses, poultry, and goats, yet cattle remain understudied in this context to date. Cows were shown to produce two types of vocalizations: low-frequency calls (LF), produced with the mouth closed, or partially closed, for close distance contacts, and open mouth emitted high-frequency calls (HF), produced for long-distance communication, with the latter considered to be largely associated with negative affective states. Moreover, cattle vocalizations were shown to contain information on individuality across a wide range of contexts, both negative and positive. Nowadays, dairy cows are facing a series of negative challenges and stressors in a typical production cycle, making vocalizations during negative affective states of special interest for research. One contribution of this study is providing the largest to date pre-processed (clean from noises) dataset of lactating adult multiparous dairy cows during negative affective states induced by visual isolation challenges. Here, we present two computational frameworks-deep learning based and explainable machine learning based, to classify high and low-frequency cattle calls and individual cow voice recognition. Our models in these two frameworks reached 87.2 and 89.4% accuracy for LF and HF classification, with 68.9 and 72.5% accuracy rates for the cow individual identification, respectively.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dinu Gavojdian
- Cattle Production Systems Laboratory, Research and Development Institute for Bovine, Balotesti, Romania
| | - Madalina Mincu
- Cattle Production Systems Laboratory, Research and Development Institute for Bovine, Balotesti, Romania
| | - Teddy Lazebnik
- Department of Mathematics, Ariel University, Ariel, Israel
- Department of Cancer Biology, University College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Ariel Oren
- Tech4Animals Laboratory, Information Systems Department, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel
| | - Ioana Nicolae
- Cattle Production Systems Laboratory, Research and Development Institute for Bovine, Balotesti, Romania
| | - Anna Zamansky
- Tech4Animals Laboratory, Information Systems Department, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel
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Beaulieu M. Capturing wild animal welfare: a physiological perspective. Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc 2024; 99:1-22. [PMID: 37635128 DOI: 10.1111/brv.13009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/07/2023] [Revised: 08/07/2023] [Accepted: 08/07/2023] [Indexed: 08/29/2023]
Abstract
Affective states, such as emotions, are presumably widespread across the animal kingdom because of the adaptive advantages they are supposed to confer. However, the study of the affective states of animals has thus far been largely restricted to enhancing the welfare of animals managed by humans in non-natural contexts. Given the diversity of wild animals and the variable conditions they can experience, extending studies on animal affective states to the natural conditions that most animals experience will allow us to broaden and deepen our general understanding of animal welfare. Yet, this same diversity makes examining animal welfare in the wild highly challenging. There is therefore a need for unifying theoretical frameworks and methodological approaches that can guide researchers keen to engage in this promising research area. The aim of this article is to help advance this important research area by highlighting the central relationship between physiology and animal welfare and rectify its apparent oversight, as revealed by the current scientific literature on wild animals. Moreover, this article emphasises the advantages of including physiological markers to assess animal welfare in the wild (e.g. objectivity, comparability, condition range, temporality), as well as their concomitant limitations (e.g. only access to peripheral physiological markers with complex relationships with affective states). Best-practice recommendations (e.g. replication and multifactorial approaches) are also provided to allow physiological markers to be used most effectively and appropriately when assessing the welfare of animals in their natural habitat. This review seeks to provide the foundation for a new and distinct research area with a vast theoretical and applied potential: wild animal welfare physiology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michaël Beaulieu
- Wild Animal Initiative, 5123 W 98th St, 1204, Minneapolis, MN, 55437, USA
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Hou Y, Li Q, Wang Z, Liu T, He Y, Li H, Ren Z, Guo X, Yang G, Liu Y, Yu L. Study on a Pig Vocalization Classification Method Based on Multi-Feature Fusion. SENSORS (BASEL, SWITZERLAND) 2024; 24:313. [PMID: 38257406 PMCID: PMC10819726 DOI: 10.3390/s24020313] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/21/2023] [Revised: 12/28/2023] [Accepted: 01/03/2024] [Indexed: 01/24/2024]
Abstract
To improve the classification of pig vocalization using vocal signals and improve recognition accuracy, a pig vocalization classification method based on multi-feature fusion is proposed in this study. With the typical vocalization of pigs in large-scale breeding houses as the research object, short-time energy, frequency centroid, formant frequency and first-order difference, and Mel frequency cepstral coefficient and first-order difference were extracted as the fusion features. These fusion features were improved using principal component analysis. A pig vocalization classification model with a BP neural network optimized based on the genetic algorithm was constructed. The results showed that using the improved features to recognize pig grunting, squealing, and coughing, the average recognition accuracy was 93.2%; the recognition precisions were 87.9%, 98.1%, and 92.7%, respectively, with an average of 92.9%; and the recognition recalls were 92.0%, 99.1%, and 87.4%, respectively, with an average of 92.8%, which indicated that the proposed pig vocalization classification method had good recognition precision and recall, and could provide a reference for pig vocalization information feedback and automatic recognition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yuting Hou
- Research Center of Information Technology, Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, Beijing 100097, China; (Y.H.); (Q.L.); (H.L.); (Z.R.); (X.G.); (G.Y.)
- School of Science, China University of Geosciences (Beijing), Beijing 100083, China;
| | - Qifeng Li
- Research Center of Information Technology, Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, Beijing 100097, China; (Y.H.); (Q.L.); (H.L.); (Z.R.); (X.G.); (G.Y.)
- National Engineering Research Center for Information Technology in Agriculture, Beijing 100097, China
| | - Zuchao Wang
- School of Science, China University of Geosciences (Beijing), Beijing 100083, China;
| | - Tonghai Liu
- College of Computer and Information Engineering, Tianjin Agricultural University, Tianjin 300384, China; (T.L.); (Y.H.)
| | - Yuxiang He
- College of Computer and Information Engineering, Tianjin Agricultural University, Tianjin 300384, China; (T.L.); (Y.H.)
| | - Haiyan Li
- Research Center of Information Technology, Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, Beijing 100097, China; (Y.H.); (Q.L.); (H.L.); (Z.R.); (X.G.); (G.Y.)
| | - Zhiyu Ren
- Research Center of Information Technology, Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, Beijing 100097, China; (Y.H.); (Q.L.); (H.L.); (Z.R.); (X.G.); (G.Y.)
| | - Xiaoli Guo
- Research Center of Information Technology, Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, Beijing 100097, China; (Y.H.); (Q.L.); (H.L.); (Z.R.); (X.G.); (G.Y.)
| | - Gan Yang
- Research Center of Information Technology, Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, Beijing 100097, China; (Y.H.); (Q.L.); (H.L.); (Z.R.); (X.G.); (G.Y.)
| | - Yu Liu
- Research Center of Information Technology, Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, Beijing 100097, China; (Y.H.); (Q.L.); (H.L.); (Z.R.); (X.G.); (G.Y.)
- National Engineering Research Center for Information Technology in Agriculture, Beijing 100097, China
| | - Ligen Yu
- Research Center of Information Technology, Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, Beijing 100097, China; (Y.H.); (Q.L.); (H.L.); (Z.R.); (X.G.); (G.Y.)
- National Engineering Research Center for Information Technology in Agriculture, Beijing 100097, China
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6
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Saccò M, Mammola S, Altermatt F, Alther R, Bolpagni R, Brancelj A, Brankovits D, Fišer C, Gerovasileiou V, Griebler C, Guareschi S, Hose GC, Korbel K, Lictevout E, Malard F, Martínez A, Niemiller ML, Robertson A, Tanalgo KC, Bichuette ME, Borko Š, Brad T, Campbell MA, Cardoso P, Celico F, Cooper SJB, Culver D, Di Lorenzo T, Galassi DMP, Guzik MT, Hartland A, Humphreys WF, Ferreira RL, Lunghi E, Nizzoli D, Perina G, Raghavan R, Richards Z, Reboleira ASPS, Rohde MM, Fernández DS, Schmidt SI, van der Heyde M, Weaver L, White NE, Zagmajster M, Hogg I, Ruhi A, Gagnon MM, Allentoft ME, Reinecke R. Groundwater is a hidden global keystone ecosystem. GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY 2024; 30:e17066. [PMID: 38273563 DOI: 10.1111/gcb.17066] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/19/2023] [Revised: 11/06/2023] [Accepted: 11/09/2023] [Indexed: 01/27/2024]
Abstract
Groundwater is a vital ecosystem of the global water cycle, hosting unique biodiversity and providing essential services to societies. Despite being the largest unfrozen freshwater resource, in a period of depletion by extraction and pollution, groundwater environments have been repeatedly overlooked in global biodiversity conservation agendas. Disregarding the importance of groundwater as an ecosystem ignores its critical role in preserving surface biomes. To foster timely global conservation of groundwater, we propose elevating the concept of keystone species into the realm of ecosystems, claiming groundwater as a keystone ecosystem that influences the integrity of many dependent ecosystems. Our global analysis shows that over half of land surface areas (52.6%) has a medium-to-high interaction with groundwater, reaching up to 74.9% when deserts and high mountains are excluded. We postulate that the intrinsic transboundary features of groundwater are critical for shifting perspectives towards more holistic approaches in aquatic ecology and beyond. Furthermore, we propose eight key themes to develop a science-policy integrated groundwater conservation agenda. Given ecosystems above and below the ground intersect at many levels, considering groundwater as an essential component of planetary health is pivotal to reduce biodiversity loss and buffer against climate change.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mattia Saccò
