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Unravelling abrupt alterations in the gut microbiota of wild species associated with nutritional stress is imperative but challenging for wildlife conservation. This study assessed the nutritional status of wild red deer during winter on the basis of changes in faecal nitrogen (FN) and urea nitrogen/creatinine (UN: C) levels and identified gut microbes associated with nutritional status via nutritional control experiments and metagenomic sequencing. The FN of wild red deer in winter 2022 was significantly lower than that in winter 2021 (p < 0.05, winter 2021: 1.37 ± 0.16% and winter 2022: 1.26 ± 0.22%), and the UN: C ratio increased (winter 2021: 2.19 ± 1.65 and winter 2022: 3.05 ± 3.50). Similar trends were found in late winter, which indicated greater nutritional pressure in winter (2022) and late winter. Compared with winter 2021, abundances of Ructibacterium and Butyrivibrio significantly increased, and Acetatifactor and Cuneatibacter significantly decreased during winter 2022 (p < 0.05). Compared with early winter, the cell growth and death pathways increased and lipid metabolism and its subpathway of secondary bile acid synthesis (ko00121) significantly decreased during late winter (p < 0.05), which was similar to the changes in malnourished experimental red deer. Abrupt alterations in the gut microbiota should receive increased attention when monitoring the nutritional health of wild ungulates. This study provides new insights and critical implications for the conservation of wild ungulate populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Here we revise all the paleontological sample of Notarchirico, including historical collections and new findings collected during 2016–2023 excavations. Notarchirico is one of the most significant sites for the study of human evolution and terrestrial ecosystem dynamics during the Early-Middle Pleistocene Transition, preserving nearly 100.000 years of environmental and climatic changes constrained between 695 ± 6 ka and 614 ± 12 ka. The deposit yielded the oldest human fossil of the Italian Peninsula, and one of the oldest European evidence of Homo heidelbergensis, as well as one of the earliest evidence of bifacial tools in western Europe, commonly associated with the Acheulean techno-complex. Our paleontological results revealed the presence of three different mammal complexes, documenting faunal dynamics in response of climatic driven-changes recognized during the early Middle Pleistocene. The lower complex (levels I2-G) indicates the dominance of wooded spaces, sparse steppes, and the existence of water bodies (lakes or ponds), indicating a deterioration of the fully interglacial conditions recorded during the end of MIS 17; the middle complex (levels G-C) with a low number of mammal remains can be attributed to the glacial conditions of MIS 16; the upper complex (levels B-above α) indicates an improvement in climate, transitioning towards the full interglacial conditions of the of MIS 15. The faunal sample of Notarchirico, based on its firm chronological setting, offers important data for the Biochronological Scheme of European Land Mammals, including one of the oldest records of Palaeoloxodon antiquus and Cervus elaphus in Europe, Panthera spelaea in southwestern Europe, Dama cf. roberti in Italian Peninsula, and one of the latest occurrences of Bison schoetensacki in Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary To improve the utilisation of abomasum and explore the material basis of its antioxidant and hyaluronidase inhibitory activities, a homogeneous protein RDA4‐1 was isolated from the abomasum of cultured red deer by two‐step chromatography process for the first time in this study. It has a molecular weight of 15 kDa and comprises 43.56% essential amino acids. RDA4‐1 scavenged 50.97% of DPPH• and 88.37% of ABTS+· at 1.5 mg mL−1, and inhibited hyaluronidase by 79.23% at 1 mg mL−1. The CD and fluorescence spectroscopy was used to initiate explore the hyaluronidase inhibition reaction process. With an increase in the concentration of RDA4‐1 in the inhibition reaction, the wavelength of the negative peak of CD shifted from 208 to 218 nm, and the absorption of the positive peak of CD increased from 0.5 to 8.3 mdeg. Furthermore, fluorescence absorption at a wavelength of 340 nm rose from 248 to 762 au. These findings suggest that the interaction of RDA4‐1 with hyaluronidase induces alterations in the secondary structure of the protein complex, and RDA4‐1 binds reversibly to the enzyme in a non‐covalent manner. The results of this study indicate that RDA4‐1 could serve as a potential hyaluronidase inhibitor in the development of nutraceuticals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Animal tuberculosis (TB) is often maintained by multi-host communities, including livestock and wildlife. Quantitative studies of such communities require estimating the true prevalence of TB, correcting the apparent prevalence by the diagnostic sensitivity (Se) and specificity (Sp) of the test. The goal of this study was to lay the foundations for estimating the true prevalence of TB in wild ungulate populations (wild boar and two cervids: red deer and fallow deer). We used Bayesian latent class models to assess the Se and Sp of gross pathology, IS6110 real-time PCR in tissues, bacteriological culture, and P22 indirect ELISA. We