Awareness and knowledge of the Canadian 24-Hour Movement Guidelines for Adults among adults living in Canada

Awareness and knowledge of national movement behaviour guidelines are needed to influence individual behaviour and public health policies. This study assessed the awareness and knowledge of the Canadian 24-Hour Movement Guidelines for Adults Aged 18-64 Years and Adults Aged 65 Years or Older (24HMG) recommendations among adults living in Canada across three timepoints. Online surveys were distributed to representative samples of adults living in Canada over a 6-month period. Findings suggest that short-term dissemination efforts were successful in increasing awareness of the 24HMG following guideline release. However, other strategies, such as education, may be needed to influence knowledge of guideline recommendations.

Differentiating spillover: an examination of cross-habitat movement in ecology spillover in ecology

Organisms that immigrate into a recipient habitat generate a movement pattern that affects local population dynamics and the environment. Spillover is the pattern of unidirectional movement from a donor habitat to a different, adjacent recipient habitat. However, ecological definitions are often generalized to include any cross-habitat movement, which limits within- and cross-discipline collaboration. To assess spillover nomenclature, we reviewed 337 studies within the agriculture, disease, fisheries and habitat fragmentation disciplines. Each study's definition of spillover and the methods used were analysed. We identified four descriptors (movement, habitat type and arrangement, and effect) used that differentiate spillover from other cross-habitat movement patterns (dispersal, foray loops and edge movement). Studies often define spillover as movement (45%) but rarely measure it as such (4%), particularly in disease and habitat fragmentation disciplines. Consequently, 98% of studies could not distinguish linear from returning movement out of a donor habitat, which can overestimate movement distance. Overall, few studies (12%) included methods that matched their own definition, revealing a distinct mismatch. Because theory shows that long-term impacts of the different movement patterns can vary, differentiating spillover from other movement patterns is necessary for effective long-term and inter-disciplinary management of organisms that use heterogeneous landscapes.

Revisiting the cross-sectional and prospective association of physical activity with body composition and physical fitness in preschoolers: A compositional data approach

BACKGROUND

Information is limited for the benefits of physical activity (PA) in preschoolers. Previous research using accelerometer-assessed PA may be affected for multicollinearity issues.

OBJECTIVES

This study investigated the cross-sectional and prospective associations of sedentary behaviour (SB) and PA with body composition and physical fitness using compositional data analysis.

METHODS

Baseline PA and SB were collected in 4-year-old (n = 315) using wrist-worn GT3X+ during seven 24 h-periods. Body composition (air-displacement plethysmography) and physical fitness (PREFIT test battery) were assessed at baseline and at the 12-month follow-up.

RESULTS

Increasing vigorous PA at expenses of lower-intensity behaviours for 4-year-old was associated with body composition and physical fitness at cross-sectional and longitudinal levels. For example, reallocating 15 min/day from lower intensities to vigorous PA at baseline was associated with higher fat-free mass index (+0.45 kg/m² , 95% confidence intervals [CI]: 0.18-0.72 kg/m² ), higher upper-body strength (+0.6 kg, 95% CI: 0.1-1.19 kg), higher lower-body strength (+8 cm, 95% CI: 3-13 cm), and shorter time in completing the motor fitness test (-0.4 s, 95% CI: -0.82 to [-0.01] s) at the 12-month follow-up. Pairwise reallocations of time indicated that the behaviour replaced was not relevant, as long as vigorous PA was increased.

CONCLUSIONS

More time in vigorous PA may imply short- and long-term benefits on body composition and physical fitness in preschoolers. These findings using compositional data analysis corroborate our previously published results using isotemporal substitution models.

Foraging behaviours lead to spatiotemporal self-similar dynamics in grazing ecosystems

Biological behaviour‐driven self‐organized patterns have recently been confirmed to play a key role in ecosystem functioning. Here, we develop a theoretical phase‐separation model to describe spatiotemporal self‐similar dynamics, which is a consequence of behaviour‐driven trophic interactions in short‐time scales. Our framework integrates scale‐dependent feedback and density‐dependent movement into grazing ecosystems. This model derives six types of selective foraging behaviours that trigger pattern formation for top‐down grazing ecosystems, and one of which is consistent with existing foraging theories. Self‐organized patterns nucleate under moderate grazing intensity and are destroyed by overgrazing, which suggests ecosystem degradation. Theoretical results qualitatively agree with observed grazing ecosystems that display spatial heterogeneities under variable grazing intensity. Our findings potentially provide new insights into self‐organized patterns as an indicator of ecosystem transitions under a stressful environment.

