Semi-natural Environment Research Articles

Recognizing the rooting action of prepartum sow in free-farrowing pen using computer vision

The behavior of prepartum sows in natural or semi-natural environments is primarily characterized by their motivation for nest-building. This behavior includes actions such as rooting, pawing, and foraging. Automatic recognition of these specific actions can be beneficial for identifying this nesting behavior and assessing a sow’s maternal ability, as well as predicting the approach of the delivery time. In this study, an automatic method for rooting action recognition was developed for prepartum sow in opened movable crate farrowing pen using computer vision. An object detection model was trained first using the YOLOv5 network to enable the segmentation of the sow body and the head region, as well as posture estimation simultaneously. Then, the FlowNet2.0 network was implemented to estimate the optical flow of sow’s head movement. A histogram of oriented optical flow with adaptive direction adjustment was proposed to select the frames in which the sow’s head moved in the direction of the animal’s body orientation. Finally, a support vector machine (SVM) classifier was trained to classify rooting and non-rooting actions. The input feature vector for the classifier was constructed from variations in head motion direction, sow posture and head position. The developed method was tested using 324 short video episodes (each lasting at least 4 s) and 10 long videos (each lasting about 47 min) of sows in opened movable crate farrowing pens. The test results indicated that the developed method can identify whether a video episode containing rooting action or not with the accuracy, sensitivity, and precision of 93.2%, 93.8%, and 92.7%, respectively. For long videos, our method achieved a sensitivity of 80.3% and precision of 84.5% in detecting temporal rooting action proposals with a temporal Intersection-over-Union (tIOU) ≥ 0.5. The presented method provides an automatic way to detect prepartum sow’s rooting actions, which can be further utilized to recognize their nest-building behavior and predict the impending delivery time of the sows.

Auditory neural correlates and neuroergonomics of driving assistance in a simulated virtual environment

Objective. Driver assistance systems play an increasingly important role in modern vehicles. In the current level of technology, the driver must continuously supervise the driving and intervene whenever necessary when using driving assistance systems. The driver’s attentiveness plays an important role in this human–machine interaction. Our aim was to design a simplistic technical framework for studying neural correlates of driving situations in a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) setting. In this work we assessed the feasibility of our proposed platform. Methods. We proposed a virtual environment (VE) simulation of driver assistance as a framework to investigate brain states related to partially automated driving. We focused on the processing of auditory signals during different driving scenarios as they have been shown to be advantageous as warning stimuli in driving situations. This provided the necessary groundwork to study brain auditory attentional networks under varying environmental demands in an fMRI setting. To this end, we conducted a study with 20 healthy participants to assess the feasibility of the VE simulation. Results. We demonstrated that the proposed VE can elicit driving related brain activation patterns. Relevant driving events evoked, in particular, responses in the bilateral auditory, sensory-motor, visual and insular cortices, which are related to perceptual and behavioral processes during driving assistance. Conceivably, attentional mechanisms increased somatosensory integration and reduced interoception, which are relevant for requesting interactions during partially automated driving. Significance. In modern vehicles, driver assistance technologies are playing an increasingly prevalent role. It is important to study the interaction between these systems and drivers’ attentional responses to aid in future optimizations of the assistance systems. The proposed VE provides a foundational first step in this endeavor. Such simulated VEs provide a safe setting for experimentation with driving behaviors in a semi-naturalistic environment.

Rewilding of laboratory mice enhances granulopoiesis and immunity through intestinal fungal colonization.

The paucity of blood granulocyte populations such as neutrophils in laboratory mice is a notable difference between this model organism and humans, but the cause of this species-specific difference is unclear. We previously demonstrated that laboratory mice released into a seminatural environment, referred to as rewilding, display an increase in blood granulocytes that is associated with expansion of fungi in the gut microbiota. Here, we find that tonic signals from fungal colonization induce sustained granulopoiesis through a mechanism distinct from emergency granulopoiesis, leading to a prolonged expansion of circulating neutrophils that promotes immunity. Fungal colonization after either rewilding or oral inoculation of laboratory mice with Candida albicans induced persistent expansion of myeloid progenitors in the bone marrow. This increase in granulopoiesis conferred greater long-term protection from bloodstream infection by gram-positive bacteria than by the trained immune response evoked by transient exposure to the fungal cell wall component β-glucan. Consequently, introducing fungi into laboratory mice may restore aspects of leukocyte development and provide a better model for humans and free-living mammals that are constantly exposed to environmental fungi.