analyzed 308 harvested wild ungulates (211 wild boar and 97 cervids: 92 red deer and 5 fallow deer). The Se of bacteriological culture (80.4%, CI95 61.0-96.3%) and gross pathology (87.9%, CI95 69.5-99.9%) was reasonably good in wild boar. These tests showed lower Se in cervids: 60.2% (CI95 38.3-82.3%) for bacteriological culture and 81.5% (CI95 63.6-96.2%) for gross pathology. The Se of the real-time PCR was low (50.7% in wild boar and 53.0% in cervids). These tests showed Sp between 95.2 and 99.1% in both taxa. The P22 ELISA performed reasonably well in wild boar (Se = 71.9%, CI95 59.2-83.4%; Sp = 98.8%, CI95 96.9-99.9%) but lacked Sp in cervids (Se = 77.1%, CI95 62.9-89.7%; Sp = 74.5%, CI95 65.7-83.3%). The real-time PCR in wild boar and cervids and bacteriological culture in cervids tended to show higher Se in low-prevalence populations, possibly due to a higher proportion of early-stage TB lesions. In cervids, the parallel interpretation of gross pathology and bacteriological culture significantly improved the diagnostic performance (Se = 93.1%, CI95 84.7-98.9%; Sp = 92.9%, CI95 86.0-98.3%). Our results allow the estimation of true prevalence from the results of a single diagnostic test applied to harvested wild boar, red deer, and fallow deer, paving the way for more precise quantitative ecological studies of the multi-host TB maintenance community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: An increase in game meat consumption has been observed worldwide. This is the first study to assess the amino acid composition and the protein quality of the muscles of deer from organic feeding grounds. This study assessed the nutritional value of the protein of the muscles of deer originating from forest, organic, and conventional feeding grounds. The meat of deer from the forest and the conventional feeding grounds exhibited higher exogenous and endogenous amino acid contents than that of deer from the organic feeding ground. However, the meat of deer from the organic farm feeding ground is characterized by the highest protein content and ensures optimal satisfaction of the demand for essential amino acids. The highest lysine content was found in the muscles of the deer from the forest feeding ground. This knowledge can help nutritionists develop diets that meet the nutritional recommendations for different consumer groups and breeders to make decisions about farm location and deer feeding strategies. This study aimed to analyze the amino acid profile, with a particular focus on the nutritional value of the protein of the longissimus lumborum (LL) and the semimembranosus (SM) muscles of deer originating from three feeding grounds: forest (FFG); conventional (CFG) grounds; organic farm (OFG). This is the first time that deer from an organic farm feeding ground have been included in this study. The muscles were collected from 36 deer carcasses with equal proportions of sex and 31 months of age. This study demonstrated significantly higher essential amino acid (EAA) and non-essential amino acid (NEAA) contents in the muscles of deer from the FFG and CFG compared to the OFG. However, the EAA-to-NEAA ratio was significantly higher for the muscles of deer from the OFG. The muscles of the FFG and CFG deer were characterized by a higher concentration of lysine as well as acidic and tasty amino acids compared to the OFG deer, with the muscles of the latter exhibiting a higher percentage of branched-chain amino acids (BCAA). The results obtained can be used professionally by nutrition specialists in preventive and therapeutic diets and breeders to make decisions about farm location and deer feeding strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates simulation of pharmaceutical separation via membrane distillation process by computational simulation and machine learning modeling strategy. The efficacy of three regression models, i.e., Multi-layer Perceptron (MLP), Gamma Regression, and Support Vector Regression (SVR) in predicting the solute concentration, C(mol/m³), was evaluated. The hyper-parameters were optimized by fine-tuning the models using the Red Deer Algorithm (RDA). Computational analyses were carried out for removal of pharmaceuticals from solution by membrane distillation in continuous mode. Mass transfer and machine learning models were implemented focusing on concentration of solute in the feed section of membrane. Results indicate that the Multi-layer Perceptron model achieved great accuracy with an R2 of 0.9955, an MAE of 0.0084, and an RMSE of 0.0148, effectively capturing complex nonlinear relationships in the data. Gamma Regression also performed acceptably, with fitting R2 of 0.9214, showing its suitability for positively skewed data. The Support Vector Regression model, while capturing the general trend, showed the lowest performance with an R2 of 0.8710. These findings suggest that the Multi-layer Perceptron is the most accurate model for this dataset, followed by Gamma Regression and Support Vector Regression. This underscores the importance of careful model selection and optimization in regression analysis in combination with computational simulation of membrane processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Crop damage and vehicle collisions caused by wild ungulates require effective deterrents. Many commercial acoustic devices use ultrasonic signals, presenting them as aversive to these