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Resource selection is fundamental to understanding the ecology of a species because it is directly related to its survival and reproduction. The scale-dependent process for the habitat use of Siberian roe deer (Capreolus pygargus) was investigated in temperate forest to determine their resource priorities. Since imperfect detectability of fecal pellet count method can lead to false zeroes and overdispersion issues, we accounted for these issues using a zero-inflated model. The abundance of roe deer was constant between the deciduous forest and larch plantation. This might be due to the high productivity of temperate forest in the study area. However, the microhabitat use by roe deer differed between the forest types because of resource availability. Roe deer exhibit consistent pattern of microhabitat use in the larch plantations, while they exploited higher food quality in deciduous forests. Due to high resource availability, including food and covers, in larch plantation, habitat use of deer may not be limited by spatial variation on the resources. Moreover, we con- firmed that weather, forest type, and ground conditions affected spatiotemporal variation in fecal pellet detection on a habitat and microhabitat scale. The zero-inflated model could make the fecal pellet count method more efficient and reliable without additional field surveys by correcting the detectability of fecal pellets. This simple statistical model can facilitate future research on ungulate and lagomorph populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Forestry practices can lead to changes in wildlife habitat that could have lasting effects on the distribution of species. Hence, the aim of this study was to determine the effects of forestry practices on habitat variables and habitat use by mammals in three different stands (control, clear-cut and clear-cut with reserves) in a Japanese larch Larix kaempferi plantation from April to October in 2016 and 2017. We recorded the presence of field signs for the following six mammal species: Korean hare Lepus coreanus, raccoon dog Nyctereutes procyonoides, Eurasian badger Meles meles, water deer Hydropotes inermis, roe deer Capreolus pygargus and wild boar Sus scrofa. Habitat variables significantly differed among three stands. Field sign (feces, foot prints and feeding signs) abundances of mammals showed significant differences between the control and clear-cut stands. Moreover, field sign abundances of all species were highest in the clear-cut with reserves stand. We calculated the impact of clear-cutting on habitat use by mammals using GLMMs. Both clear-cutting in the models were significant and had positive coefficients on habitat use by Korean hare, raccoon dog, deer and wild boar. In Eurasian badger models, only clear-cutting with reserves show positive impacts on habitat use. Habitat selection by forest edge species such as Korean hare and deer showed dependence on understory structure. Abundant understory in the clear-cut with reserves stand may not only provide vegetative food and cover for herbivores but also small prey species for omnivores and carnivores. The results of our study show that forest understory is one of the most instrumental factors mitigating the effects of clear-cutting on habitat use by mammal and it should, therefore, be given due importance in forestry practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examined the influence of tree thinning on the abundance of mammals in a Japanese larchLarix kaempferiplantation in Mt Gariwang, Pyeongchang, South Korea. In 2014 and 2015, from April to October, we recorded the presence of tracks as a proxy for abundance, for the following seven mammalian species: Korean hareLepus coreanus, raccoon dogNyctereutes procyonoides, Siberian weaselMustela sibirica, Eurasian badgerMeles meles, water deerHydropotes inermis, roe deerCapreolus pygargus, and wild boarSus scrofa. We also assessed how the intensity of tree thinning affected vegetation cover; there were significant differences in number of standing trees, basal area, coverage of vegetation layers, and number and volume of downed trees among the control, moderately thinned, and intensively thinned stands. We found significant differences in the abundance of tracks among the stands for three mammal species. In four mammal species, the abundance of track was significantly correlated with volume of downed trees, coverage of ground vegetation, number of downed trees, and number of standing trees, according to stepwise analysis. The presence and abundance of mammals is linked to habitat variables and forest managers should consider how habitat modifications will affect wildlife. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Objective: This study was conducted to characterize the behaviors and the body weight of suckling piglets in different social environments., Methods: Two groups of sows and suckling piglets housed either in individual farrowing crates in separate pens (1.8×2.4 m, the control group) or in groups of three sows with their piglets in farrowing crates in a large common enclosure (5.4×2.2 m, the treatment group) were observed with the aid of video technology for 9 consecutive hours on days 1, 2, and 3, after mixing., Results: Suckling, agonistic, and elimination behaviors of suckling piglets were significantly higher in the control group than in the treatment group. Inactive behavior was higher in the treatment group than in the control group. Most of the effects of the social environment on the suckling piglets seem to be the result of large reductions in behaviors and body weight for piglets switching from high activity to low activity. Moreover, suckling behavior and birth body weight were highly correlated with body weight at the end of the test., Conclusion: The social environment that resulted from mixing, thus, had significant effects on the behavior and body weight of suckling piglets, and behavioral characteristics, therefore, should be considered when making improvements to the husbandry and care methods used in swine production.

