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Palaeoenvironmental information collected from zooarchaeological (guanaco exploitation) and palynological (pollen and fungal remains) records from Tierra del Fuego and Isla de los Estados allowed us to reconstruct the natural scenarios during the Holocene to better understand the human behavioral patterns and cultural changes. We have seen that changes in subsistence and guanaco exploitation would not have necessarily been synchronous with climatic variations. However, there is evidence of great climatic and environmental variability in the Fuegian Archipelago during the last 6000 years that would have influenced the distribution of the hunter-gatherer societies. In particular, the Little Ice Age (LIA) event could have caused a reorganization of subsistence activities of the hunter-gatherer societies. The stress caused by this severe climatic episode might have changed the availability of the guanaco population over the inland and coastal areas along the Beagle Channel. Indeed, the colder conditions would have significantly impacted on both the animal population and the availability of their food sources. In summary, the guanaco availability decreased under those colder and intense winters, which is clearly reflected in the substantial drop in the zooarchaeological record. Fil: Fernández, Marilén. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Austral de Investigaciones Científicas; Argentina Fil: Ponce, Juan Federico. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Austral de Investigaciones Científicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Tierra del Fuego; Argentina Fil: Zangrando, Atilio Francisco Javier. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Austral de Investigaciones Científicas; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Filosofía y Letras; Argentina Fil: Borromei, Ana Maria. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Bahía Blanca. Instituto Geológico del Sur. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Departamento de Geología. Instituto Geológico del Sur; Argentina Fil: Musotto, Lorena Laura. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Bahía Blanca. Instituto Geológico del Sur. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Departamento de Geología. Instituto Geológico del Sur; Argentina Fil: Alunni, Daniela Verónica. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Austral de Investigaciones Científicas; Argentina Fil: Vazquez, Martin Miguel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Austral de Investigaciones Científicas; Argentina

Aquaculture is a rapidly growing industry that currently accounts for almost half of the fish used for human consumption worldwide. Intensive and semi-intensive practices are used to produce large stocks of fish, but frequent disease outbreaks occur, and the use of antimicrobials has become a customary practice to control them. The selective pressure exerted by these drugs, which are usually present at sub-therapeutic levels for prolonged periods in the water and the sediments, provides ideal conditions for the emergence and selection of resistant bacterial strains and stimulates horizontal gene transfer. It is now widely recognized that the passage of antimicrobial resistance genes and resistant bacteria from aquatic to terrestrial animal husbandry and to the human environment and vice versa can have detrimental effects on both human and animal health and on aquatic ecosystems. A global effort must be made to cease antimicrobial overuse in aquaculture and encourage stakeholders to adopt other disease-prevention measures. Shaping a new path is crucial to containing the increasing threat of antimicrobial resistance.

Hunter-gatherers with a maritime economic orientation have been commonly characterised by an opportunistic use of terrestrial environments and its resources. Studies on transport and butchering activities help to reconstruct a better understanding of this human behavioural pattern. In this paper, I discuss spatial variations in guanaco (Lama guanicoe) exploitation patterns and butchering activities in different sectors of the southern coast of Tierra del Fuego (southern tip of South America) during the Late Holocene. The guanaco was the only terrestrial animal that played a significant role in the diet of the inhabitants of this region. Analysis show that guanacos butchering and transport strategies were not always consistent with the general parameters usually expected on the use of the terrestrial environment in coastal contexts of cold and temperate climates. The results suggest that, despite the geographical gradient and the paleoenvironmental variations, hunter-gatherers used the interior and the coastal environments as integrated zones that formed part of the same mobility system. However, foragers followed diverse strategies for optimal use of guanaco based on different foraging spatial ranges and butchering-consumption techniques.