Seminatural environments for rodent behavioral testing: a representative design improving animal welfare and enhancing replicability.

The low replicability of scientific studies has become an important issue. One possible cause is low representativeness of the experimental design employed. Already in the 1950's, Egon Brunswick pointed out that experimental setups ideally should be based on a random sample of stimuli from the subjects' natural environment or at least include basic features of that environment. Only experimental designs satisfying this criterion, representative designs in Brunswikian terminology, can produce results generalizable beyond the procedure used and to situations outside the laboratory. Such external validity is crucial in preclinical drug studies, for example, and should be important for replicability in general. Popular experimental setups in rodent research on non-human animals, like the tail suspension test or the Geller-Seifter procedure, do not correspond to contexts likely to be encountered in the animals' habitat. Consequently, results obtained in this kind of procedures can be generalized neither to other procedures nor to contexts outside the laboratory. Furthermore, many traditional procedures are incompatible with current notions of animal welfare. An approximation to the natural social and physical context can be provided in the laboratory, in the form of a seminatural environment. In addition to satisfy the basic demands for a representative design, such environments offer a far higher level of animal welfare than the typical small cages. This perspective article will briefly discuss the basic principles of the generalizability of experimental results, the virtues of representative designs and the coincidence of enhanced scientific quality and animal welfare provided by this kind of design.

The assessment of soundscape quality in historic urban parks: A case study of El-Goli Park of Tabriz, Iran

The preservation of historic sites requires a multisensory approach, in which sound plays an important role. A good acoustic environment could contribute to the aesthetic, ecological, and cultural improvement of historic sites, as well as increase visitor attendance with their surroundings. Due to the unique spatial qualities and social-cultural distinctions of these locations, it seems essential to consider the inherent differences in their soundscapes. The hypothesis of this study is to assess the interrelationships between soundscape evaluations and environmental indicators including visual quality and overall impression as well as the related semantic attributes. The historic El-Goli Park of Tabriz, which is in a semi-natural environment, was evaluated as the field study. Field measurements at sampled locations were conducted to record sound pressure levels (SPL) to generate sound maps. At the same time, a questionnaire survey was used for the subjective assessment of soundscape quality. The main results are as follows: 1. Natural sounds (birds and water) and human sounds (voices and footsteps) are the sounds primarily perceived as dominant and pleasant. 2. For a selected location, the higher the percentage of visitors reporting a pleasant sound (mainly natural sounds), the higher the reported soundscape quality, visual quality, and overall impression. 3. Among the social/demographic/behavioral factors considered, “age” and “time period during a day of visit” were associated with soundscape perception. These results may be helpful for the soundscape of historic city parks and will offer helpful insights into landscape policy and regional acoustic environment planning.

Effects of more natural housing conditions on the muscular and skeletal characteristics of female C57BL/6J mice

BackgroundEnrichment of home cages in laboratory experiments offers clear advantages, but has been criticized in some respects. First, there is a lack of definition, which makes methodological uniformity difficult. Second, there is concern that the enrichment of home cages may increase the variance of results in experiments. Here, the influence of more natural housing conditions on physiological parameters of female C57BL/6J mice was investigated from an animal welfare point of view. For this purpose, the animals were kept in three different housing conditions: conventional cage housing, enriched housing and the semi naturalistic environment. The focus was on musculoskeletal changes after long-term environmental enrichment.ResultsThe housing conditions had a long-term effect on the body weight of the test animals. The more complex and natural the home cage, the heavier the animals. This was associated with increased adipose deposits in the animals. There were no significant changes in muscle and bone characteristics except for single clues (femur diameter, bone resorption marker CTX-1). Additionally, the animals in the semi naturalistic environment (SNE) were found to have the fewest bone anomalies. Housing in the SNE appears to have the least effect on stress hormone concentrations. The lowest oxygen uptake was observed in enriched cage housing.ConclusionsDespite increasing values, observed body weights were in the normal and strain-typical range. Overall, musculoskeletal parameters were slightly improved and age-related effects appear to have been attenuated. The variances in the results were not increased by more natural housing. This confirms the suitability of the applied housing conditions to ensure and increase animal welfare in laboratory experiments.