- Subterranean Research and Groundwater Ecology (SuRGE) Group, Trace and Environmental DNA (TrEnD) Lab, School of Molecular and Life Sciences, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
- Department of Chemistry, Life Sciences and Environmental Sustainability, University of Parma, Parma, Italy
| | - Stefano Mammola
- Molecular Ecology Group (MEG), Water Research Institute (CNR-IRSA), National Research Council, Verbania Pallanza, Italy
- Laboratory for Integrative Biodiversity Research (LIBRe), Finnish Museum of Natural History (LUOMUS), University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- National Biodiversity Future Center, Palermo, Italy
| | - Florian Altermatt
- Department of Aquatic Ecology, Eawag, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, Dübendorf, Switzerland
- Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Roman Alther
- Department of Aquatic Ecology, Eawag, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, Dübendorf, Switzerland
- Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Rossano Bolpagni
- Department of Chemistry, Life Sciences and Environmental Sustainability, University of Parma, Parma, Italy
| | - Anton Brancelj
- Department of Organisms and Ecosystems Research, National Institute of Biology, Ljubljana, Slovenia
- Department for Environmental Science, University of Nova Gorica, Nova Gorica, Slovenia
| | - David Brankovits
- Molecular Ecology Group (MEG), Water Research Institute (CNR-IRSA), National Research Council, Verbania Pallanza, Italy
| | - Cene Fišer
- SubBio Lab, Biotechnical Faculty, Department of Biology, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia
| | - Vasilis Gerovasileiou
- Faculty of Environment, Department of Environment, Ionian University, Zakynthos, Greece
- Biotechnology and Aquaculture (IMBBC), Thalassocosmos, Institute of Marine Biology, Hellenic Centre for Marine Research (HCMR), Heraklion, Greece
| | - Christian Griebler
- Department of Functional & Evolutionary Ecology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Simone Guareschi
- Estación Biologica de Doñana (EBD-CSIC), Seville, Spain
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Turin, Turin, Italy
| | - Grant C Hose
- School of Natural Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Kathryn Korbel
- School of Natural Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Elisabeth Lictevout
- International Groundwater Resources Assessment Center (IGRAC), Delft, The Netherlands
| | - Florian Malard
- Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, CNRS, ENTPE, UMR 5023 LEHNA, Univ Lyon, Villeurbanne, France
| | - Alejandro Martínez
- Molecular Ecology Group (MEG), Water Research Institute (CNR-IRSA), National Research Council, Verbania Pallanza, Italy
| | - Matthew L Niemiller
- Department of Biological Sciences, The University of Alabama in Huntsville, Huntsville, Alabama, USA
| | - Anne Robertson
- School of Life and Health Sciences, Roehampton University, London, UK
| | - Krizler C Tanalgo
- Ecology and Conservation Research Laboratory (Eco/Con Lab), Department of Biological Sciences, College of Science and Mathematics, University of Southern Mindanao, Kabacan, Cotabato, Philippines
| | - Maria Elina Bichuette
- Laboratory of Subterranean Studies (LES), Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Federal University of São Carlos, São Carlos, Brazil
| | - Špela Borko
- SubBio Lab, Biotechnical Faculty, Department of Biology, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia
| | - Traian Brad
- Emil Racovita Institute of Speleology, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
| | - Matthew A Campbell
- Trace and Environmental DNA (TrEnD) Lab, School of Molecular and Life Sciences, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
| | - Pedro Cardoso
- Laboratory for Integrative Biodiversity Research (LIBRe), Finnish Museum of Natural History (LUOMUS), University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- Departamento de Biologia Animal, and Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes & CHANGE - Global Change and Sustainability Institute, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal
| | - Fulvio Celico
- Department of Chemistry, Life Sciences and Environmental Sustainability, University of Parma, Parma, Italy
| | - Steven J B Cooper
- South Australian Museum, North Terrace, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, School of Biological Sciences and Environment Institute, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
| | - David Culver
- Department of Environmental Science, American University, Washington, DC, USA
| | - Tiziana Di Lorenzo
- National Biodiversity Future Center, Palermo, Italy
- Research Institute on Terrestrial Ecosystems of the National Research Council of Italy (IRET CNR), Florence, Italy
| | - Diana M P Galassi
- Department of Life, Health and Environmental Sciences (MESVA), University of L'Aquila, L'Aquila, Italy
| | - Michelle T Guzik
- School of Biological Sciences, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
| | - Adam Hartland
- Lincoln Agritech Ltd, Ruakura, Kirikiriroa, Aotearoa, New Zealand
| | - William F Humphreys
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Western Australia, Crawley, Western Australia, Australia
- Western Australian Museum, Welshpool, Western Australia, Australia
| | - Rodrigo Lopes Ferreira
- Centro de Estudos em Biologia Subterrânea, Departamento de Ecologia e Conservação, Instituto de Ciências Naturais, Universidade Federal de Lavras, Lavras, Minas Gerais, Brazil
| | - Enrico Lunghi
- Department of Life, Health and Environmental Sciences (MESVA), University of L'Aquila, L'Aquila, Italy
| | - Daniele Nizzoli
- Department of Chemistry, Life Sciences and Environmental Sustainability, University of Parma, Parma, Italy
| | - Giulia Perina
- Subterranean Research and Groundwater Ecology (SuRGE) Group, Trace and Environmental DNA (TrEnD) Lab, School of Molecular and Life Sciences, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
| | - Rajeev Raghavan
- Department of Fisheries Resource Management, Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Studies, Kochi, India
| | - Zoe Richards
- Coral Conservation and Research Group, Trace and Environmental DNA (TrEnD) Lab, School of Molecular and Life Sciences, Curtin University, Bentley, Western Australia, Australia
| | - Ana Sofia P S Reboleira
- Departamento de Biologia Animal, and Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes & CHANGE - Global Change and Sustainability Institute, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal
| | - Melissa M Rohde
- Rohde Environmental Consulting, LLC, Seattle, Washington, USA
- Graduate Program in Environmental Science, State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Syracuse, New York, USA
| | | | - Susanne I Schmidt
- Department of Lake Research, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, Magdeburg, Germany
| | - Mieke van der Heyde
- Subterranean Research and Groundwater Ecology (SuRGE) Group, Trace and Environmental DNA (TrEnD) Lab, School of Molecular and Life Sciences, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
| | - Louise Weaver
- Water & Environment Group, Institute of Environmental Science & Research Ltd., Christchurch, New Zealand
| | - Nicole E White
- Subterranean Research and Groundwater Ecology (SuRGE) Group, Trace and Environmental DNA (TrEnD) Lab, School of Molecular and Life Sciences, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
| | - Maja Zagmajster
- SubBio Lab, Biotechnical Faculty, Department of Biology, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia
| | - Ian Hogg
- School of Science, University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand
- Canadian High Arctic Research Station, Polar Knowledge Canada, Cambridge Bay, Nunavut, Canada
| | - Albert Ruhi
- Department of Environmental Science, Policy & Management, University of California, Berkeley, California, USA
| | - Marthe M Gagnon
- School of Molecular and Life Sciences, Curtin University, Bentley, Western Australia, Australia
| | - Morten E Allentoft
- Trace and Environmental DNA (TrEnD) Lab, School of Molecular and Life Sciences, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
- Lundbeck Foundation GeoGenetics Centre, Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Robert Reinecke
- Institute of Geography, Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz, Mainz, Germany
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7
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Weary DM, von Keyserlingk MAG. Review: Using animal welfare to frame discussion on dairy farm technology. Animal 2023; 17 Suppl 4:100836. [PMID: 37793707 DOI: 10.1016/j.animal.2023.100836] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/16/2022] [Revised: 12/21/2022] [Accepted: 12/30/2022] [Indexed: 10/06/2023] Open
Abstract
The use of technology on dairy farms has increased dramatically over the last half-century. The ways that scientists describe the potential benefits and risk of technology are likely to affect if it is accepted for use on farms. The aim of our study was to identify papers that describe a linkage between technologies used on dairy farms and the welfare of dairy cattle. Our systematic review identified 380 papers, of which 28 met our inclusion criteria and were used to describe the technologies examined, the welfare-relevant measures used, and the ways in which authors framed welfare benefits and risks associated with the technologies. The large majority (27 of 28 papers) used positive frames, considering how the technology could improve welfare. Some authors carefully articulated the logic linking the specific measures to specific welfare-related outcomes (such as the use of accelerometer data to draw inferences about changes in lying times), but others made more general inferences (about health and welfare) that were not (and perhaps could not) be assessed. We conclude that much of the framing focused on animal welfare is biased toward welfare benefits and that future work should strive to address both potential benefits and harms; more balanced coverage may better inform solutions to the problems encountered by the people and animals affected by the technology. Welfare is a complex and multifaced concept, and it is unlikely that any one technology (or perhaps even a combination of technologies) can adequately capture this complexity. Thus, we encourage authors to restrict their claims to specific, welfare-relevant measures that can be assessed independently and thus validated. More general claims about welfare should be treated with skepticism.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel M Weary
- Animal Welfare Program, Faculty of Land and Food Systems, The University of British Columbia, 2357 Main Mall, Vancouver, B.C V6T 1Z4, Canada.