Wild aquatic food is typically regarded as a more suitable alternative for reducing water footprints compared with terrestrial animal-derived food. However, some aquatic production in China is dominated by farmed fish that requires water-intensive feed associated with large water footprints. In this study, the average feed and growth parameters of 22 species of popularly farmed fish are summarized, the von Bertalanffy growth model is used to calculate the feed-associated water footprints during the farming period, and Monte Carlo simulations are run to quantify the uncertainties. The results show that the production-weighted average water footprint is 3.11 L g−1 (SD: 0.37; [95% CI: 2.43, 3.87]) and the average blue, green and grey components are 0.74, 1.93 and 0.44 L g−1, respectively. The water footprint of marine fish is 1.49 L g−1 (0.19; [1.15, 1.88]) less than that of freshwater fish, which is 3.16 L g−1 (0.38; [2.47, 3.95]). A sensitivity analysis shows that the feed ingredients, feeding rates, fry and harvest fish weights are the key factors for potentially reducing the water footprint in the future. The feed-associated water footprints of different fish are highly variable compared with those of terrestrial animal-derived foods. Therefore, dietary policy makers should be cautious when promoting fish consumption in China for environmental benefits because not all farmed fish outperform other terrestrial animal food products in terms of water resource consumption. The water footprint of wild fish is zero. Many wild fish stocks are however on the brink of collapse, and therefore this analysis should not lead to the fact that fisheries are redirected to wild fisheries.

Big game acquisition is viewed as pivotal in the evolution of early hominins and is often associated with the emergence of features that are hallmarks of Homo. We explore the energetic justification for the preference for big game under the premise that larger-sized prey is always more efficiently exploited than smaller-sized game. Using quantitative cost/benefit data derived from ethnographic, ethnoarchaeological and historic sources, we show that certain large-sized game (megafauna) are often more expensive to acquire than smaller-sized prey. Comparative analysis shows that African elephants (Loxodonta africana), the largest-sized terrestrial animal, are lower ranked and less efficient to acquire than many smaller-sized animals irrespective of their encounter rates. These data challenge the idea that prey body size can be used as a proxy for profitability and rank in zooarchaeological analyses. Prey profitability, especially for large-sized and costly taxa, is strongly influenced by prey characteristics relative to existing dispatch technology and the range of nonconsumptive benefits associated with hunting certain megafauna. Nonconsumptive rewards associated with these opportunities can only be gained by certain individuals and are not broadly available to everyone. We suggest that the idea of ‘big game’ specialization needs to be reframed in archaeology.

Atlantic salmon’s (Salmo salar) annual aquaculture production exceeds 2 M tonnes globally, and for the UK forms the largest single food export. However, aquaculture production is negatively affected by a range of different diseases and parasites. Effort to control pathogens should be focused on those which are most “important” to aquaculture. It is difficult to specify what makes a pathogen important; this is particularly true in the aquatic sector where data capture systems are less developed than for human or terrestrial animal diseases. Mortality levels might be one indicator, but these can cause a range of different problems such as persistent endemic losses, occasional large epidemics or control/treatment costs. Economic and multi-criteria decision methods can incorporate this range of impacts, however these have not been consistently applied to aquaculture and the quantity and quality of data required is large, so their potential for comparing aquatic pathogens is currently limited. A method that has been developed and applied to both human and terrestrial animal diseases is the analysis of published scientific literature using the H-index method. We applied this method to salmon pathogens using Web of Science searches for 23 pathogens. The top 3 H-indices were obtained for: sea lice, furunculosis, and infectious salmon anaemia; post 2000, Amoebic Gill Disease (AGD) replaced furunculosis. The number of publications per year describing bacterial disease declined significantly, while those for viruses and sea lice increased significantly. This reflects effective bacterial control by vaccination, while problems related to viruses and sea lice have increased. H-indices by country reflected different national concerns (e.g. AGD ranked top for Australia). Averaged national H-indices for salmon diseases tend to increase with log of salmon production; countries with H-Indices significantly below the trend line have suffered particularly large disease losses. The H-index method, supported by other literature analyses, is consistent with the nature and history of salmon diseases and so provides a useful quantitative measure for comparing different diseases in the absence of other measures.

