which is released from natural sources such as wetlands as well as from human activities including waste management the oil and gas industries rice production and livestock farming.
We'll be looking for some really great birds such as the Elegant Trogon Phainopepla and Mountain quail.
#Cow manure harbors diverse new antibiotic resistance genesmanure from dairy cows which is used commonly as a farm soil fertilizer contains a surprising number of newly identified antibiotic resistance genes from the cows'gut bacteria.
The findings reported in mbioâ the online open-access journal of the American Society for Microbiology hints that cow manure is a potential source of new types of antibiotic resistance genes that transfer to bacteria in the soils
where food is grown. Thousands of antibiotic resistance (AR) genes have already been identified but the vast majority of them don't pose a problem
or composted cow manure on some vegetable crops which could lead to a scenario where residual manure bacteria might cling to produce
which AR genes are present in cow manure. Handelsman's team used a powerful screening-plus-sequencing approach to identify 80 unique and functional AR genes.
The team also found an entire new family of AR genes that confer resistance to chloramphenicol antibiotics which are used commonly to treat respiratory infections in livestock.
That might signal good news that AR genes from cow gut bacteria are not currently causing problems for human patients.
But Wichmann points out another possibility is that cow manure harbors an unprecedented reservoir of AR genes that could be next to move into humans.
Once animals such as donkeys or cattle were caught Marshall said the changes humans sought to make were pretty minimal.
Even today she points out African pastoralists can afford to kill only four out of every 100 cows
and animals into the crops pets and livestock we know today. Generally any mutations that are widespread in domestic plants
and their livestock moved across the globe. But a growing number of ancient DNA studies tell a different tale.
and livestock we know today--dogs chickens horses cows--are probably radically different from the ones our great-great-grandparents knew he added. â#They are subjected to the whim of human fancy
#Saving the lesser prairie chicken: What landowners should knowcumulative habitat loss encroachment by invasive woody plants wind energy development petroleum production
and the ongoing drought are just a handful of reasons why there are fewer lesser prairie chickens in the wild today according to the U s. Fish and Wildlife Service
K-State Research and Extension wildlife specialist Charlie Lee said the designation of the lesser prairie chicken as a threatened species has been anticipated for some time.
The U s. Fish and Wildlife Service reported that last year the range-wide population of the lesser prairie chicken declined to a record low of 17616 birds an almost 50 percent reduction from the 2012 population estimate.
where the lesser prairie chicken lives. Significant habitat changes must occur to meet the 67000-bird decade goal
and those changes will most likely have to come from livestock ranchers and grazers implementing conservation practices that benefit lesser prairie chickens.
More normal rainfall patterns would also be beneficial. Most crop producers will not be affected by the listing he said
because the section 4 (d) rule of the Endangered Species Act exempts most routine farming activity to protect the lesser prairie chicken including agricultural practices on cultivated lands that are in crop production as well as maintenance of infrastructure on these operations. â#oehowever they decided as part of
the rule that properly managed grazing is important for lesser prairie chickens and improperly managed grazing can impact them in a negative mannerâ#Lee said. â#oehaying of native grass might not be allowed.
but I think it could probably be implied that a grazing plan could be required. â#Lee said he anticipates ranchers will face more changes for grazing including possibly allowing only a certain number of livestock on a particular piece of rangeland
and limiting the length of time they are allowed to graze for the numbers of lesser prairie chickens to increase.
I read the rule the ranchers might be affected more than crop producers in this particular situationâ#Lee said. â#oewhen you look at it the lesser prairie chicken uses cropland for a minor amount of food certain times of the year.
and that is where most changes are going to have to take place. â#The listing also means no hunting season for the lesser prairie chicken he said.
Kansas has been the only state to allow hunting for the lesser prairie chicken in recent years. Information about CRPHOW about the landowners who have enrolled acres in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP?
and Wildlife Service has been working with the FSA to ensure implementation of all aspects of CRP has an overall positive impact on habitat for the lesser prairie chicken.
which creates a balancing effect The effort has been as much as possible to keep the impact on CRP participants within the lesser prairie chicken region the same as those outside the region Winkler said. â#oethere will
It will be more in line with the end of the nesting season. â#Pushing early land preparation back allows for the lesser prairie chicken to fulfill its nesting and brooding season
Burr said many landowners who are in their final year of their CRP contracts are questioning now how early land preparation could be affected by the lesser prairie chicken threatened species listing.
and how their land might be affected can log on to the lesser prairie chicken website through K-State Research and Extension (http://www. ksre. k-state. edu/p. aspx?
