Caracteristiques Du Système D'exploitation Des Poulets Locaux Dans Deux Zones Agro-Ecologiques (Sud Forestier Et Centre Savanicole) De La Côte D’Ivoire

Les poulets locaux, malgré leur rôle important dans l’aviculture ivoirienne, souffrent de leur faible productivité. Pour contribuer à l’amélioration de leur productivité, une étude descriptive a été réalisée sur son élevage auprès 206 paysans natifs de deux zones agro-écologiques à l’aide d’un questionnaire. Les résultats indiquent les paysans exploitent les poulets locaux dans un système exclusivement extensif. L’aviculture villageoise est une activité dominée par les hommes (79,60 %) et la considérant comme secondaire (97 %). La plupart de ces aviculteurs sont analphabètes (52,5 %). La rusticité et la qualité organoleptique des produits constituent les principales motivations en faveur de cet élevage dans 82 % cas en moyenne. Ils ont débuté l’élevage par achat (59 %) d’un petit noyau initial, par don ou par héritage (41 %) en zone de forêt et par confiage (60 %) en zone de savane. La 1ère ponte d’une poulette intervient en moyenne à 6 mois d’âge (52,5 %). Un faible effectif (23 poulets) composé en majorité de jeunes sujets (55,21 %), de poules (33,19 %) et de coqs (11,40%) a été observé dans les cheptels. Le plein air intégral (73,30 %) a été le mode privilégié d’élevage en zone de savane. Les épizooties (54,35 %) et les prédateurs (38 %) ont été les premières causes de mortalité. Les produits d'élevage issus de ce système ont été utilisés en autoconsommation (62 %) en zone de forêt et vendus (65 %) en zone de savane. La levée des contraintes caractérisant le système le système extensif pourrait aider à l’amélioration de la productivité des poules locales. Local chickens play an important role in Ivorian poultry farming, but this animal resource suffers from its low productivity. In order to contribute to the improvement of this productivity, a descriptive study was carried out on its breeding among two hundred and six (206) farmers who were native to two agro-ecological zones using a structured questionnaire. The results indicate that these farmers are exploiting local chickens in an extensive system exclusively. Village poultry farming is an activity dominated by men (79.60%) and considered secondary (97%). Most of these poultry farmers are illiterate (52.5%) and the rusticity and organoleptic quality of the products are the main motivations for this breeding in an average of 82% cases. They began breeding by purchasing a small nucleus (59%), by gifts or inheritance (41%) in the Forest zone and by entrusting (60%) in the Savannah zone. The first laying of a pullet occurs on average at 6 months of age (52.5%) and the early pullet lays its first eggs between 4 and 6 months (13%). A few chickens (23), the majority of which were youngsters (55.21%), hens (33.19%) and roosters (11.40%), were observed in the flocks. In Savannah areas, free-range rearing (73.30%) was the preferred method of rearing. Epizootics (54.35%) and predators (38%) were the main causes of mortality. The livestock products from this system were used for self-consumption (62%) in the forest zone and sold (65%) in the Savannah zone. Removing the constraints that characterize the extensive system could help to improve the productivity of local chickens.

Enhanced Ecologies and Ecosystem Engineering

Anthropological and archaeological representations of Aboriginal Australians as hunter-gatherers adapting to the natural availability of food resources are simplistic and inconsistent with ethnographic records of active, strategic, and sociopolitically meaningful resource enhancement. Scholarship over the past four decades has documented plant and animal food resource enhancement by Aboriginal Australians that blur socioeconomic boundaries with agricultural societies of New Guinea. Enhancements were achieved by using intimate knowledge of local ecological processes to modify ecosystems through a range of strategies such as landscape burning, animal translocation, protected rearing, shelter creation, and restocking. These strategies were embedded within broader sociocultural and sociopolitical domains that were often accompanied by ritual. Such engineered food enhancement practices reveal that many documented and modelled associations between environment and behaviour are in fact correlations between behaviour and the products of behaviour. The uneven distribution of animal resource enhancement practices across Australia indicates considerable regional diversity and supports existing views that many enhancements are related to regionally specific and historically contingent developments in social complexity.

Hydrogen isotope assimilation and discrimination in green turtles

Although hydrogen isotopes (δ2H) are commonly used as tracers of animal movement, minimal research has investigated the use of δ2H as a proxy to quantify resource and habitat use. While carbon and nitrogen are ultimately derived from a single source (food), the proportion of hydrogen in consumer tissues originates from two distinct sources: body water and food. Before hydrogen isotopes can be effectively used as a resource and habitat tracer, we need estimates of (net) discrimination factors (Δ2HNet) that account for the physiologically mediated differences in the δ2H values of animal tissues relative to that of the food and water sources they use to synthesize tissues. Here we estimated Δ2HNet in captive green turtles (Chelonia mydas) by measuring δ2H values of tissues (epidermis and blood components) and dietary macromolecules collected in two controlled feeding experiments. Tissue δ2H and Δ2HNet values varied systematically among tissues, with epidermis having higher δ2H and Δ2HNet values than blood components, which mirrors patterns between keratinaceous tissues (feathers, hair) and blood in birds and mammals. Serum/plasma of adult female green turtles had significantly lower δ2H values compared to that of juveniles, likely due increased lipid mobilization associated with reproduction. This is the first study to quantify Δ2HNet values in a marine ectotherm, and we anticipate our results will further refine the use of δ2H analysis to better understand animal resource and habitat use in marine ecosystems, especially coastal areas fueled by a combination of marine (e.g., micro/macroalgae and seagrass) and terrestrial (e.g., mangroves) primary production.