The Association between Education Outside the Classroom and Physical Activity: Differences Attributable to the Type of Space?

Education outside the classroom (EOtC) has become an attractive approach, not only for learning but also for health. This explorative, cross-sectional study investigated children’s sedentary behaviours (SED), light physical activity (LPA) and moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA) on school days with an EOtC session in green space compared to school days with EOtC in other environments and without EOtC. Teachers from 17 Danish school classes practised EOtC for one school year on a weekly basis and self-reported the characteristics of the EOtC environment. The pupils’ PA was device-measured for seven consecutive days in a random period during the school year with AX3 accelerometers. Across 617 pupils (age 9–13 years), PA intensity cases (N = 2264) on school days (8:10–14:00 h) with (n = 317) or without (n = 1947) EOtC were included in a mixed-effects regression analysis. Mean exposure to EOtC was 262 min per session. School days with green EOtC (e.g., parks, forests and nature schools) were associated with (mean, [95% CI]) −24.3 [−41.8, −7.7] min SED and +21.3 [7.7, 36.4] min LPA compared to school days with non-green EOtC (e.g., cultural and societal institutions or companies) and with +6.2 [−0.11, 11.48] min MVPA compared to school days with a school-ground EOtC. No sex differences were found. In conclusion, school days with green EOtC must be considered promising to counteract children’s sedentary behaviours during school hours.

Levels and correlates of physical activity and screen time among early years children (2-5 years): Cross-cultural comparisons between Canadian and South Korean data

BACKGROUND

Cross-cultural research can provide insight into whether levels and correlates of movement behaviours among early years children vary across different cultural contexts. This study (1) compared children's physical activity (PA) and screen time (ST) and parental and environmental correlates of PA and ST between samples of Canadian and South Korean (Korean thereafter) early years children (2-5 years) and (2) investigated parental and environmental correlates of PA and ST and whether country moderates the relationships.

METHODS

Cross-sectional data from 121 Canadian children (3.4 years; 49.6% girls) and 101 Korean children (3.4 years; 54.9% girls) who participated in the Parents' Role in Establishing healthy Physical activity and Sedentary behaviour habits (PREPS) study were used. Demographic information, children's PA, ST, PA- or ST-specific parental cognitions and behaviours, and home and neighbourhood environments were measured using a proxy-reported questionnaire. Two-tailed independent samples T test or Mann Whitney U test, chi-square tests, linear regression and moderation analyses were performed.

RESULTS

Canadian children spent more time in non-organized PA compared to Korean children (111 vs. 63 min/day), whereas time spent in organized PA was higher in Korean children than Canadian children (25 vs. 9 min/day). Canadian children had more ST than Korean children (159 vs. 110 min/day). Similarly, Canadian parents reported higher screen (142 vs. 116 min/day) and sitting time (317 vs. 286 min/day) than Korean parents. Though children's behaviours, as well as parental cognitions and behaviours, varied between the two samples, similar correlates of children's PA and ST were observed. The relationship between presence of electronics in children's bedrooms and children's ST was moderated by country, with Canadian children showing a stronger relationship than Korean children.

CONCLUSIONS

Supporting parents to adopt cognitions and behaviours that are conducive to healthy PA and ST patterns of their own and their early years children may be important for both Canada and Korea.

Informed breeding dispersal following stochastic changes to patch quality in a pond-breeding amphibian