Increasing crop yields and livestock feeding efficiency. Rice described this proposal as reducing inputs while maintaining or increasing outputs
In livestock emissions U s. and Europe have made strides to make livestock production more efficient but in some other parts of the world lower quality of animal plus poor forage quality leaves much room for improvement in livestock efficiency.
Pursuing changing human diets away from food animal products--Rice acknowledged that this recommendation may be controversial
Methane emissions from livestock is a major contributor to agriculture's footprint Rice said. Approximately 40 percent of agriculture's emissions are due to livestock
and if we could reduce livestock that would reduce emissions. The report acknowledges that there are social and political barriers to all of these options.
Certainly the consumption of meat would be a social barrier. Traditionally as countries increase their personal income meat
Because livestock production is a contributor to greenhouse gases he said it had to be put on the table.
when landowners vigorously pursued systematic livestock improvement. It is from Darwin that we inherit the ideas that domestication involved isolation of captive animals from wild species and total human control over breeding and animal care.
and alpacas) pigs cattle sheep and goats suggests that neither intentional breeding nor genetic isolation were as significant as traditionally thought the scientists said.
Our livestock is losing genetic diversity even faster than some wild animals because of management practices like artificial insemination Marshall said.
But even in the case of pigs or cattle interbreeding between domestic and wild animals has created long and complex evolutionary and domestication histories that challenge assumptions regarding genetic isolation and long-held definitions of domestication.
The curl in the pigs'tailsthe domestication of pigs is one of these stories. Dobney Greger Larson Phd and their team have shown that pigs were domesticated at least twice in eastern Anatolia and in central China.
Analysis of MITOCHONDRIAL DNA (DNA in a cell organelle that is inherited from the mother) shows that early herders took pigs with them from Anatolia to Western europe.
And analysis of ancient DNA shows that once in Europe the domesticated pigs interbred with the wild boars.
These hybridized populations then rapidly replaced the original domesticates first in Europe and then later across Anatolia itself.
There is little evidence that the domestic herds in central China interbred with wild boars. But early agriculturists took their pigs to southeastern Asia
and there deliberately or accidentally recruited local wild boar lineages into their domestic stock. All of the New guinea domestic pigs and those of the islands in the tropical Pacific ocean carry DNA from those southeast Asian wild boar populations.
The interesting question is why the pigs in central China didn't interbreed with wild boar populations in central China.
Dobney suggests that management practices may have made a difference. It is possible that in China where settlements were started dense people keeping pigs in pens
whereas in Europe even in medieval times people took their pigs to forage in the forests where they might encounter wild boars.
The pig story illustrates how much our understanding of domestication events has changed. The anomaly is isolated the domestic population not the prolonged interbreeding among domestic and wild animals
which in most domesticated species seems to have continued to recent times. What would Darwin say?
The research is really exciting because it is making us completely rethink what it means to be domesticated Marshall said.
The first chapter of On the Origin of Species discusses the domestication of animals such as as pigeons cattle
and gathering fruits and tubers to cultivating livestock and plants. It seems so straightforward and yet the more scientists learn the more complex the story becomes.
Their findings published in Springer's journal Obesity Surgery showed that after gastric bypass surgery patients frequently report sensory changes.
The above story is provided based on materials by Springer Science+Business Media. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.
#First metritis vaccine protects dairy cowscornell scientists have created the first vaccines that can prevent metritis one of the most common cattle diseases.
Metritis develops after a cow gives birth when bacteria take advantage of the open vagina and cervix to settle in the uterus.
Infected cows suffer fever pain inflammation lack of appetite depression and reduced reproductive abilities. Metritis affects as many as 25 percent of the roughly 9 million dairy cows in the United states costing nearly $400 per case in lost productivity and treatment costs.
It is the number one cause of systemic antibiotic use which floods the whole body with antibiotics rather than just a specific region said Rodrigo Bicalho assistant professor of dairy production medicine at the College of Veterinary medicine.
and lessened its symptoms in the cows that received them showing promise for alternatives to antibiotics in addressing the disease.
Cows that were vaccinated with the subcutaneous vaccines had lower incidence of postpartum fever and puerperal metritis shorter disease periods and improved reproductive performance compared to those that did not receive the vaccines.
which is eaten then by the cattle and sheep that graze them. The concern is that
Brett Robinson a scientist with New zealand's Lincoln University recently published an article in the Mar 21 2014 edition of the Journal of Environmental Quality that gives some solutions to the problem.