A quantitative risk assessment was carried out to estimate the likelihood of introducing bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) in Danish dairy herds per year and per trimester, respectively. The present study gives important information on the impact of risk mitigation measures and sources of uncertainty due to lack of data. As suggested in the Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS Agreement), the OIE Terrestrial Animal Health Code was followed for a transparent science-based risk assessment. Data from 2010 on imports of live cattle, semen, and embryos, exports of live cattle, as well as use of vaccines were analyzed. Information regarding the application of biosecurity measures, by veterinarians and hoof trimmers practicing in Denmark and in other countries, was obtained by contacting several stakeholders, public institutions and experts. Stochastic scenario trees were made to evaluate the importance of the various BVDV introduction routes. With the current surveillance system, the risk of BVDV introduction was estimated to one or more introductions within a median of nine years (3-59). However, if all imported animals were tested and hoof trimmers always disinfected the tools used abroad, the risk could be reduced to one or more introductions within 33 years (8-200). Results of this study can be used to improve measures of BVD surveillance and prophylaxis in Danish dairy herds.

In developing countries and tropical regions, earthen ponds have become an alternative for farming fish inland. Farmers usually restrict diet to compound feed, which is a relevant source of environmental impact. In the conditions described above, the motivation of this study was to evaluate the environmental impact of fish farming developed with different species. We evaluated systems producing the exotic Nile Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus), the local hybrid Patinga (Piaractus mesopotamicus x Piaractus brachypomus) and local hybrid Surubim (Pseudoplatystoma sp. x Leiarius marmoratus). Species were bred separately, in the same farm and in similar conditions. The study was also inspired by the opportunity to properly pinpointing the most relevant reasons to explain variability of environmental performance among fish species. For this goal, we used the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) technique, preparing our inventory by collecting realistic data, on farm, and restricting the evaluation from cradle-to-farmgate. Distinctive to many simulations in literature, we properly determined the nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) content of fish and feed in a bromatology Lab. To produce 1 ton of live weight, the exotic Tilapia performed considerably better than the Surubim in all impact categories evaluated. Compared to Patinga, Tilapia performed considerably better in two impact categories: water dependence and land occupation. No considerable differences were observed between the two local hybrids. For the global warming potential, the acidification potential and the eutrophication potential, feed production and fish farming were the stages that contributed the most. In general, the source of protein in feed was the predominant source of environmental impact. Indeed, terrestrial animal co-products have more embodied resources in their tissue, due to diversifying and reasonably low feed conversion rates among fish species. However, the discussion spans towards trade-offs and the puzzling situation for decision making. This includes tunneling waste for aquaculture feed instead of dumping it on the landfill, or increasing the demand for terrestrial or marine ingredients by overbalancing in some direction. At the same time, the pathway towards sustainability of fish farming systems relies on finding alternative ingredients and managing genetic resource in order to improve feed conversion rates, empower and speed up production. For sure, these tasks demand efforts to meet the nutrient requirements of fish and offer feed with suitable composition. Overall, the methodology presented in this study can be used to compare and demystify environmental performances among local and exotic genetic resources.

Although species-specific aquaculture production systems typically operate over reduced geographical ranges relative to many other terrestrial animal production systems, it is nonetheless often necessary to transport live fish between facilities by road to permit on-growing or finishing. Road transport is therefore common in Australian salmonid (trout and salmon) production and is a particularly significant feature of Atlantic salmon ( Salmo salar ) culture in Tasmania, where it is necessary to transport juvenile fish (smolts) from inland freshwater hatchery facilities to coastal marine farms for grow-out to slaughter. The most obvious respect in which road transport of live fish differs from that of terrestrial livestock is the requirement to provide a life-support system for the duration of the process. Aside from an inherent requirement for water, it is essential to provide oxygenation to support basic respiration. Thereafter, water quality must be managed to limit the accumulation of potentially toxic metabolites. Among these, carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) is of particular concern. Without appropriate management, CO 2 can rapidly accumulate to levels as high as 80 mg/L -1 and result in hypercapnia, respiratory dysfunction, narcosis, and ultimately death. Current life-support systems typically function to maintain CO 2 at acceptable levels of 20-30 mg/L -1 . Water temperature changes during and at the end of the transport process may also be an issue but are typically only a relatively minor consideration. In common with other livestock transport systems, the loading process and associated handling can evoke a physiological stress response which, though intended to be adaptive, may interact synergistically with aspects of the life-support system. Increased rates of oxygen consumption and CO 2 excretion place additional demands on the life-support system while, from the fish's perspective, the changes in gill perfusion and circulation that facilitate such alterations in gas exchange can also operate to increase solute loss and result in diuresis and ionoregulatory dysfunction. As a consequence, once a suitable life-support system has been provided, the efforts of salmon farmers are focused on the need to minimize handling stress. The majority operate sophisticated pumping and counting systems that are intended to minimize aerial exposure of fish and, in a manner consistent with the natural behavior of the animal, mimic as far as is practicable the process of being washed downstream.