The unidirectional movement of animals between breeding patches (i.e. breeding dispersal) has profound implications for the ecological and evolutionary dynamics of spatially structured populations. In spatiotemporally variable environments, individuals are expected to adjust their dispersal decisions according to information gathered on the environmental and/or social cues that reflect the fitness prospects in a given breeding patch (i.e. informed dispersal). A paucity of empirical work limited our understanding of the ability of animals to depart from low-quality breeding patches and settle in high-quality breeding patches. We examined the capacity of individuals to respond to stochastic changes in habitat quality via informed breeding dispersal in a pond-breeding amphibian. We conducted a 5-year (2015-2019) capture-recapture study of boreal toads Anaxyrus boreas boreas (n = 1,100) that breed in beaver ponds in western Wyoming, USA. During early spring of 2017, an extreme flooding event destroyed several beaver dams and resulted in the loss of breeding habitat. We used multi-state models to investigate how temporal changes in pond characteristics influenced breeding dispersal, and determine whether movement decisions were in accordance with prospects for reproductive fitness. Boreal toads more often departed from low-quality breeding ponds (without successful metamorphosis) and settled in high-quality breeding ponds (with successful metamorphosis). Movement decisions were context-dependent and associated with pond characteristics altered by beaver dam destruction. Individuals were more likely to depart from shallow ponds with high vegetation cover and settle in deep ponds with low vegetation cover. The probability of metamorphosis was related to the same environmental cues, suggesting that boreal toads assess the fitness prospects of a breeding patch and adjust movement decisions accordingly (i.e. informed breeding dispersal). We demonstrated that stochastic variability in environmental conditions and habitat quality can underpin dispersal behaviour in amphibians. Our study highlighted the mechanistic linkages between habitat change, movement behaviour and prospects for reproductive performance, which is critical for understanding how wild animals respond to rapid environmental change.

Land cover, individual's age and spatial sorting shape landscape resistance in the invasive frog Xenopus laevis

The description of functional connectivity is based on the quantification of landscape resistance, which represents species-specific movement costs across landscape features. Connectivity models use these costs to identify movement corridors at both individual and population levels and provide management recommendations for populations of conservation interest. Typically, resistance costs assigned to specific land cover types are assumed to be valid for all individuals of the population. Little attention has been paid to intraspecific variation in resistance costs due to age or dispersal syndrome, which may significantly affect model predictions. We quantified resistance costs in an expanding invasive population of the African clawed frog Xenopus laevis in Western France. In this principally aquatic amphibian, juveniles, sub-adults and adults disperse overland. The enhancement of dispersal traits via spatial sorting has been also observed at the range periphery of the population. Resistance costs, and thus connectivity, might vary as a function of life stage and position within the invaded range. We assessed multiple dimensions of functional connectivity. On various land cover types, we measured locomotion, as crossing speed, in different post-metamorphic age classes, and dehydration, sensitivity of locomotion to dehydration and substrate preference in juveniles. We also tested the effect of the position in the invaded range (core vs. periphery) on individual performances. In juveniles, general trends towards higher resistance costs on grass and lower resistance costs on bare soil and asphalt were observed, although not all experiments provided the same cost configurations. Resistance to locomotion varied between age classes, with adults and sub-adults facing lower costs than juveniles, particularly when crossing structurally complex land cover types such as grass and leaf litter. The position in the range had a minor effect on landscape resistance, and only in the dehydration experiment, where water loss in juveniles was lower at the range periphery. Depicting functional connectivity requires (a) assessing multiple dimensions of behavioural and physiological challenges faced by animals during movement; (b) considering factors, such as age and dispersal syndrome, that may affect movement at both individual and population levels. Ignoring this complexity might generate unreliable connectivity models and provide unsupported management recommendations for conservation.

Moving in the Dark-Evidence for an Influence of Artificial Light at Night on the Movement Behaviour of European Hedgehogs (Erinaceus europaeus)

Simple Summary

The European hedgehog is one of the most popular and well-known wild animals, but its numbers are declining throughout Europe, especially in rural areas. Effective hedgehog conservation requires an understanding of the hedgehog’s ability to adapt to a changing environment. Due to globally increasing urbanisation, the use of artificial light sources to illuminate the night, called light pollution, has spread dramatically. Light pollution significantly affects the behaviour and ecology of wildlife, but the hedgehog’s behaviour towards light pollution remains unknown. We therefore investigated the effects of light pollution on the natural movement behaviour of hedgehogs living in an urban environment. Although hedgehogs can react very variably to environmental influences, the majority of hedgehogs studied here preferred to move in less illuminated rather than in strongly illuminated areas. This apparently rigid behaviour could be used in applied hedgehog conservation to connect isolated hedgehog populations or to safely guide the animals around places dangerous for them via dark corridors that are attractive for hedgehogs.