| | - Marina A G von Keyserlingk
- Animal Welfare Program, Faculty of Land and Food Systems, The University of British Columbia, 2357 Main Mall, Vancouver, B.C V6T 1Z4, Canada
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8
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Winship KA, Jones BL. Acoustic Monitoring of Professionally Managed Marine Mammals for Health and Welfare Insights. Animals (Basel) 2023; 13:2124. [PMID: 37443922 DOI: 10.3390/ani13132124] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/16/2023] [Revised: 05/29/2023] [Accepted: 06/20/2023] [Indexed: 07/15/2023] Open
Abstract
Research evaluating marine mammal welfare and opportunities for advancements in the care of species housed in a professional facility have rapidly increased in the past decade. While topics, such as comfortable housing, adequate social opportunities, stimulating enrichment, and a high standard of medical care, have continued to receive attention from managers and scientists, there is a lack of established acoustic consideration for monitoring the welfare of these animals. Marine mammals rely on sound production and reception for navigation and communication. Regulations governing anthropogenic sound production in our oceans have been put in place by many countries around the world, largely based on the results of research with managed and trained animals, due to the potential negative impacts that unrestricted noise can have on marine mammals. However, there has not been an established best practice for the acoustic welfare monitoring of marine mammals in professional care. By monitoring animal hearing and vocal behavior, a more holistic view of animal welfare can be achieved through the early detection of anthropogenic sound sources, the acoustic behavior of the animals, and even the features of the calls. In this review, the practice of monitoring cetacean acoustic welfare through behavioral hearing tests and auditory evoked potentials (AEPs), passive acoustic monitoring, such as the Welfare Acoustic Monitoring System (WAMS), as well as ideas for using advanced technologies for utilizing vocal biomarkers of health are introduced and reviewed as opportunities for integration into marine mammal welfare plans.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kelley A Winship
- National Marine Mammal Foundation, 2240 Shelter Island Dr., Suite 200, San Diego, CA 92106, USA
| | - Brittany L Jones
- National Marine Mammal Foundation, 2240 Shelter Island Dr., Suite 200, San Diego, CA 92106, USA
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9
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Arnaud V, Pellegrino F, Keenan S, St-Gelais X, Mathevon N, Levréro F, Coupé C. Improving the workflow to crack Small, Unbalanced, Noisy, but Genuine (SUNG) datasets in bioacoustics: The case of bonobo calls. PLoS Comput Biol 2023; 19:e1010325. [PMID: 37053268 PMCID: PMC10129004 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1010325] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/24/2022] [Revised: 04/25/2023] [Accepted: 03/01/2023] [Indexed: 04/15/2023] Open
Abstract
Despite the accumulation of data and studies, deciphering animal vocal communication remains challenging. In most cases, researchers must deal with the sparse recordings composing Small, Unbalanced, Noisy, but Genuine (SUNG) datasets. SUNG datasets are characterized by a limited number of recordings, most often noisy, and unbalanced in number between the individuals or categories of vocalizations. SUNG datasets therefore offer a valuable but inevitably distorted vision of communication systems. Adopting the best practices in their analysis is essential to effectively extract the available information and draw reliable conclusions. Here we show that the most recent advances in machine learning applied to a SUNG dataset succeed in unraveling the complex vocal repertoire of the bonobo, and we propose a workflow that can be effective with other animal species. We implement acoustic parameterization in three feature spaces and run a Supervised Uniform Manifold Approximation and Projection (S-UMAP) to evaluate how call types and individual signatures cluster in the bonobo acoustic space. We then implement three classification algorithms (Support Vector Machine, xgboost, neural networks) and their combination to explore the structure and variability of bonobo calls, as well as the robustness of the individual signature they encode. We underscore how classification performance is affected by the feature set and identify the most informative features. In addition, we highlight the need to address data leakage in the evaluation of classification performance to avoid misleading interpretations. Our results lead to identifying several practical approaches that are generalizable to any other animal communication system. To improve the reliability and replicability of vocal communication studies with SUNG datasets, we thus recommend: i) comparing several acoustic parameterizations; ii) visualizing the dataset with supervised UMAP to examine the species acoustic space; iii) adopting Support Vector Machines as the baseline classification approach; iv) explicitly evaluating data leakage and possibly implementing a mitigation strategy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vincent Arnaud
- Département des arts, des lettres et du langage, Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, Chicoutimi, Canada
- Laboratoire Dynamique Du Langage, UMR 5596, Université de Lyon, CNRS, Lyon, France
| | - François Pellegrino
- Laboratoire Dynamique Du Langage, UMR 5596, Université de Lyon, CNRS, Lyon, France
| | - Sumir Keenan
- ENES Bioacoustics Research Laboratory, University of Saint Étienne, CRNL, CNRS UMR 5292, Inserm UMR_S 1028, Saint-Étienne, France
| | - Xavier St-Gelais
- Département des arts, des lettres et du langage, Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, Chicoutimi, Canada
| | - Nicolas Mathevon
- ENES Bioacoustics Research Laboratory, University of Saint Étienne, CRNL, CNRS UMR 5292, Inserm UMR_S 1028, Saint-Étienne, France
| | - Florence Levréro
- ENES Bioacoustics Research Laboratory, University of Saint Étienne, CRNL, CNRS UMR 5292, Inserm UMR_S 1028, Saint-Étienne, France
| | - Christophe Coupé
- Laboratoire Dynamique Du Langage, UMR 5596, Université de Lyon, CNRS, Lyon, France
- Department of Linguistics, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
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10
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Tiemann I, Fijn LB, Bagaria M, Langen EMA, van der Staay FJ, Arndt SS, Leenaars C, Goerlich VC. Glucocorticoids in relation to behavior, morphology, and physiology as proxy indicators for the assessment of animal welfare. A systematic mapping review. Front Vet Sci 2023; 9:954607. [PMID: 36686168 PMCID: PMC9853183 DOI: 10.3389/fvets.2022.954607] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/27/2022] [Accepted: 12/12/2022] [Indexed: 01/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Translating theoretical concepts of animal welfare into quantitative assessment protocols is an ongoing challenge. Glucocorticoids (GCs) are frequently used as physiological measure in welfare assessment. The interpretation of levels of GCs and especially their relation to welfare, however, is not as straightforward, questioning the informative power of GCs. The aim of this systematic mapping review was therefore to provide an overview of the relevant literature to identify global patterns in studies using GCs as proxy for the assessment of welfare of vertebrate species. Following a systematic protocol and a-priory inclusion criteria, 509 studies with 517 experiments were selected for data extraction. The outcome of the experiments was categorized based on whether the intervention significantly affected levels of GCs, and whether these effects were accompanied by changes in behavior, morphology and physiology. Additional information, such as animal species, type of intervention, experimental set up and sample type used for GC determination was extracted, as well. Given the broad scope and large variation in included experiments, meta-analyses were not performed, but outcomes are presented to encourage further, in-depth analyses of the data set. The interventions did not consistently lead to changes in GCs with respect to the original authors hypothesis. Changes in GCs were not consistently paralleled by changes in additional assessment parameter on behavior, morphology and physiology. The minority of experiment quantified GCs in less invasive sample matrices compared to blood. Interventions showed a large variability, and species such as fish were underrepresented, especially in the assessment of behavior. The inconclusive effects on GCs and additional assessment parameter urges for further validation of techniques and welfare proxies. Several conceptual and technical challenges need to be met to create standardized and robust welfare assessment protocols and to determine the role of GCs herein.
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Affiliation(s)
- Inga Tiemann
- Faculty of Agriculture, Institute of Agricultural Engineering, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany,*Correspondence: Inga Tiemann ✉
| | - Lisa B. Fijn
- Division of Animals in Science and Society, Department of Population Health Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands
| | - Marc Bagaria
- Division of Animals in Science and Society, Department of Population Health Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands
| | - Esther M. A. Langen
- Division of Animals in Science and Society, Department of Population Health Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands
| | - F. Josef van der Staay
- Division of Farm Animal Health, Behaviour and Welfare Group, Department of Population Health Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands
| | - Saskia S. Arndt
- Division of Animals in Science and Society, Department of Population Health Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands
| | - Cathalijn Leenaars
- Institute for Laboratory Animal Science, Hannover Medical School, Hanover, Germany
| | - Vivian C. Goerlich
- Division of Animals in Science and Society, Department of Population Health Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands
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11
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Pereira E, Nääs IDA, Ivale AH, Garcia RG, Lima NDDS, Pereira DF. Energy Assessment from Broiler Chicks' Vocalization Might Help Improve Welfare and Production. Animals (Basel) 2022; 13:ani13010015. [PMID: 36611628 PMCID: PMC9818009 DOI: 10.3390/ani13010015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/25/2022] [Revised: 12/08/2022] [Accepted: 12/15/2022] [Indexed: 12/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Vocalization seems to be a viable source of signal for assessing broiler welfare. However, it may require an understanding of the birds' signals, both quantitatively and qualitatively. The delivery of calls with a specific set of acoustic features must be understood to assess the broiler's well-being. The present study aimed to analyze broiler chick vocalization through the sounds emitted during social isolation and understand what would be the flock size where the chicks present the smallest energy loss in vocalizing. The experiments were carried out during the first 3 days of growth, and during the trial, chicks received feed and water ad libitum. A total of 30 1-day-old chicks Cobb® breed were acquired at a commercial hatching unit. The birds were tested from 1 to 3 days old. A semi-anechoic chamber was used to record the vocalization with a unidirectional microphone connected to a digital recorder. We placed a group of 15 randomly chosen chicks inside the chamber and recorded the peeping sound, and the assessment was conducted four times with randomly chosen birds. We recorded the vocalization for 2 min and removed the birds sequentially stepwise until only one bird was left inside the semi-anechoic chamber. Each audio signal recorded during the 40 s was chosen randomly for signal extraction and analysis. Fast Fourier transform (FFT) was used to extract the acoustic features and the energy emitted during the vocalization. Using data mining, we compared three classification models to predict the rearing condition (classes distress and normal). The results show that birds' vocalization differed when isolated and in a group. Results also indicate that the energy spent in vocalizing varies depending on the size of the flock. When isolated, the chicks emit a high-intensity sound, "alarm call", which uses high energy. In contrast, they spent less energy when flocked in a group, indicating good well-being when the flock was 15 chicks. The weight of birds influenced the amount of signal energy. We also found that the most effective classifier model was the Random Forest, with an accuracy of 85.71%, kappa of 0.73, and cross-entropy of 0.2.