animals. However, unconvincing results reported in previous studies using (non-frequency modulated) ultrasounds bring their effectiveness as deterrent signals into question. Here, we explored the deterrent effectiveness of ultrasounds in several large mammalian species that are expected to perceive these high frequencies. Specifically, we tested the effect of different ultrasonic signals on red deer, peccaries, and wolves. Animals were exposed to sequences of nine acoustic signals in the 20–30 kHz frequency range, and to a lower-pitched signal (2–3 kHz). While red deer showed no aversion to ultrasonic signals (inaudible for humans), lower frequency (audible for humans) modulations increased aversive responses. Conversely, peccaries showed strong flight responses to several ultrasonic signals. Wolves also reacted to ultrasounds but did not flee. Our study confirms that ultrasonic signals are not suitable for deterring European red deer. However, our results suggest that their effectiveness in other species should be systematically tested, without assuming that their hearing frequency range is a reliable predictor of their behavioural responses to ultrasonic signals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Foodborne infections caused by microbes are a serious health risk. Regarding this, customer preferences for "ready-to-eat" or minimally processed (MP) deer meat are one of the main risk factors. Given the health dangers associated with food, essential oil (EO) is a practical substitute used to decrease pathogenic germs and extend the shelf-life of MP meals. Nonetheless, further data regarding EO use in MP meals are required. In order to evaluate new, safer alternatives to chemicals for disease control and food preservation, this research was carried out in the following areas to assess the antibacterial and antibiofilm characteristics of Thymus serpyllum (TSEO) essential oil, which is extracted from dried flowering stalks. Furthermore, this study applied an essential oil of wild thyme and inoculated the sous vide deer meat with Pseudomonas aeruginosa for seven days at 4 °C in an effort to prolong its shelf-life. Against P. aeruginosa, the essential oil exhibited potent antibacterial action. The findings of the minimal biofilm inhibition concentration (MBIC) crystal violet test demonstrated the substantial antibiofilm activity of the TSEO. The TSEO modified the protein profiles of bacteria on glass and plastic surfaces, according to data from MALDI-TOF MS analysis. Moreover, it was discovered that P. aeruginosa was positively affected by the antibacterial properties of TSEO. The anti-Pseudomonas activity of the TSEO was marginally higher in vacuum-packed sous vide red deer meat samples than in control samples. The most frequently isolated species from sous vide deer meat, if we do not consider the applied bacteria Pseudomonas aeruginosa, were P. fragi, P. lundensis, and P. taetrolens. These results highlight the antibacterial and antibiofilm qualities of TSEO, demonstrating its potential for food preservation and extending the shelf-life of deer meat. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the effect of a 2% lactic acid and 2% ascorbic acid mixture, applied via a spray method, on the quality of wild red deer (Cervus elaphus) meat stored under vacuum packaging at 4 ± 1 °C for 21 days. A total of 48 semimembranosus muscle steaks were used, divided into two groups: 24 treated with the acid mixture and 24 non-treated controls. Key parameters, including the pH, instrumental color, bacterial counts, texture profile analysis, and protein degradation (sarcoplasmic and myofibrillar proteins) using sodium dodecyl-sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, were assessed on different days. Treated samples exhibited significantly lower aerobic plate counts (p < 0.05) compared to controls. No significant differences in pH were found between the groups, except on day one (p < 0.05). Over time, texture analysis revealed a significant reduction in hardness, cohesiveness, and chewiness in both groups, with treated samples showing greater tenderness. Importantly, the lactic acid and ascorbic acid treatment did not adversely affect the color attributes of the meat. This method shows potential for improving the microbiological safety of venison without compromising its quality, making it a promising preservation technique for the meat industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The cost-effectiveness of different attractants during camera trapping surveys has been seldom evaluated. To contribute in filling this knowledge gap we (1) compare the effectiveness of a suite of attractants in detecting widely distributed mammals in Europe and (2) evaluate the cost-effectiveness of these attractants, by calculating the costs associated to reach a specific monitoring objective. We conducted a large-scale field experiment across four study areas in central and northern Italy, encompassing a variety of environments, from lowland forest to alpine beech forest. We focused on comparing the following low cost and readily available attractants: sardines, peanut butter, a commercial lure and we used a camera with no attractant as control, collecting data on a suite of small to large mammals. We found that for seven of our 13 target species detectability varied with the type of attractant used. Specifically, sardines proved to be the most effective attractant for canids and the porcupine, peanut butter was most effective for mustelids but was avoided by the roe deer, whereas the commercial lure was the most effective with red deer. Through a power analysis combined with a cost function analysis we were able to show striking differences in the cost-effectiveness of the different methods, sometimes in the order of magnitude of tens of thousands of euros, which strongly emphasizes the critical importance played by the choice of whether to use an attractant or not and the type of attractant to be used. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we conduct a cost-benefit analysis (CBA) of five alternative management strategies for red deer in Denmark: free harvest, trophy hunting, maximum harvest and two cases for natural demographic population compositions. To capture the outcome under each strategy we use a biological sex- and age-structured population model. The net benefit function includes meat values, recreational values, browsing damage costs and traffic damage costs and these values and costs are assumed to differ for the various sex and age classes of red deer. We show that the maximum harvest strategy leads to a reasonably high positive total net benefit, while the free harvest strategy yields a small positive net benefit. On the other hand, the trophy hunting strategy generates a high negative net benefit, while small negative net benefits are obtained under the two strategies for natural demographic population compositions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deep learning (DL) and big data analytics are powerful tools when combined for disease detection and healthcare applications. They enable the processing of vast amounts of medical data to uncover patterns, make predictions, and assist healthcare professionals in diagnosing diseases and improving patient care. Existing disease detection model often faces two challenging issues namely feature selection and insufficient hyperparameter tuning, which considerabley affects the performance and generalization abilities of DL models in disease detection. To resolve these issues, this article focuses on the design of a new Chaotic Red Deer Optimizer with Deep Learning based big data analytics for Disease Classification (CRDODL-BDADC) technique in the healthcare environment. The CRDODL-BDADC technique resolves the high dimensionality problem by the use of CRDO based feature selection approach. For disease detection process, convolutional bidirectional gated recurrent unit (CBGRU) is applied for disease diagnosis and its hyperparameters are selected by using Seeker Optimization Algorithm (SOA). Furthermore, Map Reduce is applied to manage healthcare BD. A widespread set of simulation outcomes occur on the PCOS database, from the Kaggle repository to illustrate the greater performance of the CRDODL-BDADC technique. The simulation values highlighted the enhanced efficiency of the CRDODL-BDADC method over other recent approaches under various measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Genome‐wide technologies open up new possibilities to clarify questions on genetic structure and phylogeographic history of taxa previously studied with microsatellite loci and mitochondrial sequences. Here, we used 736 individual red deer (Cervus elaphus) samples genotyped at 35,701 single nucleotide polymorphism loci (SNPs) to assess the population structure of the species throughout Europe. The results identified 28 populations, with higher degrees of genetic distinction in peripheral compared to mainland populations. Iberian red deer show high genetic differentiation, with lineages in Western and Central Iberia maintaining their distinctiveness, which supports separate refugial ranges within Iberia along with little recent connection between Iberian and the remaining Western European populations. The Norwegian population exhibited the lowest variability and the largest allele frequency differences from mainland European populations, compatible with a history of bottlenecks and drift during post‐glacial colonization from southern refugia. Scottish populations showed high genetic distance from the mainland but high levels of diversity. Hybrid zones were found between Eastern and Western European lineages in Central Europe as well as in the Pyrenees, where red deer from France are in close contact with Iberian red deer. Anthropogenic restocking has promoted the Pyrenean contact zone, admixture events in populations on the Isle of Rum and in the Netherlands, and at least partly the admixture of the two main lineages in central‐eastern Europe. Our analysis enabled detailed resolution of population structure of a large mammal widely distributed throughout Europe and contributes to resolving the evolutionary history, which can also inform conservation and management policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study we aimed to assess the role of wild red deer, along with other ungulates such as roe deer and wild boar, in the soil's physical properties, namely soil penetration resistance and depth (used as a proxy for soil compaction), hydraulic conductivity (a proxy for water infiltration), and the proportion of soil stable aggregates. Results showed that, at the density level found in our study area, red deer have a neutral effect at the soil level, not causing significant soil compaction or