Floristic inventory of S. R. T. campus of HNB Garhwal University (Badshahi Thaul, Tehri Garhwal, Uttarakhand): A semi-natural environment

The paper provides a floristic account of the S. R. T. Campus (HNB Garhwal University, Tehri Garhwal, Uttarakhand) which enumerates 193 taxa, distributed under 158 genera and 70 families of Angiosperms, Gymnosperms and Pteridophytes. Life form analysis revealed the presence of 65.28% herbs, 17.62 % shrubs 12.44 % trees, and. climber 4.66%. Asteraceae, Poaceae, Fabaceae, Lamiaceae, and Rosaceae revealed as the dominant families (in term of number of species) which together contributed 36.46% in the total species count. Desmodium with 4 species revealed as the dominant genus followed by Carex, Solanum, and Indigofera (3 species each). Of these, 17.13% species bears white flower, 15.47% yellow, 11.61% Pink, 9.94% green, blue 7.185.52 purple, 4.42% red while rest of the species (28.74%) bears flowers of other than colour class.

Development of soil health benchmarks for managed and semi-natural landscapes

Efforts to improve soil health require that target values of key soil properties are established. No agreed targets exist but providing population data as benchmarks is a useful step to standardise soil health comparison between landscapes. We exploited nationally representative topsoil (0–15 cm) measurements to derive soil health benchmarks for managed and semi-natural environments across Great Britain. In total, 4587 soil organic matter (SOM), 3860 pH, 2908 bulk density (BD), and 465 earthworm abundance (EA) datapoints were used. As soil properties are sensitive to site-specific characteristics, data were stratified by habitat, soil type, and mean annual precipitation, with benchmarks defined as the middle 80 % of values in each distribution – yielding 135 benchmarks. BD and pH decreased with land management intensity (agriculture > semi-natural grasslands > woodlands > heathlands > wetlands), and vice versa for SOM and EA. Normalising benchmark ranges by medians revealed soil health indicator benchmark widths increased in the order: pH < BD < SOM < EA, while width increased with decreasing land management intensity. Arable and horticulture and improved grassland exhibited narrow benchmarks for SOM, pH and BD, yet the widest EA benchmark, suggesting additional drivers impact EA patterns. Upland wetlands had the widest BD benchmarks, important when determining carbon stocks. East Anglia currently possesses the largest proportions of atypical soils, including below typical SOM (19.2 %), above typical BD (17.4 %) and pH (39.1 %), and the smallest proportions of above typical SOM (2.4 %), and below typical BD (5.8 %) and pH (2.3 %). This is found even after land use, soil type and rainfall have been considered, underscoring how urgently soil health should be addressed here. Our benchmarking framework allows landowners to compare where their measured soil health indicators fall within expected ranges and is applicable to other biomes, national and multinational contexts.

Testosterone treatment unveils testosterone-insensitive song in an early-branched hummingbird

Birdsong often plays a crucial role in sexual behavior, including territorial defense and mate attraction. This behavior is particularly well studied in species in which only males sing and respond to gonadal testosterone depending on the breeding season. Although hummingbirds are long known to sing in a breeding context, the sensitivity of these vocalizations to testosterone in both sexes remains unknown. Therefore, we investigated (i) which vocalizations are emitted during their breeding season, (ii) the testosterone levels in free-ranging birds, and (iii) the effect of testosterone on these vocalizations in a semi-natural environment in both sexes of the black jacobin (Florisuga fusca), an early-branched hummingbird. Females and males of black jacobin produced the same set of vocalizations (high-pitched song and chirp call) at a similar rate during the breeding season, although testosterone levels in males were significantly higher. Testosterone treatment did not affect the vocal activity or acoustic parameters of their song in both sexes. However, testosterone maintained high levels of aggression in treated birds of both sexes and hyper-developed the oviduct of females. In contrast to almost all well-studied bird species studied so far, the vocal behavior of the black jacobins in their breeding season seems to be insensitive to high testosterone levels.

Mixed-species flock composition matters: interspecific influences on finding novel food in North American parids.