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Affiliation(s)
- Erica Pereira
- College of Agricultural Engineering, State University of Campinas, Campinas 13083-875, SP, Brazil
| | - Irenilza de Alencar Nääs
- Graduate Program in Production Engineering, Universidade Paulista, São Paulo 04026-002, SP, Brazil
- Correspondence:
| | - André Henrique Ivale
- Graduate Program in Production Engineering, Universidade Paulista, São Paulo 04026-002, SP, Brazil
| | - Rodrigo Garófallo Garcia
- College of Agrarian Sciences, The Federal University of Grande Dourados, Dourados 79804-970, MS, Brazil
| | | | - Danilo Florentino Pereira
- Department of Management, Development and Technology, School of Sciences and Engineering, São Paulo State University, Tupã 17602-496, SP, Brazil
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12
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Hayden MA, Barim MS, Weaver DL, Elliott KC, Flynn MA, Lincoln JM. Occupational Safety and Health with Technological Developments in Livestock Farms: A Literature Review. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH AND PUBLIC HEALTH 2022; 19:16440. [PMID: 36554320 PMCID: PMC9778243 DOI: 10.3390/ijerph192416440] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/08/2022] [Revised: 12/02/2022] [Accepted: 12/04/2022] [Indexed: 06/17/2023]
Abstract
In recent decades, there have been considerable technological developments in the agriculture sector to automate manual processes for many factors, including increased production demand and in response to labor shortages/costs. We conducted a review of the literature to summarize the key advances from installing emerging technology and studies on robotics and automation to improve agricultural practices. The main objective of this review was to survey the scientific literature to identify the uses of these new technologies in agricultural practices focusing on new or reduced occupational safety risks affecting agriculture workers. We screened 3248 articles with the following criteria: (1) relevance of the title and abstract with occupational safety and health; (2) agriculture technologies/applications that were available in the United States; (3) written in English; and (4) published 2015-2020. We found 624 articles on crops and harvesting and 80 articles on livestock farming related to robotics and automated systems. Within livestock farming, most (78%) articles identified were related to dairy farms, and 56% of the articles indicated these farms were using robotics routinely. However, our review revealed gaps in how the technology has been evaluated to show the benefits or potential hazards to the safety and well-being of livestock owners/operators and workers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marie A. Hayden
- Division of Field Studies and Engineering, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Cincinnati, OH 45213, USA
| | - Menekse S. Barim
- Division of Field Studies and Engineering, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Cincinnati, OH 45213, USA
| | - Darlene L. Weaver
- Division of Safety Research, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Morgantown, WV 26505, USA
| | - K. C. Elliott
- Office of the Director, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Anchorage, AK 99508, USA
| | - Michael A. Flynn
- Division of Science Integration, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Cincinnati, OH 45226, USA
| | - Jennifer M. Lincoln
- Office of the Director, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Cincinnati, OH 45213, USA
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13
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Besson M, Alison J, Bjerge K, Gorochowski TE, Høye TT, Jucker T, Mann HMR, Clements CF. Towards the fully automated monitoring of ecological communities. Ecol Lett 2022; 25:2753-2775. [PMID: 36264848 PMCID: PMC9828790 DOI: 10.1111/ele.14123] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/22/2022] [Revised: 08/09/2022] [Accepted: 09/06/2022] [Indexed: 01/12/2023]
Abstract
High-resolution monitoring is fundamental to understand ecosystems dynamics in an era of global change and biodiversity declines. While real-time and automated monitoring of abiotic components has been possible for some time, monitoring biotic components-for example, individual behaviours and traits, and species abundance and distribution-is far more challenging. Recent technological advancements offer potential solutions to achieve this through: (i) increasingly affordable high-throughput recording hardware, which can collect rich multidimensional data, and (ii) increasingly accessible artificial intelligence approaches, which can extract ecological knowledge from large datasets. However, automating the monitoring of facets of ecological communities via such technologies has primarily been achieved at low spatiotemporal resolutions within limited steps of the monitoring workflow. Here, we review existing technologies for data recording and processing that enable automated monitoring of ecological communities. We then present novel frameworks that combine such technologies, forming fully automated pipelines to detect, track, classify and count multiple species, and record behavioural and morphological traits, at resolutions which have previously been impossible to achieve. Based on these rapidly developing technologies, we illustrate a solution to one of the greatest challenges in ecology: the ability to rapidly generate high-resolution, multidimensional and standardised data across complex ecologies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marc Besson
- School of Biological SciencesUniversity of BristolBristolUK,Sorbonne Université CNRS UMR Biologie des Organismes Marins, BIOMBanyuls‐sur‐MerFrance
| | - Jamie Alison
- Department of EcoscienceAarhus UniversityAarhusDenmark,UK Centre for Ecology & HydrologyBangorUK
| | - Kim Bjerge
- Department of Electrical and Computer EngineeringAarhus UniversityAarhusDenmark
| | - Thomas E. Gorochowski
- School of Biological SciencesUniversity of BristolBristolUK,BrisEngBio, School of ChemistryUniversity of BristolCantock's CloseBristolBS8 1TSUK
| | - Toke T. Høye
- Department of EcoscienceAarhus UniversityAarhusDenmark,Arctic Research CentreAarhus UniversityAarhusDenmark
| | - Tommaso Jucker
- School of Biological SciencesUniversity of BristolBristolUK
| | - Hjalte M. R. Mann
- Department of EcoscienceAarhus UniversityAarhusDenmark,Arctic Research CentreAarhus UniversityAarhusDenmark
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14
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Mutanu L, Gohil J, Gupta K, Wagio P, Kotonya G. A Review of Automated Bioacoustics and General Acoustics Classification Research. SENSORS (BASEL, SWITZERLAND) 2022; 22:8361. [PMID: 36366061 PMCID: PMC9658612 DOI: 10.3390/s22218361] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/01/2022] [Revised: 10/19/2022] [Accepted: 10/21/2022] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
Automated bioacoustics classification has received increasing attention from the research community in recent years due its cross-disciplinary nature and its diverse application. Applications in bioacoustics classification range from smart acoustic sensor networks that investigate the effects of acoustic vocalizations on species to context-aware edge devices that anticipate changes in their environment adapt their sensing and processing accordingly. The research described here is an in-depth survey of the current state of bioacoustics classification and monitoring. The survey examines bioacoustics classification alongside general acoustics to provide a representative picture of the research landscape. The survey reviewed 124 studies spanning eight years of research. The survey identifies the key application areas in bioacoustics research and the techniques used in audio transformation and feature extraction. The survey also examines the classification algorithms used in bioacoustics systems. Lastly, the survey examines current challenges, possible opportunities, and future directions in bioacoustics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Leah Mutanu
- Department of Computing, United States International University Africa, Nairobi P.O. Box 14634-0800, Kenya
| | - Jeet Gohil
- Department of Computing, United States International University Africa, Nairobi P.O. Box 14634-0800, Kenya
| | - Khushi Gupta
- Department of Computer Science, Sam Houston State University, Huntsville, TX 77341, USA
| | - Perpetua Wagio
- Department of Computing, United States International University Africa, Nairobi P.O. Box 14634-0800, Kenya
| | - Gerald Kotonya
- School of Computing and Communications, Lancaster University, Lacaster LA1 4WA, UK
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15
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Krebs BL, Eschmann CL, Watters JV. Dither: A unifying model of the effects of visitor numbers on zoo animal behavior. Zoo Biol 2022; 42:194-208. [PMID: 36161730 DOI: 10.1002/zoo.21736] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/31/2022] [Revised: 08/16/2022] [Accepted: 09/09/2022] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Interest in the impact of human presence on the behavior and well-being of zoo and aquarium animals is increasing. Previous work has conceptualized the presence of zoo visitors as having one of three impacts on the behavior of animals in zoos: positive, negative, or neutral. Research suggests the same species may exhibit all three responses under different conditions, calling into question whether the positive/negative/neutral framework is the most useful way of considering visitor impact on animal behavior. Here we present a model of visitor effects that unifies these three predictions. Our model suggests that zoo-goers may provide a "dither effect" for some animals living in zoos. We posit animals may show nonlinear behavioral responses over a range of visitor densities, effectively exhibiting changes in both comfortable and anxiety-like behaviors under different levels of human presence. We tested this model during two COVID-19 related closures at the San Francisco Zoo, studying seven species for evidence of nonlinear relationships between visitor numbers and animal behavior. Our results support the dither effect acting in several species observed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bethany L Krebs
- San Francisco Zoological Society, San Francisco, California, USA
| | | | - Jason V Watters
- San Francisco Zoological Society, San Francisco, California, USA
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16
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Introducing the Software CASE (Cluster and Analyze Sound Events) by Comparing Different Clustering Methods and Audio Transformation Techniques Using Animal Vocalizations. Animals (Basel) 2022; 12:ani12162020. [PMID: 36009611 PMCID: PMC9404437 DOI: 10.3390/ani12162020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/20/2022] [Revised: 07/28/2022] [Accepted: 08/04/2022] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Simple Summary Unsupervised clustering algorithms are widely used in ecology and conservation to classify animal vocalizations, but also offer various advantages in basic research, contributing to the understanding of acoustic communication. Nevertheless, there are still some challenges to overcome. For instance, the quality of the clustering result depends on the audio transformation technique previously used to adjust the audio data. Moreover, it is difficult to verify the reliability of the clustering result. To analyze bioacoustic data using a clustering algorithm, it is, therefore, essential to select a reasonable algorithm from the many existing algorithms and prepare the recorded vocalizations so that the resulting values characterize a vocalization as accurately as possible. Frequency-modulated vocalizations, whose frequencies change over time, pose a particular problem. In this paper, we present the software CASE, which includes various clustering methods and provides an overview of their strengths and weaknesses concerning the classification of bioacoustic data. This software uses a multidimensional feature-extraction method to achieve better clustering results, especially for frequency-modulated vocalizations. Abstract Unsupervised clustering algorithms are widely used in ecology and conservation to classify animal sounds, but also offer several advantages in basic bioacoustics research. Consequently, it is important to overcome the existing challenges. A common practice is extracting the acoustic features of vocalizations one-dimensionally, only extracting an average value for a given feature for the entire vocalization. With frequency-modulated vocalizations, whose acoustic features can change over time, this can lead to insufficient characterization. Whether the necessary parameters have been set correctly and the obtained clustering result reliably classifies the vocalizations subsequently often remains unclear. The presented software, CASE, is intended to overcome these challenges. Established and new unsupervised clustering methods (community detection, affinity propagation, HDBSCAN, and fuzzy clustering) are tested in combination with various classifiers (k-nearest neighbor, dynamic time-warping, and cross-correlation) using differently transformed animal vocalizations. These methods are compared with predefined clusters to determine their strengths and weaknesses. In addition, a multidimensional data transformation procedure is presented that better represents the course of multiple acoustic features. The results suggest that, especially with frequency-modulated vocalizations, clustering is more applicable with multidimensional feature extraction compared with one-dimensional feature extraction. The characterization and clustering of vocalizations in multidimensional space offer great potential for future bioacoustic studies. The software CASE includes the developed method of multidimensional feature extraction, as well as all used clustering methods. It allows quickly applying several clustering algorithms to one data set to compare their results and to verify their reliability based on their consistency. Moreover, the software CASE determines the optimal values of most of the necessary parameters automatically. To take advantage of these benefits, the software CASE is provided for free download.