significantly influencing measured soil functions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recent emergence of chronic wasting disease (CWD) in Europe has become a new public health risk for monitoring of wild and farmed cervids. This disease, due to prions, has proliferated in North America in a contagious manner. In several mammalian species, polymorphisms in the prion protein gene (PRNP) play a crucial role in the susceptibility to prions and their spread. To obtain a reliable picture of the distribution of PRNP polymorphisms in the two most common cervid species in France, we sequenced the open reading frame (ORF) of this gene in 2114 animals, 1116 roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) and 998 red deer (Cervus elaphus). Selection criteria such as historical origin, spatial distribution and sex ratio have been integrated to establish this sample collection. Except for one heterozygous animal with a non-synonymous mutation at codon 37 (G37A), all the 1116 French roe deer were monomorphic. Red deer showed greater variation with two non-synonymous substitutions (T98A; Q226E), three synonymous substitutions (codons 21, 78 and 136) and a new 24pb deletion (Δ69-77). We found significant regional variations between French regions in the frequency of the identified substitutions. After cloning of the PRNP ORF from animals presenting multiple non-synonymous polymorphisms, we identified six haplotypes and obtained a total of twelve genotypes. As in other European countries, we highlighted the apparent homogeneity of PRNP in the French roe deer and the existence of a greater diversity in the red deer. These results were in line with European phylogeographic studies on these two species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Encryption of a plaintext involves a secret key. The secret key of classical cryptosystems can be successfully determined by utilizing metaheuristic techniques. Monoalphabetic cryptosystem is one of the famous classical cryptosystems. In this paper, we determine the secret key of the monoalphabetic cryptosystem using a recently proposed metaheuristic technique, namely, red deer algorithm. The existing red deer algorithm framework has been tailored to solve the above considered problem. Performance of the developed red deer algorithm is compared with the following metaheuristic techniques: tabu search, genetic algorithm, and cuckoo search using three criteria, namely, effectiveness, efficiency, and accuracy. The results obtained show that the proposed red deer algorithm can compete with all the above three algorithms with respect to all the criteria. This signifies the importance of the proposed red deer algorithm is that it can be utilized to solve the similar problems effectively, efficiently, and with more accuracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plants adopt particular growth‐forms when they are exposed to extreme environmental conditions. In this study, we describe a unique woody plant growth‐form induced by large mammalian herbivores and discuss that this growth‐form could have evolved as a strategy for escaping the browser zone in herbivore driven ecosystems.We analysed responses of key architectural and morphological attributes (branching and thorn density, tree dimensions, presence of flowers and fruits) of three Eurasian spiny tree species (Malus sylvestris, Prunus cerasifera and Pyrus communis) to different levels of browsing by large herbivores in the temperate Białowieża Forest, Poland.Under high browsing pressure, studied trees displayed two distinct forms of the crown: a bottom sterile part developing into a densely branched structure with high density of thorns ('cage‐form'), and an upper reproductive part that escaped from herbivore control ('escaped‐form'). The size of cage‐form influenced the feeding behaviour of red deer (Cervus elaphus) by increasing the time deer spend foraging and increasing the bite rate. The height at which cages started to escape and their diameter matched with foraging reach of red deer.Synthesis. We argue that the frequency and cage dimensions of this woody growth‐form in the landscape could inform on the type and intensity of recent herbivory. Moreover, its distinctive inducibility suggests that this growth‐form did not emerge recently under anthropogenic pressure but could be the legacy of ancient herbivory effects. Observational evidence suggests that this growth‐form emerged in several herbivore‐driven systems around the globe and may be used to identify the dominant herbivores that control vegetation structure in these ecosystems. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Animal and plant remains recovered from two archaeological sites in Iași city (NE Romania) were analyzed in this work. The aim of this study was to contribute to the economic and environmental evaluation of an old urban settlement. The analyzed sites, both of value in archaeological preventive research, are dated to the 18th–19th centuries. The archaeozoological analysis consisted of anatomical, taxonomic, and taphonomic identifications, quantification, estimations of age at slaughter and sex, and osteometry. The results revealed that the animal remains are of domestic origin, as indicated by traces of butchering, and can be mainly described in terms of their frequencies (i.e., number of identified specimens and minimum number of individuals), selection for slaughter, morphology, and size. The results show that animal husbandry (e.g., cattle, sheep/goat, pig, and horse) had significant importance in the economy of the settlement, and cattle were preferred for consumption. Few remains were identified for wild mammals (i.e., red deer, wild boar, and hare), birds, and mollusks. The phytolith analysis indicated that some plant resources were used in the economy of this settlement. The identification of opal silica bodies revealed the presence of grasses and cultivated cereals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change causes far‐reaching disruption in nature, where tolerance thresholds already have been exceeded for some plants and animals. In the short term, deer may respond to climate through individual physiological and behavioral responses. Over time, individual responses can aggregate to the population level and ultimately lead to evolutionary adaptations. We systematically reviewed the literature (published 2000–2022) to summarize the effect of temperature, rainfall, snow, combined measures (e.g., the North Atlantic Oscillation), and extreme events, on deer species inhabiting boreal and temperate forests in terms of their physiology, spatial use, and population dynamics. We targeted deer species that inhabit relevant biomes in North America, Europe, and Asia: moose, roe deer, wapiti, red deer, sika deer, fallow deer, white‐tailed deer, mule deer, caribou, and reindeer. Our review (218 papers) shows that many deer populations will likely benefit in part from warmer winters, but hotter and drier summers may exceed their physiological tolerances. We found support for deer expressing both morphological, physiological, and behavioral plasticity in response to climate variability. For example, some deer species can limit the effects of harsh weather conditions by modifying habitat use and daily activity patterns, while the physiological responses of female deer can lead to long‐lasting effects on population dynamics. We identified 20 patterns, among which some illustrate antagonistic pathways, suggesting that detrimental effects will cancel out some of the benefits of climate change. Our findings highlight the influence of local variables (e.g., population density and predation) on how deer will respond to climatic conditions. We identified several knowledge gaps, such as studies regarding the potential impact on these animals of extreme weather events, snow type, and wetter autumns. The patterns we have identified in this literature review should help managers understand how populations of deer may be affected by regionally projected futures regarding temperature, rainfall, and snow. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using sous-vide technology in combination with essential oils offers the potential to extend the preservation of food items while preserving their original quality. This method aligns with the growing consumer demand for safer and healthier food production practices. This study aimed to assess the suitability of minimal processing of game meat and the effectiveness of vacuum packaging in combination with Piper nigrum essential oil (PNEO) treatment to preserve red deer meat samples inoculated with Listeria monocytogenes. Microbial analyses, including total viable count (TVC) for 48 h at 30 °C, coliform bacteria (CB) for 24 h at 37 °C, and L. monocytogenes count for 24 h at 37 °C, were conducted. The cooking temperature of the sous-vide was from 50 to 65 °C and the cooking time from 5 to 20 min. Additionally, the study monitored the representation of microorganism species identified through mass spectrometry. The microbiological quality of red deer meat processed using the sous-vide method was monitored over 14 days of storage at 4 °C. The results indicated that the TVC, CB, and L. monocytogenes counts decreased with the temperature and processing time of the sous-vide method. The lowest counts of individual microorganism groups were observed in samples treated with 1% PNEO. The analysis revealed that PNEO, in combination with the sous-vide method, effectively reduced L. monocytogenes counts and extended the shelf life of red deer meat. Kocuria salsicia, Pseudomonas taetrolens, and Pseudomonas fragi were the most frequently isolated microorganism species during the 14-day period of red deer meat storage prepared using the sous-vide method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The frequency of severe wildfires is on the rise in the Mediterranean Basin as a result of climate change and land abandonment. Recurrent wildfires may retard or impede ecosystem recovery, frequently requiring the implementation of restoration practices. In that context, a post‐fire deer exclusion experiment was conducted in a Mediterranean mixed forest ecosystem with high population densities of deer species (Fallow deer and Red deer). A deer exclusion area was established as a form of restoration intervention to promote post‐fire vegetation recovery. We surveyed plant species during the second and third springs after fire in both deer‐excluded and deer‐allowed areas in order to detect changes in the community. We analyzed the plant species composition, species diversity, and structure of herbaceous and woody plant communities. We also compared the frequency of annual and perennial herb species, functional groups, and post‐fire plant regeneration