Animal-borne video and environmental data collection systems (AVEDs) are integrated sensor systems that collect video from the animal's perspective and combine it with data from other sensors, including audio, location, temperature, acceleration, and other data. By placing sensor data within the context of video, AVEDs provide a unique perspective not offered by other methods and facilitate research into animal behavior and foraging tactics, animal energetics, wildlife damage issues, and inter- and intra-specific interactions. Marine AVEDs have outpaced their terrestrial counterparts in technological sophistication and store all data onboard. Terrestrial systems have been transmission-based and thus have been deployed on species that are easily tracked or habituated to humans. We present the first terrestrial, store-onboard AVED developed for large mammals and demonstrate the utility of our AVEDs by quantifying and describing contacts among white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus). Our system was largely developed from commercially available equipment and included a camera, microcomputer, and a sensor board attached to a neck collar with affixed battery packs. We deployed the system on 2 semi-wild and 2 free-ranging deer. We collected 12.2, 12.3, 30.3, and 41.6h of video during our deployments; the 2 lowest recording durations were the result of blown fuses in the battery packs. We observed 11 contacts among white-tailed deer during 4 deployments. Contacts comprised a total of 22.8min (x@?=2.1min/contact, SE=0.7). Our AVEDs revealed several behaviors during contacts between individual white-tailed deer, including inspection, avoidance, and grooming. These data are not captured by other techniques (e.g., radio telemetry) and demonstrate the utility of continuous video and other sensors from the animal's perspective. Although AVEDs are a powerful new tool for wildlife research and management, their use should be preceded by careful formulation of research and management objectives.

Sulphur isotopes in archaeological bone collagen are not routinely analysed in palaeodietary studies. Here we investigate the potential contribution that sulphur isotope analysis can provide toward the study of ancient human diet and economy, with particular emphasis on the distinction between freshwater and terrestrial consumers. For material from the Late Bronze Age site of Chicha in the south-western Eurasian forest-steppe, sulphur isotopes effectively separate freshwater and terrestrial animal food resources. The sulphur isotope data coupled with nitrogen isotope values from Chicha reflect a dietary reliance upon freshwater animal protein (fish) for the Late Bronze Age inhabitants. In contrast, sulphur isotope values for freshwater and terrestrial potential food species from the Eneolithic site of Bil'shivtsi in western Ukraine were indistinguishable, demonstrating that δ 34 S values cannot always be relied upon to identify freshwater and terrestrial consumers. The data from this study support the adoption of δ 34 S analysis as a standard component of palaeodietary studies; apart from its potential to distinguish freshwater from terrestrial consumers, it can provide supplementary dietary information not evident from the carbon and nitrogen isotope data. In addition, certain indices are considered that may be used to assess the validity of sulphur isotope data, as currently exist for carbon and nitrogen. According to the analysis of modern collagen samples, N:S appears to be a broad indicator of collagen sulphur isotope quality. However, more work needs to be done to establish an effective means by which highly-altered sulphur isotope values can be identified and thereby removed from consideration.