Abstract

With urban areas growing worldwide comes an increase in artificial light at night (ALAN), causing a significant impact on wildlife behaviour and its ecological relationships. The effects of ALAN on nocturnal and protected European hedgehogs (Erinaceus europaeus) are unknown but their identification is important for sustainable species conservation and management. In a pilot study, we investigated the influence of ALAN on the natural movement behaviour of 22 hedgehogs (nine females, 13 males) in urban environments. Over the course of four years, we equipped hedgehogs at three different study locations in Berlin with biologgers to record their behaviour for several weeks. We used Global Positioning System (GPS) tags to monitor their spatial behaviour, very high-frequency (VHF) loggers to locate their nests during daytime, and accelerometers to distinguish between active and passive behaviours. We compared the mean light intensity of the locations recorded when the hedgehogs were active with the mean light intensity of simulated locations randomly distributed in the individual’s home range. We were able to show that the ALAN intensity of the hedgehogs’ habitations was significantly lower compared to the simulated values, regardless of the animal’s sex. This ALAN-related avoidance in the movement behaviour can be used for applied hedgehog conservation.

Movement behaviour patterns in adults with haemophilia

Background:

Joint bleeds are the hallmark of haemophilia, and can lead to disabling haemophilic arthropathy. Consequently, the movement behaviour of adults with haemophilia differs from that of healthy adults. It seems unlikely that a single outcome is able to reflect all relevant information regarding movement behaviour. The aim of the current study was to identify patterns of movement behaviour within persons with haemophilia (PWH) and compare clinical characteristics between patterns of movement behaviour.

Methods:

A total of 105 PWH [70% severe haemophilia; median age 43 years (30.0–54.0)] were included in the study. Hierarchical cluster analysis was used to identify patterns of movement behaviour. Clustering variables included seven parameters of movement behaviour: sitting, standing, walking, biking, running, frequency of active bouts and length of active bouts. Clinical characteristics included age, severity of haemophilia, joint health, physical functioning and pain. Clinical characteristics were compared between identified clusters by Kruskall–Wallis test. Movement behaviour was assessed with the Activ8 accelerometer, joint health was assessed on the Haemophilia Joint Health Score, physical functioning on the Haemophilia Activity List and the 40 m self-paced walk test and pain on the Numerical Pain Rating Score.

Results:

Cluster analysis identified three clusters, which were defined as: ‘sedentary’ (57%), ‘bikers and runners’ (22%) and ‘walkers’ (20%). The ‘bikers and runners’ showed better joint health and experienced fewer limitations in activities than the ‘walkers’ and the ‘sedentary’. The ‘walkers’ perceived fewer limitations in activities than the ‘sedentary’, with comparable joint health. We did not identify differences in pain, walking speed and age between the clusters.

Conclusions:

We identified three patterns of movement behaviour. The majority of PWH was identified as sedentary, whereas less sitting and regular walking during the day seemed to be more beneficial.

Factors associated with accelerometer measured movement behaviours among White British and South Asian children aged 6-8 years during school terms and school holidays

OBJECTIVES

To investigate factors associated with movement behaviours among White British (WB) and South Asian (SA) children aged 6-8 years during school terms and holidays.

DESIGN

Cross-sectional.

SETTING

Three primary schools from the Bradford area, UK.

PARTICIPANTS

One hundred and sixty WB and SA children aged 6-8 years.

PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOMES

Sedentary behaviour (SB), light physical activity (LPA) and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) measured by accelerometry during summer, winter and spring and during school terms and school holidays. Data were analysed using multivariate mixed-effects multilevel modelling with robust SEs. Factors of interest were ethnicity, holiday/term, sex, socioeconomic status (SES), weight status, weekend/weekday and season.

RESULTS

One hundred and eight children (67.5%) provided 1157 valid days of data. Fifty-nine per cent of children were WB (n=64) and 41% (n=44) were SA. Boys spent more time in MVPA (11 min/day, p=0.013) compared with girls and SA children spent more time in SB (39 min, p=0.017) compared with WB children in adjusted models. Children living in higher SES areas were more sedentary (43 min, p=0.006) than children living in low SES areas. Children were more active during summer (15 min MVPA, p<0.001; 27 LPA, p<0.001) and spring (15 min MVPA, p=0.005; 38 min LPA, p<0.001) and less sedentary (-42 min and -53 min, p<0.001) compared with winter. Less time (8 min, p=0.012) was spent in LPA during school terms compared with school holidays. Children spent more time in MVPA (5 min, p=0.036) during weekend compared with weekdays. Overweight and obese children spent more time in LPA (21 min, p=0.021) than normal-weight children.