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17
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Juodakis J, Marsland S. Wind‐robust sound event detection and denoising for bioacoustics. Methods Ecol Evol 2022. [DOI: 10.1111/2041-210x.13928] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Julius Juodakis
- School of Mathematics and Statistics Victoria University of Wellington New Zealand
| | - Stephen Marsland
- School of Mathematics and Statistics Victoria University of Wellington New Zealand
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18
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Clark FE, Dunn JC. From Soundwave to Soundscape: A Guide to Acoustic Research in Captive Animal Environments. Front Vet Sci 2022; 9:889117. [PMID: 35782565 PMCID: PMC9244380 DOI: 10.3389/fvets.2022.889117] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/03/2022] [Accepted: 05/23/2022] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Sound is a complex feature of all environments, but captive animals' soundscapes (acoustic scenes) have been studied far less than those of wild animals. Furthermore, research across farms, laboratories, pet shelters, and zoos tends to focus on just one aspect of environmental sound measurement: its pressure level or intensity (in decibels). We review the state of the art of captive animal acoustic research and contrast this to the wild, highlighting new opportunities for the former to learn from the latter. We begin with a primer on sound, aimed at captive researchers and animal caregivers with an interest (rather than specific expertise) in acoustics. Then, we summarize animal acoustic research broadly split into measuring sound from animals, or their environment. We guide readers from soundwave to soundscape and through the burgeoning field of conservation technology, which offers new methods to capture multiple features of complex, gestalt soundscapes. Our review ends with suggestions for future research, and a practical guide to sound measurement in captive environments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fay E. Clark
- Behavioural Ecology Research Group, School of Life Sciences, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, United Kingdom
- School of Psychological Science, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom
- *Correspondence: Fay E. Clark
| | - Jacob C. Dunn
- Behavioural Ecology Research Group, School of Life Sciences, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, United Kingdom
- Biological Anthropology, Department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
- Department of Cognitive Biology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
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19
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Webber T, Gillespie D, Lewis T, Gordon J, Ruchirabha T, Thompson KF. Streamlining analysis methods for large acoustic surveys using automatic detectors with operator validation. Methods Ecol Evol 2022. [DOI: 10.1111/2041-210x.13907] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Thomas Webber
- Sea Mammal Research Unit, Scottish Oceans Institute University of St. Andrews St. Andrews UK
| | - Douglas Gillespie
- Sea Mammal Research Unit, Scottish Oceans Institute University of St. Andrews St. Andrews UK
| | | | - Jonathan Gordon
- Sea Mammal Research Unit, Scottish Oceans Institute University of St. Andrews St. Andrews UK
| | | | - Kirsten F. Thompson
- Biosciences, College of Life & Environmental Sciences University of Exeter Exeter UK
- Greenpeace Research Laboratories University of Exeter Exeter UK
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20
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Mao A, Giraudet CSE, Liu K, De Almeida Nolasco I, Xie Z, Xie Z, Gao Y, Theobald J, Bhatta D, Stewart R, McElligott AG. Automated identification of chicken distress vocalizations using deep learning models. JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY, INTERFACE 2022; 19:20210921. [PMID: 35765806 DOI: 10.1098/rsif.2021.0921] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/09/2023]
Abstract
The annual global production of chickens exceeds 25 billion birds, which are often housed in very large groups, numbering thousands. Distress calling triggered by various sources of stress has been suggested as an 'iceberg indicator' of chicken welfare. However, to date, the identification of distress calls largely relies on manual annotation, which is very labour-intensive and time-consuming. Thus, a novel convolutional neural network-based model, light-VGG11, was developed to automatically identify chicken distress calls using recordings (3363 distress calls and 1973 natural barn sounds) collected on an intensive farm. The light-VGG11 was modified from VGG11 with significantly fewer parameters (9.3 million versus 128 million) and 55.88% faster detection speed while displaying comparable performance, i.e. precision (94.58%), recall (94.89%), F1-score (94.73%) and accuracy (95.07%), therefore more useful for model deployment in practice. To additionally improve light-VGG11's performance, we investigated the impacts of different data augmentation techniques (i.e. time masking, frequency masking, mixed spectrograms of the same class and Gaussian noise) and found that they could improve distress calls detection by up to 1.52%. Our distress call detection demonstration on continuous audio recordings, shows the potential for developing technologies to monitor the output of this call type in large, commercial chicken flocks.
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Affiliation(s)
- Axiu Mao
- Department of Infectious Diseases and Public Health, Jockey Club College of Veterinary Medicine and Life Sciences, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, People's Republic of China
| | - Claire S E Giraudet
- Department of Infectious Diseases and Public Health, Jockey Club College of Veterinary Medicine and Life Sciences, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, People's Republic of China.,Centre for Animal Health and Welfare, Jockey Club College of Veterinary Medicine and Life Sciences, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, People's Republic of China
| | - Kai Liu
- Department of Infectious Diseases and Public Health, Jockey Club College of Veterinary Medicine and Life Sciences, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, People's Republic of China.,Animal Health Research Centre, Chengdu Research Institute, City University of Hong Kong, Chengdu, People's Republic of China
| | - Inês De Almeida Nolasco
- School of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK
| | - Zhiqin Xie
- Guangxi Key Laboratory of Veterinary Biotechnology, Guangxi Veterinary Research Institute, 51 North Road You Ai, Nanning 530001, Guangxi, People's Republic of China
| | - Zhixun Xie
- Guangxi Key Laboratory of Veterinary Biotechnology, Guangxi Veterinary Research Institute, 51 North Road You Ai, Nanning 530001, Guangxi, People's Republic of China
| | - Yue Gao
- School of Computer Science and Electronic Engineering, University of Surrey, Guildford, UK
| | | | - Devaki Bhatta
- Agsenze, Parc House, Kingston Upon Thames, London, UK
| | - Rebecca Stewart
- Dyson School of Design Engineering, Imperial College London, London, UK
| | - Alan G McElligott
- Department of Infectious Diseases and Public Health, Jockey Club College of Veterinary Medicine and Life Sciences, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, People's Republic of China.,Centre for Animal Health and Welfare, Jockey Club College of Veterinary Medicine and Life Sciences, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, People's Republic of China
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21
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Sahu PK, Campbell KA, Oprea A, Phillmore LS, Sturdy CB. Comparing methodologies for classification of zebra finch distance calls. THE JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2022; 151:3305. [PMID: 35649952 DOI: 10.1121/10.0011401] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/31/2022] [Accepted: 05/04/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
Bioacoustic analysis has been used for a variety of purposes including classifying vocalizations for biodiversity monitoring and understanding mechanisms of cognitive processes. A wide range of statistical methods, including various automated methods, have been used to successfully classify vocalizations based on species, sex, geography, and individual. A comprehensive approach focusing on identifying acoustic features putatively involved in classification is required for the prediction of features necessary for discrimination in the real world. Here, we used several classification techniques, namely discriminant function analyses (DFAs), support vector machines (SVMs), and artificial neural networks (ANNs), for sex-based classification of zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata) distance calls using acoustic features measured from spectrograms. We found that all three methods (DFAs, SVMs, and ANNs) correctly classified the calls to respective sex-based categories with high accuracy between 92 and 96%. Frequency modulation of ascending frequency, total duration, and end frequency of the distance call were the most predictive features underlying this classification in all of our models. Our results corroborate evidence of the importance of total call duration and frequency modulation in the classification of male and female distance calls. Moreover, we provide a methodological approach for bioacoustic classification problems using multiple statistical analyses.
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Affiliation(s)
- Prateek K Sahu
- Department of Psychology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2R3, Canada
| | - Kimberley A Campbell
- Department of Psychology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2R3, Canada
| | - Alexandra Oprea
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia B3H 4R2, Canada
| | - Leslie S Phillmore
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia B3H 4R2, Canada
| | - Christopher B Sturdy
- Department of Psychology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2R3, Canada
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22
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Linhart P, Mahamoud-Issa M, Stowell D, Blumstein DT. The potential for acoustic individual identification in mammals. Mamm Biol 2022. [DOI: 10.1007/s42991-021-00222-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
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23
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Affective State Recognition in Livestock—Artificial Intelligence Approaches. Animals (Basel) 2022; 12:ani12060759. [PMID: 35327156 PMCID: PMC8944789 DOI: 10.3390/ani12060759] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/31/2022] [Revised: 03/15/2022] [Accepted: 03/16/2022] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Simple Summary Emotions or affective states recognition in farm animals is an underexplored research domain. Despite significant advances in animal welfare research, animal affective state computing through the development and application of devices and platforms that can not only recognize but interpret and process the emotions, are in a nascent stage. The analysis and measurement of unique behavioural, physical, and biological characteristics offered by biometric sensor technologies and the affiliated complex and large data sets, opens the pathway for novel and realistic identification of individual animals amongst a herd or a flock. By capitalizing on the immense potential of biometric sensors, artificial intelligence enabled big data methods offer substantial advancement of animal welfare standards and meet the urgent needs of caretakers to respond effectively to maintain the wellbeing of their animals. Abstract Farm animals, numbering over 70 billion worldwide, are increasingly managed in large-scale, intensive farms. With both public awareness and scientific evidence growing that farm animals experience suffering, as well as affective states such as fear, frustration and distress, there is an urgent need to develop efficient and accurate methods for monitoring their welfare. At present, there are not scientifically validated ‘benchmarks’ for quantifying transient emotional (affective) states in farm animals, and no established measures of good welfare, only indicators of poor welfare, such as injury, pain and fear. Conventional approaches to monitoring livestock welfare are time-consuming, interrupt farming processes and involve subjective judgments. Biometric sensor data enabled by artificial intelligence is an emerging smart solution to unobtrusively monitoring livestock, but its potential for quantifying affective states and ground-breaking solutions in their application are yet to be realized. This review provides innovative methods for collecting big data on farm animal emotions, which can be used to train artificial intelligence models to classify, quantify and predict affective states in individual pigs and cows. Extending this to the group level, social network analysis can be applied to model emotional dynamics and contagion among animals. Finally, ‘digital twins’ of animals capable of simulating and predicting their affective states and behaviour in real time are a near-term possibility.
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24
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Briefer EF, Sypherd CCR, Linhart P, Leliveld LMC, Padilla de la Torre M, Read ER, Guérin C, Deiss V, Monestier C, Rasmussen JH, Špinka M, Düpjan S, Boissy A, Janczak AM, Hillmann E, Tallet C. Classification of pig calls produced from birth to slaughter according to their emotional valence and context of production. Sci Rep 2022; 12:3409. [PMID: 35256620 PMCID: PMC8901661 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-07174-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/27/2021] [Accepted: 02/09/2022] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Vocal expression of emotions has been observed across species and could provide a non-invasive and reliable means to assess animal emotions. We investigated if pig vocal indicators of emotions revealed in previous studies are valid across call types and contexts, and could potentially be used to develop an automated emotion monitoring tool. We performed an analysis of an extensive and unique dataset of low (LF) and high frequency (HF) calls emitted by pigs across numerous commercial contexts from birth to slaughter (7414 calls from 411 pigs). Our results revealed that the valence attributed to the contexts of production (positive versus negative) affected all investigated parameters in both LF and HF. Similarly, the context category affected all parameters. We then tested two different automated methods for call classification; a neural network revealed much higher classification accuracy compared to a permuted discriminant function analysis (pDFA), both for the valence (neural network: 91.5%; pDFA analysis weighted average across LF and HF (cross-classified): 61.7% with a chance level at 50.5%) and context (neural network: 81.5%; pDFA analysis weighted average across LF and HF (cross-classified): 19.4% with a chance level at 14.3%). These results suggest that an automated recognition system can be developed to monitor pig welfare on-farm.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elodie F Briefer
- Institute of Agricultural Sciences, ETH Zurich, Universitätsstrasse 2, 8092, Zürich, Switzerland.