Individuals of a wide range of species are sensitive to the presence of other species, and can often benefit from associations with other species in mixed-species groups (MSGs) through food-finding or avoiding predation. In an earlier field study, we found that both Carolina chickadees, Poecile carolinensis, and tufted titmice, Baeolphus bicolor, were better able to solve a novel feeder task when their MSGs were more diverse in terms of species composition. Like most studies of MSGs, however, that earlier study did not experimentally manipulate MSG size and composition. We did that manipulation here, providing experimental flocks of chickadees and titmice with three novel feeder tasks in semi-natural aviary environments. We found that successful titmouse flocks generally had a higher proportion of titmice in them, going against the findings of our earlier field study. Conversely, successful chickadee flocks solved one of the novel feeder tasks more quickly with a higher proportion of titmice in them, corroborating the findings of our earlier field study. We now need to assess socio-ecological influences on MSG size and composition, and how those relate to individual behaviour. This article is part of the theme issue 'Mixed-species groups and aggregations: shaping ecological and behavioural patterns and processes'.

Urban landscapes and legacy industry provide hotspots for riverine greenhouse gases: A source-to-sea study of the River Clyde

There is growing global concern that greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from water bodies are increasing because of interactions between nutrient levels and climate warming. This paper investigates key land-cover, seasonal and hydrological controls of GHGs by comparison of the semi-natural, agricultural and urban environments in a detailed source-to-sea study of the River Clyde, Scotland. Riverine GHG concentrations were consistently oversaturated with respect to the atmosphere. High riverine concentrations of methane (CH4) were primarily associated with point source inflows from urban wastewater treatment, abandoned coal mines and lakes, with CH4-C concentrations between 0.1 - 44 µg l−1. Concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2) and nitrous oxide (N2O) were mainly driven by nitrogen concentrations, dominated by diffuse agricultural inputs in the upper catchment and supplemented by point source inputs from urban wastewater in the lower urban catchment, with CO2-C concentrations between 0.1 - 2.6 mg l−1 and N2O-N concentrations between 0.3 - 3.4 µg l−1. A significant and disproportionate increase in all GHGs occurred in the lower urban riverine environment in the summer, compared to the semi-natural environment, where GHG concentrations were higher in winter. This increase and change in GHG seasonal patterns points to anthropogenic impacts on microbial communities. The loss of total dissolved carbon, to the estuary is approximately 48.4 ± 3.6 Gg C yr−1, with the annual inorganic carbon export approximately double that of organic carbon and four times that of CO2, with CH4 accounting for 0.03%, with the anthropogenic impact of disused coal mines accelerating DIC loss. The annual loss of total dissolved nitrogen to the estuary is approximately 4.03 ± 0.38 Gg N yr−1 of which N2O represents 0.06%. This study improves our understanding of riverine GHG generation and dynamics which can contribute to our knowledge of their release to the atmosphere. It identifies where action could support reductions in aquatic GHG generation and emission.

Time is a stronger predictor of microbiome community composition than tissue in external mucosal surfaces of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) reared in a semi-natural freshwater environment

Time is a stronger predictor of microbiome community composition than tissue in external mucosal surfaces of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) reared in a semi-natural freshwater environment

Home Range of the Caspian Whipsnake Dolichophis caspius (Gmelin, 1789) in a Threatened Peri-Urban Population.

Semi-natural environments within cities can provide habitats for vulnerable reptile species. Better understanding of their habitat use and home range sizes is important for their conservation. We investigated the spatial ecology of Caspian whipsnakes (Dolicophis caspius) in a peri-urban habitat in Budapest, Hungary. We used radiotelemetry to track five adult snakes and analyzed their microhabitat preferences, home range sizes and daily movements. The Caspian whipsnakes intensively utilized areas covered with woody vegetation, with a high density of hibernacula. The tracked snakes used an area of 40.15 ha during the activity period from spring to autumn, but for the winter, they withdrew to a central area of 1.75 ha, abundant in hibernacula. During the activity period the individual home range sizes varied between 6.1 and 15.5 ha, estimated using the minimum convex polygon (MCP); however, for the entire datasets of the individuals, the adaptive kernel method gave the highest mean (13.8 ha), while the LoCoH-R yielded the smallest home ranges (5.19 ha). We found that the average daily displacement for the different individuals ranged between 12.6 and 36.6 m during their main activity season. In the study area, the whipsnakes currently have enough space for foraging, but the restricted spatial distribution of hibernacula, which is mainly available in the central dry rocky forest and partly in the shrubby areas, can limit the extent of the suitable habitat. Human activities and anthropogenic disturbances, especially around hibernacula, may exert pressure on this peri-urban snake population.