We believe there may have been some livestock grazing that prevented tree establishment for a few years many decades ago said Copenheaver.
Enteric disease in pigs has turned into a huge huge problem and we're developing all kinds of new tests to address the old problems
Hesse says there are at least three viruses with similar symptoms affecting pigs two of which have entered the United states for the first time--porcine epidemic diarrhea virus and delta coronavirus.
Swine specialists and molecular diagnosticians at the Kansas State Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory have developed tests to detect which virus is infecting the pigs.
Porcine epidemic diarrhea virus has killed already an estimated 6 million pigs. The Kansas State university laboratory is one of only four in the United states with the new tests to identify these diseases.
This included hybridization between wolves and the shepherd dogs used to guard sheep from wolf attacks.
Since the 2000s the frequency of wolf depredation on cattle has increased in Georgia and there were several reports of attacks on humans.
The shepherd dogs studied are breed a local used to guard livestock. Ironically their sole function is to protect sheep from wolves
or thieves Kopaliani explained. The shepherd dogs are free-ranging largely outside the tight control of their human masters.
and have a greater protein efficiency rate than those from cow's milk or soya so they could be used to feed humans
and a bird that has claws on its wings and a stomach like a cow. The research published today in Current Biology the shows that Indonesia Australia
and a stomach like a cow while still another the Abbott's Booby breeds only on Christmas Island.
Skuas are migratory birds that feed essentially on penguin eggs and chicks as well as fish. These formidable predators which live for up to 25 to 30 years accumulate mercury in their tissues.
in order to observe their breeding success. Skuas can rear one to two chicks per year. The first finding was that mercury levels in brown skuas were three times higher than in south polar skuas.
and especially of rearing their chicks. Unexpectedly it is contaminated in the least species the south polar skua that the effects of mercury are the most obvious.
#Camels emit less methane than cows or sheepwhen digesting ruminants exhale methane. Their contribution to this global greenhouse gas is considerable.
Ruminant cows and sheep account for a major proportion of the methane produced around the world. Currently around 20 percent of global methane emissions stem from ruminants.
in absolute terms camels release less methane than cows and sheep of comparable body size.
With an estimated population of more than 7000 individuals Liberia now officially holds the second largest population of West African chimpanzees after Guinea.
These outlaws aren't rustling cattle--they're making milk sour and cheese soft and crumbly.
#Kitchens are source of multi-drug resistant bacteriaafter handling raw poultry hands of food preparers
not only after handling raw poultry but also after contact with cutting boards used in poultry preparation. Researchers from University Hospital in Basel Switzerland collected
and 144 from private households) after preparation of various meats (i e. poultry beef/veal pork lamb game
They also collected 20 pairs of gloves from hospital kitchen employees after they handled raw poultry.
In testing the cutting boards researchers found that 6. 5 percent of hospital cutting boards used in preparation of poultry were contaminated with ESBL-producing E coli.
and activities--such as metalworking pottery crop production tending and rearing livestock said Macintosh. I'm interested in how the skeleton adapted to people's specific behaviours during life
In Central europe adaptations in human leg bones spanning this time frame show that it was initially men who were performing the majority of high-mobility tasks probably associated with tending crops and livestock.
Likewise when cows were fed protein contaminated with bovine prions many of them developed mad cow disease. On the other hand transmission of prions between species for example from cows sheep or deer to humans is--fortunately--inefficient and only a small proportion of exposed recipients become sick within their lifetimes.
A study published on April 3rd in PLOS Pathogens takes a close look at one exception to this rule:
The scientists then exposed young mice to toxic misfolded prions from 8 different species including human cattle elk sheep and hamster.
Wildlife can damage valuable livestock crops or infrastructure some species carry diseases of agricultural concern
The desire to separate livestock from wildlife in order to create zones free from diseases such as foot
and standardized approaches to meat preparation can prevent spread of diseases without the need to separate cattle from wildlife by fencing.
#Sage grouse losing habitat to fire as endangered species decision loomsas fires sweep more frequently across the American Great Basin the US Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has been tasked with reseeding the burned landscapes
BLM's interventions have not helped to restore habitat for the greater sage grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) reported scientists from the US Geological Survey (USGS)
and Wildlife Service (FWS) to protect the sage grouse under the Endangered Species Act and efforts by BLM and FWS to establish voluntary conservation and restoration management plans in lieu of endangered species listing mandates.