- Behavioural Ecology Group, Section for Ecology and Evolution, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, 2100, Copenhagen, Denmark.
| | - Ciara C-R Sypherd
- Behavioural Ecology Group, Section for Ecology and Evolution, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, 2100, Copenhagen, Denmark
- School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Pavel Linhart
- Department of Ethology, Institute of Animal Science, 104 01, Prague, Czechia
- Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia, 370 05, Č. Budějovice, Czechia
| | - Lisette M C Leliveld
- Institute of Behavioural Physiology, Research Institute for Farm Animal Biology (FBN), 18196, Dummerstorf, Germany
- Department of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Università Degli Studi Di Milano, Milano, Italy
| | - Monica Padilla de la Torre
- Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Universitetstunet 3, 1433, Ås, Norway
| | - Eva R Read
- PEGASE, INRAE, Institut Agro, 35590, Saint Gilles, France
| | - Carole Guérin
- PEGASE, INRAE, Institut Agro, 35590, Saint Gilles, France
| | - Véronique Deiss
- University of Clermont Auvergne, INRAE, VetAgro Sup, UMR Herbivores, 63122, Saint-Genès Champanelle, France
| | | | - Jeppe H Rasmussen
- Institute of Behavioural Physiology, Research Institute for Farm Animal Biology (FBN), 18196, Dummerstorf, Germany
- Center for Coastal Research, University of Agder, 4604, Kristiansand, Norway
- Center for Artificial Intelligence Research, University of Agder, 4604, Kristiansand, Norway
| | - Marek Špinka
- Department of Ethology, Institute of Animal Science, 104 01, Prague, Czechia
- Faculty of Agrobiology, Food and Natural Resources, Czech University of Life Sciences, 165 21, Prague, Czechia
| | - Sandra Düpjan
- Institute of Behavioural Physiology, Research Institute for Farm Animal Biology (FBN), 18196, Dummerstorf, Germany
| | - Alain Boissy
- University of Clermont Auvergne, INRAE, VetAgro Sup, UMR Herbivores, 63122, Saint-Genès Champanelle, France
| | - Andrew M Janczak
- Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Universitetstunet 3, 1433, Ås, Norway
| | - Edna Hillmann
- Institute of Agricultural Sciences, ETH Zurich, Universitätsstrasse 2, 8092, Zürich, Switzerland
- Animal Husbandry and Ethology, Albrecht Daniel Thaer-Institut, Faculty of Life Sciences, Humboldt-Universität Zu Berlin, Philippstrasse 13, 10115, Berlin, Germany
| | - Céline Tallet
- PEGASE, INRAE, Institut Agro, 35590, Saint Gilles, France
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25
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Šturm R, López Díez JJ, Polajnar J, Sueur J, Virant-Doberlet M. Is It Time for Ecotremology? Front Ecol Evol 2022. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2022.828503] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/20/2023] Open
Abstract
Our awareness of air-borne sounds in natural and urban habitats has led to the recent recognition of soundscape ecology and ecoacoustics as interdisciplinary fields of research that can help us better understand ecological processes and ecosystem dynamics. Because the vibroscape (i.e., the substrate-borne vibrations occurring in a given environment) is hidden to the human senses, we have largely overlooked its ecological significance. Substrate vibrations provide information crucial to the reproduction and survival of most animals, especially arthropods, which are essential to ecosystem functioning. Thus, vibroscape is an important component of the environment perceived by the majority of animals. Nowadays, when the environment is rapidly changing due to human activities, climate change, and invasive species, this hidden vibratory world is also likely to change without our notice, with potentially crucial effects on arthropod communities. Here, we introduce ecotremology, a discipline that mainly aims at studying substrate-borne vibrations for unraveling ecological processes and biological conservation. As biotremology follows the main research concepts of bioacoustics, ecotremology is consistent with the paradigms of ecoacoustics. We argue that information extracted from substrate vibrations present in the environment can be used to comprehensively assess and reliably predict ecosystem changes. We identify key research questions and discuss the technical challenges associated with ecotremology studies.
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26
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Vella K, Capel T, Gonzalez A, Truskinger A, Fuller S, Roe P. Key Issues for Realizing Open Ecoacoustic Monitoring in Australia. Front Ecol Evol 2022. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2021.809576] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Many organizations are attempting to scale ecoacoustic monitoring for conservation but are hampered at the stages of data management and analysis. We reviewed current ecoacoustic hardware, software, and standards, and conducted workshops with 23 participants across 10 organizations in Australia to learn about their current practices, and to identify key trends and challenges in their use of ecoacoustics data. We found no existing metadata schemas that contain enough ecoacoustics terms for current practice, and no standard approaches to annotation. There was a strong need for free acoustics data storage, discoverable learning resources, and interoperability with other ecological modeling tools. In parallel, there were tensions regarding intellectual property management, and siloed approaches to studying species within organizations across different regions and between organizations doing similar work. This research contributes directly to the development of an open ecoacoustics platform to enable the sharing of data, analyses, and tools for environmental conservation.
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27
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Becker FK, Shabangu FW, Gridley T, Wittmer HU, Marsland S. Sounding out a continent: seven decades of bioacoustics research in Africa. BIOACOUSTICS 2022. [DOI: 10.1080/09524622.2021.2021987] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/02/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Frowin K. Becker
- School of Biological Sciences, Victoria University of Wellington/Te Herenga Waka, Wellington, New Zealand
- National Geographic Okavango Wilderness Project, Maun, Botswana
| | - Fannie W. Shabangu
- Fisheries Management Branch, Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, Cape Town, South Africa
- Mammal Research Institute Whale Unit, Department of Zoology and Entomology, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa
| | - Tess Gridley
- Sea Search Research and Conservation Npc, Cape Town, South Africa
- Department of Botany and Zoology, Faculty of Science, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa
| | - Heiko U. Wittmer
- School of Biological Sciences, Victoria University of Wellington/Te Herenga Waka, Wellington, New Zealand
| | - Stephen Marsland
- School of Mathematics and Statistics, Victoria University of Wellington/Te Herenga Waka, Wellington, New Zealand
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28
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Romero-Mujalli D, Bergmann T, Zimmermann A, Scheumann M. Utilizing DeepSqueak for automatic detection and classification of mammalian vocalizations: a case study on primate vocalizations. Sci Rep 2021; 11:24463. [PMID: 34961788 PMCID: PMC8712519 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-03941-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/18/2021] [Accepted: 12/09/2021] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Bioacoustic analyses of animal vocalizations are predominantly accomplished through manual scanning, a highly subjective and time-consuming process. Thus, validated automated analyses are needed that are usable for a variety of animal species and easy to handle by non-programing specialists. This study tested and validated whether DeepSqueak, a user-friendly software, developed for rodent ultrasonic vocalizations, can be generalized to automate the detection/segmentation, clustering and classification of high-frequency/ultrasonic vocalizations of a primate species. Our validation procedure showed that the trained detectors for vocalizations of the gray mouse lemur (Microcebus murinus) can deal with different call types, individual variation and different recording quality. Implementing additional filters drastically reduced noise signals (4225 events) and call fragments (637 events), resulting in 91% correct detections (Ntotal = 3040). Additionally, the detectors could be used to detect the vocalizations of an evolutionary closely related species, the Goodman’s mouse lemur (M. lehilahytsara). An integrated supervised classifier classified 93% of the 2683 calls correctly to the respective call type, and the unsupervised clustering model grouped the calls into clusters matching the published human-made categories. This study shows that DeepSqueak can be successfully utilized to detect, cluster and classify high-frequency/ultrasonic vocalizations of other taxa than rodents, and suggests a validation procedure usable to evaluate further bioacoustics software.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel Romero-Mujalli
- Institute of Zoology, University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Bünteweg 17, 30559, Hannover, Germany.
| | - Tjard Bergmann
- Institute of Zoology, University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Bünteweg 17, 30559, Hannover, Germany
| | | | - Marina Scheumann
- Institute of Zoology, University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Bünteweg 17, 30559, Hannover, Germany
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29
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Sawant S, Arvind C, Joshi V, Robin VV. Spectrogram cross‐correlation can be used to measure the complexity of bird vocalizations. Methods Ecol Evol 2021. [DOI: 10.1111/2041-210x.13765] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Suyash Sawant
- Department of Biology Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Tirupati Tirupati India
| | - Chiti Arvind
- Department of Biology Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Tirupati Tirupati India
| | - Viral Joshi
- Department of Biology Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Tirupati Tirupati India
| | - V. V. Robin
- Department of Biology Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Tirupati Tirupati India
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30
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From human wellbeing to animal welfare. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2021; 131:941-952. [PMID: 34509514 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2021.09.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/21/2019] [Revised: 02/09/2021] [Accepted: 09/07/2021] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
Abstract
What does it mean to be "well" and how might such a state be cultivated? When we speak of wellbeing, it is of ourselves and fellow humans. When it comes to nonhuman animals, consideration turns to welfare. My aim herein is to suggest that theoretical approaches to human wellbeing might be beneficially applied to consideration of animal welfare, and in so doing, introduce new lines of inquiry and practice. I will review current approaches to human wellbeing, adopting a triarchic structure that delineates hedonic wellbeing, eudaimonic wellbeing, and social wellbeing. For each, I present a conceptual definition and a review of how researchers have endeavored to measure the construct. Drawing these three domains of research together, I highlight how these traditionally anthropocentric lines of inquiry might be extended to the question of animal welfare - namely by considering hedonic welfare, eudaimonic welfare, and social welfare as potentially distinguishable and complementary components of the broader construct of animal welfare.