Environmental Virtue Aesthetics

AbstractHow should we characterize the interaction between moral and aesthetic values in the context of environmental aesthetics? This question is important given the urgency of many environmental problems and the particular role played by aesthetic value in our experience of environment. To address this question, we develop a model of Environmental Virtue Aesthetics (EVA) that, we argue, offers a promising alternative to current theories in environmental aesthetics with respect to the relationship between aesthetics and ethics. EVA counters environmental aesthetic theories that focus more narrowly on scientific knowledge and ground aesthetic value in ways that obfuscate pluralistic modes of appreciation of and relationships with natural and semi-natural environments. To develop EVA, we work with a revised notion of respect and engage with ideas concerning the development of aesthetic sensibilities, care, and virtuous aesthetic appreciation. EVA has the potential to support forms of human-nature co-flourishing, as well as constituting an aesthetic grounding for ecological citizenship.

Propagation of Tectaria coadunata (Wall. ex Hook. &amp; Grev.) C.Chr by Spores

This study explores the spore germination and formation of sporophyte of Tectaria coadunata (Wall. ex Hook. &amp; Grev.) C.Chr from its spores. Tectaria coadunata is a perennial evergreen edible fern species belonging to the family Tectariaceae. It is locally known as kali niuro in Nepali language and it is a very common wild vegetable in Nepal. We carried out the successful propagation of Tectaria coadunata from spores using two propagating media: coco-peat and soil mixture (soil, sand and compost manure).The temperature recorded from the spore sown time to development of sporophyte phase was 18-27°C while the general florescent light regime for 14-16 per day was supplied. To keep the propagating media humid and moist it was regularly monitored and maintained. The research is now in acclimatize phase and success of this study will be shared soon. Moreover, the work is successful in laboratory under control condition of certain factors like light and moisture and it is under progress to exploit its capacity to get survived in natural field, and the findings could be used as an alternative method of raising the plant in semi-natural environment.

Early Trauma Leaves No Social Signature in Sanctuary-Housed Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)

Negative early experiences can have detrimental effects on social functioning in later life, both in humans as well as in other socially-living animals. In zoo-housed chimpanzees, recent evidence suggests that there may be a lingering signature of early trauma on individuals' social interaction tendencies as measured by social proximity and grooming. Here, we address whether a similar effect would be observable in chimpanzees living under semi-wild conditions in an African sanctuary. By analysing party size, close proximity and social grooming, we show that in this specific sanctuary, chimpanzees that suffered early trauma (n = 42) were socially indistinguishable from chimpanzees who were born and raised by their mothers in the sanctuary (n = 36). Our findings indicate that chimpanzees may not be irreversibly affected by early social trauma, possibly owing to rehabilitation in stable social groups in a semi-natural environment. Beyond identifying sanctuaries as valuable rehabilitation centres for orphaned chimpanzees, this study demonstrates a remarkable social flexibility in one of our closest living relatives.

Floral traits and reproductive biology of two Mediterranean species of Clematis, asynchronous and sympatric, are key food sources for pollinator survival

• We reveal the floral trends and reproductive biology of two Mediterranean Clematis species. • Volatile compounds were sampled using a SPME-HS followed by GC–MS. • 90% of the volatile compounds were monoterpenes in both species. • Pollen supply and nectar production are important for pollinators during critical periods. • Hedges plant formations play an essential role in the conservation of pollinators and act as a linking semi-natural environment and farmland. Clematis cirrhosa L. and C. flammula L. (Ranunculaceae) are perennial climbing species, that are sympatric and that bloom in two different seasons: winter and summer. Both have colourful flowers representing the two types of Clematis flowers present in the Western Mediterranean basin: bell-shaped and disc-shaped flowers, respectively. This morphological and positional diversity encourages the comparative analysis of their reproductive biology, as well as the profiles of their floral volatiles. Morphological floral traits and the shape of flowers are different and are highly correlated with the rainy season pollinator's availability. Both species exhibit facultative autogamy. Volatile compounds were extracted using a standardised solid-phase microextraction of headspace (SPME-HS) followed by gas chromatography and mass spectrometry (GC-–MS). The spectrum of flower scents highlights the importance of monoterpenes (93% in C. cirrhosa and 99% in C. flammula ) as the major components identified in both species. The study helps to explain the relationship between the floral shape, the pollination system, and the reproductive characteristics of Clematis . In addition, these two species act as food reservoirs for pollinators supplying pollen and nectar in critical periods of the year when resources are scarce. The two species play an important role in maintaining the populations of Apis mellifera, Bombus terrestris , and other seasonal pollinators.