Protection of sage grouse under the Endangered Species Act could affect the management of 250000 square miles of land in the western US.
Arkle emphasized that recovery of sage grouse habitat is not part of BLM's wildfire response directive.
and limiting the spread of nonnative species. Accomplishing those goals certainly wouldn't hurt sage grouse
but whether or not these treatments provide a benefit for sage grouse doesn't have bearing on the success of the ESR program said Arkle.
Almost all treated acres occur in historic sage grouse habitat said Arkle. That's why the team chose to look at ESR project sites.
Treated plots were not much more likely to be used by sage grouse than the burned and untreated on average
because they are sites where the treatments were more effective in terms of sage grouse habitat said Arkle.
Sage grouse prefer land that has burned not at all in recent decades. Arkle and his colleagues found little sagebrush cover at burned sites whether treated or not.
Sage grouse are picky birds Arkle and colleagues found preferring a sagebrush steppe environment featuring very little human development and dwarf sagebrush (Artemisia arbuscula A. nova or A. tripartita) but not cheatgrass or other nonnative plants.
and livestock watering stations provide predatory ravens with high perches from which to spy sage grouse nests.
The outlier ESR sites preferred by sage grouse had healthier sagebrush and shared common climate and post-treatment weather conditions.
and plants and are renowned globally for fly fishing an industry worth more than £4m on the Rivers Test and Itchen (Hampshire) alone.
and methane from livestock may double by 2070. This alone would make meeting the climate target essentially impossible.
Manure from livestock and fertilizer for crops release ammonia to the atmosphere. In the air ammonia mixes with other emissions to form microscopic airborne particles or particulates.
#Ancient African cattle first domesticated in Middle east, study revealsgeneticist and anthropologists previously suspected that ancient Africans domesticated cattle native to the African continent nearly 10000 years ago.
Now a team of University of Missouri researchers has completed the genetic history of 134 cattle breeds from around the world.
In the process of completing this history they found that ancient domesticated African cattle originated in the Fertile Crescent a region that covered modern day Iraq Jordan Syria and Israel.
Lead researcher Jared Decker an assistant professor of animal science in the MU College of Agriculture Food and Natural resources says the genetics of these African cattle breeds are similar to those of cattle first domesticated
in the middle East nearly 10000 years ago proving that those cattle were brought to Africa as farmers migrated south.
Those cattle then interbred with wild cattle or aurochs which were native to the region
and changed their genetic makeup enough to confuse geneticists. In their study published in PLOS Genetics Decker
and differences among the genetics of many different cattle breeds to determine how the breeds are related.
Their research found mixing of native cattle in Indonesia with imports from India European and African cattle in Italy and Spain and European and Asian cattle in Korea and Japan.
The MU researchers also determined that unique American cattle breeds such as Texas longhorns are the result of breeding between Spanish cattle transported from Europe by explorers in the 16th century and breeds of Zebu or Brahman cattle from India
In many ways the history of cattle genetics mirrors human history Decker said. In the case of African cattle anthropologists and geneticists used to suspect that domesticated African cattle were native to the continent
when in fact they were brought by migrating peoples thousands of years ago. By better understanding the history of the animals we domesticate we can better understand ourselves.
Decker also said that cattle breeding is important for animal farmers looking to maximize their herds'meat and dairy production.
He says that understanding the genetic history of cattle breeds is important when looking for solutions to agricultural issues.
Now that we have this more complete genetic history of cattle worldwide we can better understand the diversity of the species Decker said.
By understanding the variations present we can improve cattle for agricultural purposes whether that is through breeding more disease-resistant animals or finding ways to increase dairy or beef production.
Agroforestry is integrated an land-use management technique that incorporates trees and shrubs with crops and livestock on farms.
#Goats are far more clever than previously thought, and have an excellent memorygoats learn how to solve complicated tasks quickly
Writing in the journal Frontiers in Zoology today (Wednesday 26 march) the scientists trained a group of goats to retrieve food from a box using a linked sequence of steps;
The goats'ability to remember the task was tested after one month and again at 10 months.
The speed at which the goats completed the task at 10 months compared to how long it took them to learn indicates excellent long-term memory said co-author Dr Elodie Briefer now based at ETH Zurich.
Before each learning session some of the goats had the opportunity to watch another goat to demonstrate the task.
This shows that goats prefer to learn on their own rather than by watching others. This is the first time that scientists have investigated how goats learn complex physical cognition tasks which could explain why they are so adaptable to harsh environments and good at foraging for plants in the wild for example.