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31
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Effects of the environment and animal behavior on nutrient requirements for gestating sows: Future improvements in precision feeding. Anim Feed Sci Technol 2021. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anifeedsci.2021.115034] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
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32
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Nunamaker EA, Davis S, O’Malley CI, Turner PV. Developing Recommendations for Cumulative Endpoints and Lifetime Use for Research Animals. Animals (Basel) 2021; 11:ani11072031. [PMID: 34359161 PMCID: PMC8300189 DOI: 10.3390/ani11072031] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/09/2021] [Revised: 06/15/2021] [Accepted: 07/06/2021] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
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.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elizabeth A. Nunamaker
- Animal Care Services, University of Florida, 1600 Archer Rd, Gainesville, FL 32610, USA;
| | - Shawn Davis
- Animal Care Services, Brock University, 1812 Sir Isaac Brock Way, St Catherines, ON L2S 3A1, Canada;
| | - Carly I. O’Malley
- Global Animal Welfare and Training, Charles River Laboratories, Wilmington, MA 01887, USA
| | - Patricia V. Turner
- Global Animal Welfare and Training, Charles River Laboratories, Wilmington, MA 01887, USA
- Department of Pathobiology, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada
- Correspondence:
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Hecht L. The importance of considering age when quantifying wild animals' welfare. Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc 2021; 96:2602-2616. [PMID: 34155749 DOI: 10.1111/brv.12769] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/10/2020] [Revised: 06/15/2021] [Accepted: 06/16/2021] [Indexed: 01/18/2023]
Abstract
Wild animals experience different challenges and opportunities as they mature, and this variety of experiences can lead to different levels of welfare characterizing the day-to-day lives of individuals of different ages. At the same time, most wild animals who are born do not survive to adulthood. Individuals who die as juveniles do not simply experience a homogeneous fraction of the lifetimes of older members of their species; rather, their truncated lives may be characterized by very different levels of welfare. Here, I propose the concept of welfare expectancy as a framework for quantifying wild animal welfare at a population level, given individual-level data on average welfare with respect to age. This concept fits conveniently alongside methods of analysis already used in population ecology, such as demographic sensitivity analysis, and is applicable to evaluating the welfare consequences of human interventions and natural pressures that disproportionately affect individuals of different ages. In order to understand better and improve the state of wild animal welfare, more attention should be directed towards young animals and the particular challenges they face.
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Affiliation(s)
- Luke Hecht
- Wild Animal Initiative, 115 Elm Street, Suite I, PMB 2321, Farmington, MN, 55024, U.S.A.,Department of Biosciences, Durham University, Stockton Road, Durham, DH1 3LE, U.K
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A System for Monitoring Acoustics to Supplement an Animal Welfare Plan for Bottlenose Dolphins. JOURNAL OF ZOOLOGICAL AND BOTANICAL GARDENS 2021. [DOI: 10.3390/jzbg2020015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Animal sounds are commonly used by humans to infer information about their motivations and their health, yet, acoustic data is an underutilized welfare biomarker especially for aquatic animals. Here, we describe an acoustic monitoring system that is being implemented at the U.S. Navy Marine Mammal Program where dolphins live in groups in ocean enclosures in San Diego Bay. A four-element bottom mounted hydrophone array is used to continuously record, detect and localize acoustic detections from this focal group. Software provides users an automated comparison of the current acoustic behavior to group historical data which can be used to identify periods of normal, healthy thriving dolphins, and allows rare instances of deviations from typical behavior to stand out. Variations in a group or individual’s call rates can be correlated with independent veterinary examinations and behavioral observations in order to better assess dolphin health and welfare. Additionally, the monitoring system identifies time periods in which a sound source from San Diego Bay is of high-enough amplitude that the received level at our array is considered a potential concern for the focal animals. These time stamps can be used to identify and potentially mitigate exposures to acoustic sources that may otherwise not be obvious to human listeners. We hope this application inspires zoos and aquaria to innovate and create ways to incorporate acoustic information into their own animal welfare management programs.
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Laurijs KA, Briefer EF, Reimert I, Webb LE. Vocalisations in farm animals: A step towards positive welfare assessment. Appl Anim Behav Sci 2021. [DOI: 10.1016/j.applanim.2021.105264] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/25/2022]
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36
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Jung DH, Kim NY, Moon SH, Jhin C, Kim HJ, Yang JS, Kim HS, Lee TS, Lee JY, Park SH. Deep Learning-Based Cattle Vocal Classification Model and Real-Time Livestock Monitoring System with Noise Filtering. Animals (Basel) 2021; 11:ani11020357. [PMID: 33535390 PMCID: PMC7911430 DOI: 10.3390/ani11020357] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/06/2021] [Revised: 01/24/2021] [Accepted: 01/27/2021] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
The priority placed on animal welfare in the meat industry is increasing the importance of understanding livestock behavior. In this study, we developed a web-based monitoring and recording system based on artificial intelligence analysis for the classification of cattle sounds. The deep learning classification model of the system is a convolutional neural network (CNN) model that takes voice information converted to Mel-frequency cepstral coefficients (MFCCs) as input. The CNN model first achieved an accuracy of 91.38% in recognizing cattle sounds. Further, short-time Fourier transform-based noise filtering was applied to remove background noise, improving the classification model accuracy to 94.18%. Categorized cattle voices were then classified into four classes, and a total of 897 classification records were acquired for the classification model development. A final accuracy of 81.96% was obtained for the model. Our proposed web-based platform that provides information obtained from a total of 12 sound sensors provides cattle vocalization monitoring in real time, enabling farm owners to determine the status of their cattle.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dae-Hyun Jung
- Smart Farm Research Center, Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST), Gangneung 25451, Korea; (D.-H.J.); (C.J.); (J.-S.Y.); (H.S.K.); (T.S.L.); (J.Y.L.)
| | - Na Yeon Kim
- Department of Bio-Convergence Science, College of Biomedical and Health Science, Konkuk University, Chungju 27478, Korea; (N.Y.K.); (S.H.M.)
- Asia Pacific Ruminant Institute, Icheon 17385, Korea
| | - Sang Ho Moon
- Department of Bio-Convergence Science, College of Biomedical and Health Science, Konkuk University, Chungju 27478, Korea; (N.Y.K.); (S.H.M.)
| | - Changho Jhin
- Smart Farm Research Center, Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST), Gangneung 25451, Korea; (D.-H.J.); (C.J.); (J.-S.Y.); (H.S.K.); (T.S.L.); (J.Y.L.)
- Department of Smartfarm Research, 1778 Living Tech, Sejong 30033, Korea
| | - Hak-Jin Kim
- Department of Biosystems and Biomaterial Engineering, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul 08826, Korea;
| | - Jung-Seok Yang
- Smart Farm Research Center, Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST), Gangneung 25451, Korea; (D.-H.J.); (C.J.); (J.-S.Y.); (H.S.K.); (T.S.L.); (J.Y.L.)
| | - Hyoung Seok Kim
- Smart Farm Research Center, Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST), Gangneung 25451, Korea; (D.-H.J.); (C.J.); (J.-S.Y.); (H.S.K.); (T.S.L.); (J.Y.L.)
| | - Taek Sung Lee
- Smart Farm Research Center, Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST), Gangneung 25451, Korea; (D.-H.J.); (C.J.); (J.-S.Y.); (H.S.K.); (T.S.L.); (J.Y.L.)
| | - Ju Young Lee
- Smart Farm Research Center, Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST), Gangneung 25451, Korea; (D.-H.J.); (C.J.); (J.-S.Y.); (H.S.K.); (T.S.L.); (J.Y.L.)
| | - Soo Hyun Park
- Smart Farm Research Center, Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST), Gangneung 25451, Korea; (D.-H.J.); (C.J.); (J.-S.Y.); (H.S.K.); (T.S.L.); (J.Y.L.)
- Correspondence: ; Tel.: +82-33-650-3661
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Transforming the Adaptation Physiology of Farm Animals through Sensors. Animals (Basel) 2020; 10:ani10091512. [PMID: 32859060 PMCID: PMC7552204 DOI: 10.3390/ani10091512] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/24/2020] [Revised: 08/23/2020] [Accepted: 08/25/2020] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Simple Summary Strategy for the protection and welfare of farm animals, and the sustainable animal production is dependent on the thorough understanding of the adaptation physiology. Real-time, continuous, and precise measurement of the multi-dimensions and complex intricacies of adaptive capacity of farm animals namely the mental, behavioral, and physiological states are possible only through the sensor-based approaches. This paper critically reviews the latest sensor technologies as assessment tools for the adaptation physiology of farm animals and explores their advantages over traditional measurement methods. Digital innovation, diagnostics, genetic testing, biosensors, and wearable animal devices are important tools that enable the development of decision support farming platforms and provides the path for predicting diseases in livestock. Sensor fusion data from a multitude of biochemical, emotional, and physiological functions of the farm animals not only helps to identify the most productive animal but also allows farmers to predict which individual animal may have greater resilience to common diseases. Insights into the cost of adoption of sensor technologies on farms including computing capacity, human resources in training, and the sensor hardware are being discussed. Abstract Despite recent scientific advancements, there is a gap in the use of technology to measure signals, behaviors, and processes of adaptation physiology of farm animals. Sensors present exciting opportunities for sustained, real-time, non-intrusive measurement of farm animal behavioral, mental, and physiological parameters with the integration of nanotechnology and instrumentation. This paper critically reviews the sensing technology and sensor data-based models used to explore biological systems such as animal behavior, energy metabolism, epidemiology, immunity, health, and animal reproduction. The use of sensor technology to assess physiological parameters can provide tremendous benefits and tools to overcome and minimize production losses while making positive contributions to animal welfare. Of course, sensor technology is not free from challenges; these devices are at times highly sensitive and prone to damage from dirt, dust, sunlight, color, fur, feathers, and environmental forces. Rural farmers unfamiliar with the technologies must be convinced and taught to use sensor-based technologies in farming and livestock management. While there is no doubt that demand will grow for non-invasive sensor-based technologies that require minimum contact with animals and can provide remote access to data, their true success lies in the acceptance of these technologies by the livestock industry.