Amongst many ongoing initiatives to preserve biodiversity, the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment again shows the importance to slow down the loss of biological diversity. However, there is still a gap in the overview of global patterns of species distributions. This paper reviews how remote sensing has been used to assess terrestrial faunal diversity, with emphasis on proxies and methodologies, while exploring prospective challenges for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity. We grouped and discussed papers dealing with the faunal taxa mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and invertebrates into five classes of surrogates of animal diversity: (1) habitat suitability, (2) photosynthetic productivity, (3) multi-temporal patterns, (4) structural properties of habitat, and (5) forage quality. It is concluded that the most promising approach for the assessment, monitoring, prediction, and conservation of faunal diversity appears to be the synergy of remote sensing products and auxiliary data with ecological biodiversity models, and a subsequent validation of the results using traditional observation techniques.

It is expected that the revised chapter on bovine tuberculosis in the Terrestrial Animal Health Code of the Office Internationale des Epizooties (OIE) will embrace regionalization as a functional means of assisting countries, states or regions to meet the requirements for freedom from tuberculosis and to facilitate trade. The benefits and applications of regionalization, which comprises zoning and compartmentalisation, are discussed. Regionalization requires that a country's veterinary administration is able to implement transparent and auditable biosecurity measures that will ensure that the tuberculosis-free status of a subpopulation of cattle is maintained despite the presence of infection in another cattle subpopulation, or in other domestic or wild animal species. Zoning, which requires cattle subpopulations to be separated by geographic boundaries, provides a practical basis whereby countries, states or regions, can progress towards freedom from tuberculosis, regardless of the source of infection for defined cattle subpopulations. Compartmentalisation however, requires that husbandry or management practices will be used to prevent a tuberculosis-free cattle subpopulation from contacting interspecific and intraspecific sources of infection. This will be difficult to achieve except for specialised cases such as artificial breeding centers.

The dense understorey regrowth after disturbance of tropical forests has been linked to serious declines in many understorey and terrestrial animal taxa. We devised a method of measuring changes in vegetation characteristics using standardized photographs of the forest understorey. We describe the method using a sample dataset of photographs taken at 28 stations in primary forest and forest that had been logged selectively eight years previously, at the Danum Valley Field Centre in lowland Borneo. The understorey photographs were digitized and eight measures of vegetation density and complexity generated for each image using FRAGSTATS. Parameters included vegetation area, total vegetation edge, and mean fractal dimension of vegetation patches. There were no significant correlations between the vegetation density measures and those representing vegetation complexity showing there to be two unrelated components to understorey variability. We used PCA to derive two principal axes from the eight vegetation parameters. There were no significant differences in our measures of understorey density or complexity between the primary and logged forest stations. There was, however, a greater range of understorey characteristics in primary forest than in logged forest indicating a loss of understorey heterogeneity following logging. Most apparent was a loss of very open and non-complex understories and this may affect some animals in a number of ways, including altering the abundance of their prey and altering their ability to forage successfully in logged forest.

In order to establish baseline nitrogen isotope data for certain African ecosystems, we have measured the 15 N 14 N of some 300 marine and terrestrial organisms. The majority of these specimens come from the southwestern Cape, and were chosen to represent a cross-section of the foods important in prehistoric diets in the region. δ 15 N analyses of 78 Holocene human skeletons from the same area are interpreted in the light of these results. Additional terrestrial animal samples were collected from the northern and eastern Cape and from Botswana and Malawi. They represent a wide range of climatic and environmental zones, from semi-desert to sub-tropical swamps. The patterning in the values for marine organisms is consistent with previously published data; that for terrestrial organisms, however, is more complex than recent studies have indicated. Our data confirm the proposal that animal δ 15 N values vary with rainfall: high δ 15 N values for herbivores occur in areas receiving less than 400 mm of rain per annum. We critically examine a recently proposed model explaining this phenomenon, and suggest some additional mechanisms which should be considered. In such arid areas, nitrogen isotope ratios cannot be used as marine terrestrial indicators, but may provide some indication of the trophic level of the food consumed. Dietary studies on human populations can only be undertaken with a thorough appreciation of the isotopic ecology of the relevant foodweb.