CONCLUSION

The results of our study suggest that significant child level factors associated with movement behaviours are ethnicity, sex, weight-status and area SES. Significant temporal factors are weekends, school holidays and seasonality. Interventions to support health enhancing movement behaviours may need to be tailored around these factors.

The effect of a passive trunk exoskeleton on metabolic costs during lifting and walking

The objective of this study was to assess how wearing a passive trunk exoskeleton affects metabolic costs, movement strategy and muscle activation during repetitive lifting and walking. We measured energy expenditure, kinematics and muscle activity in 11 healthy men during 5 min of repetitive lifting and 5 min of walking with and without exoskeleton. Wearing the exoskeleton during lifting, metabolic costs decreased as much as 17%. In conjunction, participants tended to move through a smaller range of motion, reducing mechanical work generation. Walking with the exoskeleton, metabolic costs increased up to 17%. Participants walked somewhat slower with shortened steps while abdominal muscle activity slightly increased when wearing the exoskeleton. Wearing an exoskeleton during lifting decreased metabolic costs and hence may reduce the development of fatigue and low back pain risk. During walking metabolic costs increased, stressing the need for a device that allows disengagement of support depending on activities performed. Practitioner summary: Physiological strain is an important risk factor for low back pain. We observed that an exoskeleton reduced metabolic costs during lifting, but had an opposite effect while walking. Therefore, exoskeletons may be of benefit for lifting by decreasing physiological strain but should allow disengagement of support when switching between tasks. Abbreviations: COM: centre of mass; EMG: electromyography; LBP: low back pain; MVC: maximum voluntary isometric contraction; NIOSH: National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health; PLAD: personal lift augmentation device; PWS: preferred walking speed without exoskeleton; PWSX: preferred walking speed with exoskeleton; ROM: range of motion; RER: respiratory exchange ratio; V ̇O2max: maximum rate of oxygen consumption.

Visual and instrumental diagnostics using chromokinegraphics: Reliability and validity for low back pain stratification

BACKGROUND

Low back pain patients have been suggested to exhibit dysfunctional spinal movement patterns. However, there is a lack of clinically applicable but valid and reliable assessment tools, helping to discriminate normal and pathologically altered movement.

OBJECTIVE

We aimed to examine whether kinematic parameters determined with an ultrasound-based motion analysis and thereof derived chromokinegraphical angle-time matrices (CATMAs) are able to discriminate between non-symptomatic and symptomatic movement behaviour in individuals with non-specific chronic (CLBP), specific low back pain (SLBP), and controls.

METHODS

Thoracic and lumbar spine range of motion (ROM [∘]); angular velocity (V [∘/sec]) and side-to-side differences [%] during a lateral flexion movement were assessed in 17 healthy participants, 16 individuals with CLBP and 11 SLBP patients. CATMAs ratings of two investigators (6-item Likert scale) were dichotomised, classifying the observed movement as physiological or non-physiological. Intrarater and interrater reliability were estimated using kappa statistics and Cronbach's Alpha. T-tests and a ROC analysis to determine optimal cut-offs for the separation of the collectives as well as contingency tables for selectivity of the cut-offs (motor outcomes) were calculated.

RESULTS

CATMA ratings displayed partly moderate to good (rater B; i.e. CLBP vs. controls) and partly insufficient discriminant validity (rater A). Due to this, inter-rater reliability was poor (k= 0.061 to 0.135), while intra-rater-reliability was moderate to good for both raters (k= 0.329 to 0.625) except for SLBP vs. controls (rater A; k=-0.18). Regarding kinematics, group differences occurred neither in ROM nor in V (p> 0.05), but in terms of the relative side comparison between CLBP and controls (p<0.05). ROC analysis (CLBP vs. controls) revealed an optimal cut-off at side asymmetries of 16.9% (ROM) and 28.9% (V). Between SLBP patients and controls, no significant differences were observed neither in terms of the absolute values nor the relative side differences of both kinematic variables.

CONCLUSIONS

Side asymmetries of V and ROM may be used to differentiate between controls and individuals with CLBP. CATMAs appear to be of limited diagnostic value for the identification of pathological spine movement.