Water bodies are essential to humans and other forms of life. Identification of water bodies can be useful in various ways, including estimation of water availability, demarcation of flooded regions, change detection, and so on. In past decades, Landsat satellite sensors have been used for land use classification and water body identification. Due to the introduction of a New Operational Land Imager (OLI) sensor on Landsat 8 with a high spectral resolution and improved signal-to-noise ratio, the quality of imagery sensed by Landsat 8 has improved, enabling better characterization of land cover and increased data size. Therefore, it is necessary to explore the most appropriate and practical water identification methods that take advantage of the improved image quality and use the fewest inputs based on the original OLI bands. The objective of the study is to explore the potential of a J48 decision tree (JDT) in identifying water bodies using reflectance bands from Landsat 8 OLI imagery. J48 is an open-source decision tree. The test site for the study is in the Northern Han River Basin, which is located in Gangwon province, Korea. Training data with individual bands were used to develop the JDT model and later applied to the whole study area. The performance of the model was statistically analysed using the kappa statistic and area under the curve (AUC). The results were compared with five other known water identification methods using a confusion matrix and related statistics. Almost all the methods showed high accuracy, and the JDT was successfully applied to the OLI image using only four bands, where the new additional deep blue band of OLI was found to have the third highest information gain. Thus, the JDT can be a good method for water body identification based on images with improved resolution and increased size.

With regard to animal welfare concerns, behavioral information of weaned and mixed piglets is great interest in swine production. The aim of this study was to demonstrate the change in behavior of weaned piglets over time in two different groups (littermates and piglets from different litters) after mixing. Two weaned groups of piglets (72 individuals in all) housed either with littermates or with foreign piglets (6 individuals in 1.8 m×1.4 m pens, 28°C±1°C temperature) were observed with the aid of video technology for 9 consecutive hours on days 1, 2, and 3 after mixing. The behaviors of the weaned piglets in the control and treatment groups were significantly different among the days after mixing. Piglets were, however, more active and aggressive in the groups with foreign piglets. This study reveals a lower level of agonistic behavior in groups of piglets that came from the same litter.

This research introduces an improvement plan for the reliability of Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) positioning solutions. It should be considered the most suitable methodology in terms of the adjustment and positioning of GNSS in order to maximize the utilization of GNSS applications. Though various studies have been conducted with regards to Bridge Health Monitoring System (BHMS) based on GNSS, the outliers which depend on the signal reception environment could not be considered until now. Since these outliers may be connected to GNSS data collected from major bridge members, which can reduce the reliability of a whole monitoring system through the delivery of false information, they should be detected and eliminated in the previous adjustment stage. In this investigation, the Detection, Identification, Adaptation (DIA) technique was applied and implemented through an algorithm. Moreover, it can be directly applied to GNSS data collected from long span cable stayed bridges and most of outliers were efficiently detected and eliminated simultaneously. By these effects, the reliability of GNSS should be enormously improved. Improvement on GNSS positioning accuracy is directly linked to the safety of bridges itself, and at the same time, the reliability of monitoring systems in terms of the system operation can also be increased.