The First Protocol for Assessing Welfare of Camels

The aim of this study was to develop and describe a protocol for assessing welfare in camels reared in intensive or semi-intensive systems. A literature review was conducted searching for scientific papers on assessment of animal welfare and camel behavior, management, physiology, and pathology. The paradigms of Five Freedoms, the Five Domains Model, and the welfare principles and criteria applied by the Welfare Quality® and AWIN methods were then adapted to camels. A combination of animal-, resource- and management-based indicators were selected and categorized according to three levels of assessment: (i) Caretaker, (ii) Herd, and (iii) Animal. The Caretaker level is an interview of 23 questions exploring the caretaker's background, experience, and routine management practices. The Herd level is a check of the herd and of the place (i.e., box/pen) where camels are kept. The Animal level is a visual inspection aiming at evaluating individual camel behavior and health status. The selected indicators are presented for each welfare principle and level; for instance for the principle of “Appropriate nutrition,” feeding management is investigated at Caretaker level; feed availability and quality, the number of feeding points, and camel feeding behavior are recorded at Herd level, while body condition score (BCS) is evaluated at Animal level. In this study recording sheets for the assessment at the three levels are proposed and how to conduct the assessment is described. Limitations of the proposed protocol are also discussed. Further applications of this protocol for assessing camel welfare on a large number of farms is needed to validate the proposed indicators and identify the thresholds for their acceptability as well as to develop overall welfare indices and welfare standards in camels.

Isotopic Evidence for Garden Hunting and Resource Depression in the Late Woodland of Northeastern North America

Resource depression and garden hunting are major topics of archaeological interest, with important implications for understanding cultural and environmental change. Garden hunting is difficult to study using traditional zooarchaeological approaches, but isotopic analyses of animals may provide a marker for where and when people exploited nondomesticated animals that fed on agricultural resources. To realize the full potential of isotopic approaches for reconstructing garden hunting practices—and the impacts of agriculture on past nondomesticated animal populations more broadly—a wider range of species, encompassing many “ecological perspectives,” is needed. We use bone-collagen isotopic compositions of animals (n = 643, 23 taxa, 39 sites) associated with the Late Woodland (~AD 900−1650) in what is now southern Ontario to test hypotheses about the extent to which animals used maize, an isotopically distinctive plant central to subsistence practices of Iroquoian-speaking peoples across the region. Results show that although some taxa—particularly those that may have been hard to control—had substantial access to maize, most did not, regardless of the animal resource requirements of local populations. Our findings suggest that this isotopic approach to detecting garden hunting will be more successful when applied to smaller-scale societies.

A PORK VALUE CHAIN IN PORTUGAL: THE CASE STUDY OF PORCO ALENTEJANO, MONTANHEIRA SYSTEM AND TRADITIONAL PRODUCTS

For the production of the Porco Alentejano, an autochthonous Portuguese porcine breed, the Montanheira system is a crucial process, corresponding to a period of an intensive pig´s fattening in the Montado. It occurs between October and March, where the pigs freely consume the acorns. Montado is an agro-forestry-pastoral Portuguese system created by the human intervention, which occupies a large part of the territory, being a source of unique products, as the cork and the acorn. Montado´s management is a complex process due to its susceptibility to disturbances of soil and Quercus trees, and a dynamic between the economic activities and the conservation of this system. The objective of this study is to estimate, along the value chain, the Gross Product of the acorn, the Montanheira pig value, and of the fresh meat and final processed products, protected designation of origin (PDO) products. From the secondary information about the Montado area, the Porco Alentejano herds, and with the information collected in the field works,we estimate and present the results. The pig is the most efficient animal in the acorn conversion, multiplying by ten the economic value of food animal resource. The transformation into high quality traditional PDO hams and shoulders increases about 50% the value of the Porco Alentejano reared in Montanheira. The joint between the Montado and the development of rural areas, where the studied animal rearing takes place, is a good example of the balance between the economy, the sustainability of natural resources and cultural heritage.

The correlation analysis between ant mounds and plant resource in Olkhon region

Olkhon region in East Siberia has abundant and unique vegetation and animal resource for its peculiar geographic location, including ants. Ant, recognized as ecosystem engineers, has an important role in ecosystem. In order to investigate the ecological role of mound-building ants in this region, we focused our attention on the correlation between the distribution of ant mounds and plant species. Five quadrats (5 m × 5 m) were set up in this region, each of which was then divided into twenty-five quadrats (1 m × 1 m). We collected the location of every Black Bog Ant (Formica candida) mound, the number and biomass of various plants in every small quadrat. Using matrices, we tested the distribution pattern of ant mound randomly. The correlation between plants and ant mound pattern was tested by correlation analysis and regression analysis. The result showed that the spatial distribution of ant mound was random. We also found that Artemisia frigida, Carexduriuscula and Oxytropis sylvesfris had a significant linear relationship with the spatial distribution of ant mound (P < 0.05), suggesting that the spatial distribution of ant mound was dependent on the spatial distribution of some plants. The underlying mechanism was further studied. We attributed this correlation to the feeding habits and foraging strategies of Black Bog Ant and tissue structure of these three plants. Our study figured out the interaction between Black Bog Ant and plant resource in Olkhon region, laying down the foundation for future study on the co-evolution of plant and animal resource in this unique ecosystem.