Influences of Stored Product Insect Movements on Integrated Pest Management Decisions

Insect movement inside and outside grain bulks and processed products influences pest management decisions. Movement allows insects to find essential food resources, shelters (refuges), warmer and/or humid locations, mating and egg-laying sites, even when they are rare in fields, buildings, mills, warehouses, and inside grain masses. This review discussed the advantages and disadvantages of stored product insect movements, and the influence of insect mobility on some integrated pest management practices. Insect movement (1) results in clumped insect spatial distributions and thus makes large sample sizes necessary for monitoring; (2) makes trapping more efficient, but is influenced by many factors; (3) allows control methods to be effective, but requires pest management programs to be area-wide; (4) makes eradication of quarantine pests difficult and commodities are quickly re-infested; and (5) results in a diverse genetic pool and speeds the development of resistance to pesticides. Any element of an IPM approach should use the knowledge of insect movement. Reasons for the difficult interpretation of cryptic movement behaviours of insects were provided and future research areas were suggested.

Movement behaviour in adults with haemophilia compared to healthy adults

BACKGROUND

Limited research has been published regarding movement behaviour of adult persons with haemophilia (PWH). It is hypothesized that avoidance of activities and more sedentary behaviour cause poorer physical functioning.

AIM

To determine differences in movement behaviour between PWH and healthy adults.

METHODS

Movement behaviour was measured with an accelerometer distinguishing between; lying/non-wear, sitting, standing, walking, running and cycling. Time spent on activities was compared between PWH and healthy adults, using absolute time spent on activities and activities as percentage of wear time.

RESULTS

One hundred and five PWH (32 mild/moderate with a mean age of 42.8 ± 15.1, severe 42.1 ± 13.6) and 98 healthy adults (mean age 41.9 ± 15.5) showed that adults with severe haemophilia sit and stand more than healthy adults (4.5 [CI 0.6-8.4] and 4.2 [CI 1.8-6.6] h/wk, respectively) and walk and run less (3.4 [CI 1.4-5.3] hours and 33.6 [CI 19.0-41.7] min/wk, respectively). Patients with mild/moderate haemophilia stand more than healthy adults (3.3 [CI 0.1-6.4] h/wk). Differences in sitting between severe haemophilia and healthy adults and differences in standing between mild/moderate haemophilia and healthy adults disappeared when using activities as percentage of wear time.

CONCLUSION

Movement behaviour of adults with severe haemophilia differs from healthy adults, mainly due to less walking and less running. No differences were found in other activities and postures or the distribution of movement behaviour over the day. No significant differences were found between adults with mild/moderate haemophilia and healthy adults.

A random walk description of individual animal movement accounting for periods of rest

Animals do not move all the time but alternate the period of actual movement (foraging) with periods of rest (e.g. eating or sleeping). Although the existence of rest times is widely acknowledged in the literature and has even become a focus of increased attention recently, the theoretical approaches to describe animal movement by calculating the dispersal kernel and/or the mean squared displacement (MSD) rarely take rests into account. In this study, we aim to bridge this gap. We consider a composite stochastic process where the periods of active dispersal or 'bouts' (described by a certain baseline probability density function (pdf) of animal dispersal) alternate with periods of immobility. For this process, we derive a general equation that determines the pdf of this composite movement. The equation is analysed in detail in two special but important cases such as the standard Brownian motion described by a Gaussian kernel and the Levy flight described by a Cauchy distribution. For the Brownian motion, we show that in the large-time asymptotics the effect of rests results in a rescaling of the diffusion coefficient. The movement occurs as a subdiffusive transition between the two diffusive asymptotics. Interestingly, the Levy flight case shows similar properties, which indicates a certain universality of our findings.

Elucidating the significance of spatial memory on movement decisions by African savannah elephants using state-space models

Spatial memory facilitates resource acquisition where resources are patchy, but how it influences movement behaviour of wide-ranging species remains to be resolved. We examined African elephant spatial memory reflected in movement decisions regarding access to perennial waterholes. State-space models of movement data revealed a rapid, highly directional movement behaviour almost exclusively associated with visiting perennial water. Behavioural change point (BCP) analyses demonstrated that these goal-oriented movements were initiated on average 4.59 km, and up to 49.97 km, from the visited waterhole, with the closest waterhole accessed 90% of the time. Distances of decision points increased when switching to different waterholes, during the dry season, or for female groups relative to males, while selection of the closest waterhole decreased when switching. Overall, our analyses indicated detailed spatial knowledge over large scales, enabling elephants to minimize travel distance through highly directional movement when accessing water. We discuss the likely cognitive and socioecological mechanisms driving these spatially precise movements that are most consistent with our findings. By applying modern analytic techniques to high-resolution movement data, this study illustrates emerging approaches for studying how cognition structures animal movement behaviour in different ecological and social contexts.