Co-author Dr Alan Mcelligott from Queen Mary's School of Biological and Chemical sciences commented: Our results challenge the common misconception that goats aren't intelligent animals--they have the ability to learn complex tasks
and remember them for a long time. This could explain why they are so successful in colonising new environments
though we would need to perform a similar study with wild goats to be sure. The research was supported through a Swiss Federal Veterinary Office grant and Swiss National Science Foundation fellowship.
The data was collected at Buttercups Sanctuary for Goats in Kent. Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by Queen Mary University of London.
To do this they used pig breast tissue. Surprisingly they found that even large molecules such as proteins can be transported through these openings making a wide range of medications deliverable.
Validating the modelfeedback from a proposal submitted to the National institute of health confirmed that the researchers needed to use human breast tissue to prove the feasibility of the pig model.
Pigs have on average six to seven pairs of mammary glands so the team needed at least three pairs of human breasts--at a cost of more than $700 per set-to validate the model.
Though different drug quantities are absorbed pig and human breast tissue show similar trends Perumal explains.
As a result the researchers can now use pig tissue to optimize and test various drug formulations.
%Bristol City VA 1. 4%Benson County ND 1. 3%Grant County WV 1. 2%Hampshire County WV 1. 2
#Reducing E coli in cows, improving food safetya new biological treatment could help dairy cattle stave off uterine diseases
and eventually may help improve food safety for humans a University of Florida study shows. Kwang Cheol Jeong an assistant professor in animal sciences and UF's Emerging Pathogens Institute examined cattle uterine illnesses
because they can make cows infertile lower milk production and because those maladies are linked often to bacteria he said.
The UF researchers did their experiments in labs and at the Dairy Unit on the Gainesville campus. Jeong and his research team infused chitosan microparticles â an antimicrobial material derived from dissolved shrimp shells â into diseased cow uteri.
When bought in stores chitosan can be used to treat many ailments from obesity to anemia. On its own chitosan only works at acidic ph levels Jeong said.
For cattle Jeong's team developed chitosan microparticles which work in acidic and neutral ph
because cattle uteri have a neutral ph. The study's findings suggest chitosan microparticles kill bacteria in the uteri he said.
During spring birds must work their socks off to raise their chicks said Philippa Gullett.
or three years not raising any chicks one year is a disaster. They might only get one more chance so they can't afford to fail.
What seems to be going on is that the tits try to raise their chicks at any cost added Ms Gullett.
eggs and chicks are at risk of getting cold. The result is that by the end of the breeding season the adult birds are exhausted.
#Bighorn sheep went extinct on desert island in Gulf of Californiausing ancient DNA analysis and other techniques a research team led by conservation biologists at the University of California Riverside has determined that bighorn sheep so named for their massive spiral horns became extinct on Tiburã n Island a large and mostly uninhabited island just
off Sonora Mexico in the Gulf of california sometime in the last millennium--specifically between the 6th and 19th centuries.
because conventional wisdom among wildlife biologists and the indigenous Seri people who long inhabited this coastal desert region was had that bighorn sheep not occupied Tiburã n Island before 1975
when sixteen female and four male bighorn sheep were introduced deliberately. This introduction--viewed until now as an introduction of an alien species into a previously unoccupied ecosystem--was aimed at fostering a large breeding population at a safe site that could be used in restocking the mainland where historic land use decimated native bighorn sheep populations.
Introduction success was expected on Tiburã n Island given the suitable habitat lack of predators absence of domestic sheep
and their diseases and minimal human disturbance said Benjamin Wilder a Ph d. graduate student in UC Riverside's Department of Botany
and extinct herbivores to determine that bighorn sheep formed the dung mat. This determination was confirmed later by conservation geneticists at Oregon State university who used specialized techniques to extract
and sequence MITOCHONDRIAL DNA from the ancient sheep pellets. The ancient sequences differed substantially from other large herbivores that might have been present.
Further the DNA sequences were not identical to the modern bighorn populations on Tiburã n Island giving confidence to the researchers'claim that the sequences do not derive from modern use of the cave by introduced bighorn sheep.
How should the reintroduction of bighorn sheep on Tiburã n Island be regarded? Is it a restoration or a biological invasion?
With extended biological baselines such as the knowledge that the Tiburã n bighorn sheep went extinct before it is possible to refine conservation targets he said.
Given the cultural and conservation significance of the Tiburã n bighorn actions can be taken to avoid their past fate.
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