strategies. The main differences were due to differences between springs rather than of deer‐excluded and deer‐allowed plots. Deer consumed both woody and herbaceous species, favoring the assemblage of herbaceous over woody species. Deer favored the establishment of annual forbs, including unpalatable and/or exotic species, while limiting the abundance of graminoids. Observed deer impacts could have been magnified during the second spring by a drought. Our study demonstrates that deer exclusion can be an effective restoration practice for promoting post‐fire herbaceous regeneration in forests with significant densities of wild ungulates, although seasonal effects may override restoration practice effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: The relationship between the saliva urea N (SUN) and plasma urea N (PUN) concentrations was investigated in red deer calves (n = 23) over a five-month period with the objective of creating an easy tool to quickly evaluate circulating urea nitrogen concentrations. The experimental design comprised a 2 × 2 factorial arrangement with different seasonality phenotypes (high and low) and two different forage-based diets, namely a medium-quality diverse treatment (Diverse) or a low-quality perennial ryegrass–white clover treatment (PRG), which were offered ad libitum. Blood and saliva samples for the determination of the PUN and SUN were evaluated monthly at civil dawn between April and September of 2022. A moderately strong relationship between the PUN and SUN was identified by simple linear regression (R2 = 0.65; p < 0.001). The interaction between diet and the date of sampling had a significant effect on the relationship between the SUN and PUN (p < 0.001). This interaction is likely explained by the seasonal variation in the crude protein (CP) content in the diet. The use of a mixed-model procedure improved the model fit, increasing the R2 by 0.12 and reducing the root mean square error by 0.341. There was no effect of seasonality on the prediction estimates of the PUN from the SUN, although a tendency for a sex–seasonality interaction was observed (p = 0.09). Therefore, an evaluation of the diet and date of sampling can be used to improve the reliability of the prediction estimates of the PUN from the SUN in red deer calves. Further investigation into the effects of significant factors on this relationship is required to improve the reliability of the model before the SUN can be used to predict the PUN. Red deer (Cervus elaphus), like other ruminants, excrete approximately 70% of the nitrogen they ingest. Developing ways in which to reduce the rate of loss, such as manipulating the diet or selecting for efficiency of growth, requires close monitoring of the plasma urea N (PUN) concentration which, in turn, requires a simple, safe, and reliable method for collecting samples. Saliva is easier to collect than blood, but the relationship between the salivary urea N (SUN) and the PUN is not known for red deer. This was therefore evaluated in two strains of mixed-sex red deer calves (Cervus elaphus): a phenotype with a high seasonality of growth (H, n = 10) and a phenotype with a low seasonality of growth (L, n = 13). Both phenotypes were divided into two groups, which were each offered one of two forage-based diets ad libitum: a medium-quality diverse treatment and a low-quality perennial ryegrass–white clover treatment. Blood and saliva samples for the determination of the PUN and SUN were collected at dawn every four weeks for five months (April to September 2022). There was a strong linear relationship between the PUN and SUN in the pooled sample (R2 = 0.65, p < 0.001). The estimations of the PUN were significantly improved by adding diet and the date of sampling into the model (p < 0.001), but not phenotype (p > 0.75). SUN represents a reliable index of the PUN, and collecting saliva therefore represents a simple and inexpensive alternative to collecting blood samples in studies of nitrogen metabolism in red deer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The attractive effect of dung on coprophagous beetle communities and their role in dung degradation are well‐known phenomena. However, little research has been conducted on the recruitment capacity of this substrate for other arthropods, especially those inhabiting the soil. With the aim of beginning to recognize general patterns in these relationships, the influence of the structure and origin of dung from invasive exotic mammals on the recruitment of microarthropods was investigated in two meadows within Nahuel Huapi National Park in southwestern Argentina. Abundance, richness and diversity of microarthropod communities collected on invasive mammal dung were studied. A total of 2478 microarthropods were collected and 52 species were identified. Recruitment of microarthropods on dung of two invasive coprophagic herbivores, the rabbit, Oryctolagus cuniculus and the hare, Lepus europaeus, were compared with two invasive non‐coprophagic mammals, one herbivorous, the red deer, Cervus elaphus and one omnivorous, the wild boar, Sus scrofa. Pellets of S. scrofa showed the highest microarthropod abundance and richness while diversity was greatest on pellets of C. elaphus. Pygmephorid and oribatid mites and springtails were the most abundant. Liposcelis psocopterans and oribatid mites were more abundant on S. scrofa dung. Low similarity was observed