Radio-telemetry shows differences in the behaviour of wild and hatchery-reared European grayling Thymallus thymallus in response to environmental variables

Juvenile wild and hatchery-reared European grayling Thymallus thymallus were tagged with radio-transmitters and tracked in the Blanice River, River Elbe catchment, Czech Republic, to study their behavioural response to stocking and environmental variation. Both wild and hatchery-reared T. thymallus increased their diel movements and home range with increasing light intensity, flow, temperature and turbidity, but the characteristics of their responses differed. Environmental variables influenced the movement of wild T. thymallus up to a specific threshold, whereas no such threshold was observed in hatchery-reared T. thymallus. Hatchery-reared fish displayed greater total migration distance over the study period (total migration) than did wild fish, which was caused mainly by their dispersal in the downstream direction.

Weight status is associated with cross-sectional trajectories of motor co-ordination across childhood

BACKGROUND

Research indicates the development of motor co-ordination (MC) may be an important contributing factor to positive or negative weight trajectories across childhood.

OBJECTIVES

To analyse cross-sectional associations between MC and weight status in children (boys n = 3344 - girls n = 3281), aged 6-11 years and assess overweight/obese risk across different ages.

METHODS

Body mass index (BMI) was calculated [body mass (kg)/height (m(2))]. MC was evaluated using the Körperkoordination Test für Kinder (KTK) and a motor quotient (MQ) was calculated. MQ distribution data were split into tertiles. The effect of age, sex and MQ tertiles on BMI and MC was tested with a factorial anova. A logistic regression also was performed to calculate odd ratios (OR) for being overweight/obese at each age.

RESULTS

Children with higher MQ demonstrated lower BMI levels (F(2,6224) = 222.09; P < 0.001). Differences in BMI among MQ tertiles became larger across age (F(10,6224) = 4.53; P < 0.001). The OR of being overweight/obese in both sexes within the lowest MQ tertile increased in each age group from 6 to 11 years. Specifically, OR increased from 2.26 to 27.77 and from 1.87 to 6.81 in boys and girls respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

Children with low levels of MC have a higher risk of being overweight/obese and this risk increases with age.

Does biological maturity actually confound gender-related differences in physical activity in preadolescence?

AIM

To examine: (i) if maturity-related gender differences in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) depend on how maturity status is defined and measured; and (ii) the influence of maturity level on compliance with PA recommendations.

METHODS

The study involved 253 children (139 boys) aged 9.9 ± 0.9 years, with mean stature and weight of 1.39 ± 0.08 m and 35.8 ± 8.8 kg respectively. Their PA was evaluated using an Actigraph accelerometer (Model 7164). Maturity was assessed using the estimated age at peak height velocity (APHV) and a standardized APHV by gender (i.e. centred APHV).

RESULTS

Boys engaged in significantly more MVPA than girls (P < 0.0001). There was a significant correlation between the centred APHV and MVPA in boys (r = 0.20; P = 0.016), but not in girls (r = 0.13; P = 0.155). An ancova controlling for the estimated APHV showed no significant interactions between gender and APHV, and the main effect of gender on MVPA was negated. Conversely, there was a significant main effect of APHV on MVPA (F 1,249 = 6.12; P = 0.014; η p (2) = 0.024). Only 9.1% of children met the PA recommendations, including 14.4% of boys and 2.6% of girls (P < 0.01). This observation also applies in both pre-APHV (12.7% of boys vs. 2.4% of girls, P < 0.001) and post-APHV children (23.8% of boys vs. 3.4% of girls, P < 0.0001). No differences in PA guidelines were observed between pre-APHV and post-APHV children.

CONCLUSIONS

Among prepubescent children, the influence of biological maturity on gender differences in PA may be a function of how maturity status is determined. The most physically active prepubescent children were those who were on time according to APHV.