Assessing path-dependent urban growth with geographically weighted regressions

Urban growth may exert remarkably intense environmental impacts, e.g. as far as land resource depletion, pollution, and rising temperatures in built-up areas are concerned. The relationship between urban expansion and environmental degradation is complex and depends on spatial heterogeneity of biophysical conditions, closely intertwined with inherent transformations in settlement forms and socioeconomic functions. Understanding past urbanization patterns contributes to delineate future trajectories of urban development supporting environmental plans that mitigate the negative environmental externalities of economic growth. The present study adopts a spatially explicit approach based on Geographically Weighted Regressions (GWR) to evaluate density-dependent population growth as a key dimension of urban development – and the consequent environmental pressure – along one century (1920–2020) encompassing a cycle from urbanization to re-urbanization in the Athens' metropolitan region (Central Greece). Density-dependent regulation of population growth was particularly intense at the end of the ‘urbanization’ phase and during ‘suburbanization’, being less intense with ‘counter-urbanization’ and negligible with ‘re-urbanization’. Density-dependent regulation of population dynamics demonstrated to be an important dimension of metropolitan expansion in heterogeneous socioeconomic contexts, causing a locally differentiated impact on the surrounding (natural and semi-natural) environments.

Regional habitat units in the context of urban-rural China: Concept, mechanism and features

In the context of regional urbanization, large-scale city regions are becoming the main form of human habitats worldwide. However, top-down regional integration policy faces the risk of being ineffective because politics- and economy-oriented city regions are deficient in local culture, regional identity and spatial logic. City regions emphasize a nodal system centred around multiple cities but ignore large rural hinterlands and wild lands, which calls into question their approach to ecological sustainability. In China, traditional settlements are region-based place systems, which are spatially manifested as town-village-field continuums. After undergoing urban-rural dual development in modern times, Chinese society has now entered the stage of ‘urban-rural China’. Based on the above background, this study presents a conceptual framework of ‘regional habitat units' (RHUs) from the perspective of cultural geography and human settlement science. This concept emphasizes three core elements: 1) a hyper-city regional scale; 2) continuous spatial composition of ‘built settlement−semi-built and semi-natural environment−wild nature’; 3) a formation mechanism based on placeness and regional identity. This study shows that RHUs can provide a cultural-geographic analytical framework for regional urbanization in China and the rest of the world, offer an alternative spatial form to future human settlements, and enrich literature on city-regionalism.

The real-time effects of parent speech on infants' multimodal attention and dyadic coordination.

Parental responsiveness to infant behaviors is a strong predictor of infants' language and cognitive outcomes. The mechanisms underlying this effect, however, are relatively unknown. We examined the effects of parent speech on infants' visual attention, manual actions, hand-eye coordination, and dyadic joint attention during parent-infant free play. We report on two studies that used head-mounted eye trackers in increasingly naturalistic laboratory environments. In Study 1, 12-to-24-month-old infants and their parents played on the floor of a seminaturalistic environment with 24 toys. In Study 2, a different sample of dyads played in a home-like laboratory with 10 toys and no restrictions on their movement. In both studies, we present evidence that responsive parent speech extends the duration of infants' multimodal attention. This social "boost" of parent speech impacts multiple behaviors that have been linked to later outcomes-visual attention, manual actions, hand-eye coordination, and joint attention. Further, the amount that parents talked during the interaction was negatively related to the effects of parent speech on infant attention. Together, these results provide evidence of a trade-off between quantity of speech and its effects, suggesting multiple pathways through which parents impact infants' multimodal attention to shape the moment-by-moment dynamics of an interaction.