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Ginovart-Panisello GJ, Alsina-Pagès RM, Sanz II, Monjo TP, Prat MC. Acoustic Description of the Soundscape of a Real-Life Intensive Farm and Its Impact on Animal Welfare: A Preliminary Analysis of Farm Sounds and Bird Vocalisations. SENSORS 2020; 20:s20174732. [PMID: 32825767 PMCID: PMC7506656 DOI: 10.3390/s20174732] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/12/2020] [Revised: 08/16/2020] [Accepted: 08/19/2020] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
Poultry meat is the world's primary source of animal protein due to low cost and is widely eaten at a global level. However, intensive production is required to supply the demand although it generates stress to animals and welfare problems, which have to be reduced or eradicated for the better health of birds. In this study, bird welfare is measured by certain indicators: CO2, temperature, humidity, weight, deaths, food, and water intake. Additionally, we approach an acoustic analysis of bird vocalisations as a possible metric to add to the aforementioned parameters. For this purpose, an acoustic recording and analysis of an entire production cycle of an intensive broiler Ross 308 poultry farm in the Mediterranean area was performed. The acoustic dataset generated was processed to obtain the Equivalent Level (Leq), the mean Peak Frequency (PF), and the PF variation, every 30 min. This acoustical analysis aims to evaluate the relation between traditional indicators (death, weight, and CO2) as well as acoustical metrics (equivalent level impact (Leq) and Peak Frequency) of a complete intensive production cycle. As a result, relation between CO2 and humidity versus Leq was found, as well as decreases in vocalisation when the intake of food and water was large.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gerardo José Ginovart-Panisello
- Grup de Recerca en Tecnologies Mèdia (GTM), La Salle—Universitat Ramon Llull, C/Quatre Camins, 30, 08022 Barcelona, Spain;
- Cealvet SLu, C/Sant Josep de la Montanya 50-B, 43500 Tortosa, Spain;
| | - Rosa Ma Alsina-Pagès
- Grup de Recerca en Tecnologies Mèdia (GTM), La Salle—Universitat Ramon Llull, C/Quatre Camins, 30, 08022 Barcelona, Spain;
- Correspondence: ; Tel.: +34-93-2902455
| | - Ignasi Iriondo Sanz
- Grup de Recerca en Technology Enhanced Learning (GRETEL), La Salle—Universitat Ramon Llull, C/Quatre Camins, 30, 08022 Barcelona, Spain;
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Brito LF, Oliveira HR, McConn BR, Schinckel AP, Arrazola A, Marchant-Forde JN, Johnson JS. Large-Scale Phenotyping of Livestock Welfare in Commercial Production Systems: A New Frontier in Animal Breeding. Front Genet 2020; 11:793. [PMID: 32849798 PMCID: PMC7411239 DOI: 10.3389/fgene.2020.00793] [Citation(s) in RCA: 52] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/15/2020] [Accepted: 07/03/2020] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Genomic breeding programs have been paramount in improving the rates of genetic progress of productive efficiency traits in livestock. Such improvement has been accompanied by the intensification of production systems, use of a wider range of precision technologies in routine management practices, and high-throughput phenotyping. Simultaneously, a greater public awareness of animal welfare has influenced livestock producers to place more emphasis on welfare relative to production traits. Therefore, management practices and breeding technologies in livestock have been developed in recent years to enhance animal welfare. In particular, genomic selection can be used to improve livestock social behavior, resilience to disease and other stress factors, and ease habituation to production system changes. The main requirements for including novel behavioral and welfare traits in genomic breeding schemes are: (1) to identify traits that represent the biological mechanisms of the industry breeding goals; (2) the availability of individual phenotypic records measured on a large number of animals (ideally with genomic information); (3) the derived traits are heritable, biologically meaningful, repeatable, and (ideally) not highly correlated with other traits already included in the selection indexes; and (4) genomic information is available for a large number of individuals (or genetically close individuals) with phenotypic records. In this review, we (1) describe a potential route for development of novel welfare indicator traits (using ideal phenotypes) for both genetic and genomic selection schemes; (2) summarize key indicator variables of livestock behavior and welfare, including a detailed assessment of thermal stress in livestock; (3) describe the primary statistical and bioinformatic methods available for large-scale data analyses of animal welfare; and (4) identify major advancements, challenges, and opportunities to generate high-throughput and large-scale datasets to enable genetic and genomic selection for improved welfare in livestock. A wide variety of novel welfare indicator traits can be derived from information captured by modern technology such as sensors, automatic feeding systems, milking robots, activity monitors, video cameras, and indirect biomarkers at the cellular and physiological levels. The development of novel traits coupled with genomic selection schemes for improved welfare in livestock can be feasible and optimized based on recently developed (or developing) technologies. Efficient implementation of genetic and genomic selection for improved animal welfare also requires the integration of a multitude of scientific fields such as cell and molecular biology, neuroscience, immunology, stress physiology, computer science, engineering, quantitative genomics, and bioinformatics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Luiz F. Brito
- Department of Animal Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, United States
| | - Hinayah R. Oliveira
- Department of Animal Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, United States
- Department of Animal Biosciences, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada
| | - Betty R. McConn
- Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education, Oak Ridge, TN, United States
| | - Allan P. Schinckel
- Department of Animal Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, United States
| | - Aitor Arrazola
- Department of Comparative Pathobiology, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, United States
| | | | - Jay S. Johnson
- USDA-ARS Livestock Behavior Research Unit, West Lafayette, IN, United States
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Herborn KA, McElligott AG, Mitchell MA, Sandilands V, Bradshaw B, Asher L. Spectral entropy of early-life distress calls as an iceberg indicator of chicken welfare. J R Soc Interface 2020; 17:20200086. [PMID: 32517633 PMCID: PMC7328393 DOI: 10.1098/rsif.2020.0086] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/22/2023] Open
Abstract
Chicks (Gallus gallus domesticus) make a repetitive, high energy ‘distress’ call when stressed. Distress calls are a catch-all response to a range of environmental stressors, and elicit food calling and brooding from hens. Pharmacological and behavioural laboratory studies link expression of this call with negative affective state. As such, there is an a priori expectation that distress calls on farms indicate not only physical, but emotional welfare. Using whole-house recordings on 12 commercial broiler flocks (n = 25 090–26 510/flock), we show that early life (day 1–4 of placement) distress call rate can be simply and linearly estimated using a single acoustic parameter: spectral entropy. After filtering to remove low-frequency machinery noise, spectral entropy per minute of recording had a correlation of −0.88 with a manual distress call count. In videos collected on days 1–3, age-specific behavioural correlates of distress calling were identified: calling was prevalent (spectral entropy low) when foraging/drinking were high on day 1, but when chicks exhibited thermoregulatory behaviours or were behaviourally asynchronous thereafter. Crucially, spectral entropy was predictive of important commercial and welfare-relevant measures: low median daily spectral entropy predicted low weight gain and high mortality, not only into the next day, but towards the end of production. Further research is required to identify what triggers, and thus could alleviate, distress calling in broiler chicks. However, within the field of precision livestock farming, this work shows the potential for simple descriptors of the overall acoustic environment to be a novel, tractable and real-time ‘iceberg indicator’ of current and future welfare.
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Affiliation(s)
- Katherine A Herborn
- School of Biological and Marine Sciences, University of Plymouth, Plymouth, UK
| | - Alan G McElligott
- Centre for Research in Ecology, Evolution and Behaviour, Department of Life Sciences, University of Roehampton, London, UK
| | - Malcolm A Mitchell
- Department of Animal and Veterinary Sciences, SRUC, Easter Bush, Midlothian, UK
| | - Victoria Sandilands
- Department of Agriculture, Horticulture and Engineering Sciences, SRUC, Easter Bush, Midlothian, UK
| | - Brett Bradshaw
- School of Natural & Environmental Sciences, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
| | - Lucy Asher
- School of Natural & Environmental Sciences, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
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Abdel-Kafy ESM, Ibraheim SE, Finzi A, Youssef SF, Behiry FM, Provolo G. Sound Analysis to Predict the Growth of Turkeys. Animals (Basel) 2020; 10:E866. [PMID: 32429525 PMCID: PMC7278447 DOI: 10.3390/ani10050866] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/14/2020] [Revised: 05/13/2020] [Accepted: 05/15/2020] [Indexed: 01/23/2023] Open
Abstract
Protocols for manual weighing of turkeys are not practical on turkey farms because of the large body sizes, heavy weights and flighty nature of turkeys. The sounds turkeys make may be a proxy for bird weights, but the relationship between turkey sounds and bird weights has not been studied. The aim of this study was to correlate peak frequency (PF) of vocalization with the age and weight of the bird and examine the possibility using PF to predict the weight of turkeys. The study consisted of four trials in Egypt. Sounds of birds and their weights were recorded for 11 days during the growth period in each trial. A total 2200 sounds were manually analyzed and labelled by extracting individual and general sounds on the basis of the amplitude and frequency of the sound signal. The PF of vocalizations in each trial, as well as in pooled trails, were evaluated to determine the relationship between PF and the age and weight of the turkey. PF exhibited a highly significant negative correlation with the weight and age of the turkeys showing that PF of vocalizations can be used for predicting the weight of turkeys. Further studies are necessary to refine the procedure.
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Affiliation(s)
- El-Sayed M. Abdel-Kafy
- Animal Production Research Institute, Agricultural Research Center, Dokki, Giza 12651, Egypt; (S.E.I.); (S.F.Y.); (F.M.B.)
| | - Samya E. Ibraheim
- Animal Production Research Institute, Agricultural Research Center, Dokki, Giza 12651, Egypt; (S.E.I.); (S.F.Y.); (F.M.B.)
| | - Alberto Finzi
- Department of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Università degli Studi di Milano, 20133 Milano, Italy;
| | - Sabbah F. Youssef
- Animal Production Research Institute, Agricultural Research Center, Dokki, Giza 12651, Egypt; (S.E.I.); (S.F.Y.); (F.M.B.)
| | - Fatma M. Behiry
- Animal Production Research Institute, Agricultural Research Center, Dokki, Giza 12651, Egypt; (S.E.I.); (S.F.Y.); (F.M.B.)
| | - Giorgio Provolo
- Department of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Università degli Studi di Milano, 20133 Milano, Italy;
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Macedonia JM, Clark DL, Fonley MR, Centurione I, Rowe JW, Valle CA. Analysis of Bobbing Displays in Four Species of Galápagos Lava Lizards Using Conventional and Novel Quantitative Methods. HERPETOLOGICA 2019. [DOI: 10.1655/herpetologica-d-19-00015.1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Affiliation(s)
| | - David L. Clark
- Department of Biology, Alma College, Alma, MI 48801, USA
| | | | | | - John W. Rowe
- Department of Biology, Alma College, Alma, MI 48801, USA
| | - Carlos A. Valle
- Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Ecuador
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