when comparing dung of invasive mammals from different sites revealing spatial variability regarding species composition. Based on its more diverse diet, we conclude that S. scrofa dung exerts a strong influence on microarthropod communities by recruiting a greater number of individuals and species than the dung of the remaining invasive mammals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In temperate regions, larger mammalian carrion naturally occurs in terrestrial landscapes as a pulsed resource towards the end of the winter through enhanced ungulate mortality due to starvation or exhaustion. The return of large carnivores in Central Europe provides carrion more equally throughout the year and the active enhancement of carrion for biodiversity by game managers has increased, raising the question of how different scavengers respond to the temporal variation in carrion supply. To address this question, we experimentally deployed 106 cervid carcasses throughout the year in a temperate forest of south-eastern Germany on two types of plots: permanent (i.e., site with multiple subsequent deployments) or random (i.e., site with unique deployment), and reported vertebrate scavenger visitations by camera trapping. Deployment on random or permanent sites did not affect carrion use by any single species. Generalized additive modelling revealed that vertebrate scavenging peaked in the winter season and summer independent of carrion supply. Still, different scavenger species showed different temporal patterns. While wild boar as ungulate omnivores did not display any seasonal patterns, avian scavengers showed significant variation in visitation rates. The mesopredator red fox consumed carrion significantly more often from late winter to summer, while pine marten was present at carrion only during winter. Finally, the specialist large carnivore Eurasian lynx, visited carrion sites most frequently in late winter and early spring. Our results suggest that global warming might impact some groups of vertebrate scavengers more strongly than others by reducing carrion availability in late winter, while returning carnivores could mitigate these impacts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study aimed to elucidate patterns of the daily activity, sex and age structure of the herds of red deer (Cervus elaphus), roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) and wild boar (Sus scrofa) registered by camera traps on the territory of the Rositsa State Hunting Enterprise in Central Stara Planina Mountain. The study is carried out between July 2017 and June 2019. We used 38 camera traps, which stayed in the field for 5279 days. From the collected photos and videos, 5001 independent registrations were identified: 2551 for red deer, 1266 for roe deer and 1184 for wild boar. We defined five groups to study the sex and age structure of the herds: F - female adult individuals; M - male adults individuals; S - young up to 2 years; FJS - females with offspring and young and mixed - individuals by both sex and different age. We found that all three species are more active at night in autumn. We observed higher daytime activity for red deer in spring, for roe deer in winter, and for wild boar in summer. The overlap of their daily activities is greatest in summer and least in spring. A different frequency of occurrence of the five types of herds was found in the studied ungulates during the various seasons, as well as a difference in diurnal activity mainly between the herds with females and the other herds. The lowest percentage of mixed herds in winter we registered in herds of red deer compared to those of roe deer and wild boar. This study shows that the activity patterns of the three ungulates are significantly influenced by species-specific features, season and anthropogenic activity. The greater nocturnal activity of the studied ungulates in autumn is due to the hunting season and the accompanying increased restlessness of the animals. The present research may benefit the sustainable management and protection of game populations in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Damage caused by cloven-hoofed game and wild animals is a serious problem in Slovakia and neighboring countries. In 2022, the damage to forests in Slovakia was estimated at a level of almost EUR 2.9 million. Despite several implemented measures, the situation is so severe that successfully restoring some trees in some heavily attacked stands is impossible. This paper deals with the preventive elimination of damage caused by red deer in forest stands by the biological method of applying tannin-based mineral licks. Specifically, licks containing tannin obtained from the edible chestnut were used for testing. Several positive effects are attributed to tannins in developing livestock and animal fitness status. To date, however, the question of using tannins as biological agents for the possible protection of forest stands has not been addressed. Therefore, red deer damage was assessed at two localities with similar natural conditions in the central part of the Western Carpathians to explore such a possibility. After the initial sample measurement of the bark-stripping damage caused by the red deer in the autumn, mineral licks with tannin were placed in one selected study area over the winter. The levels of and differences in forest damage by deer between areas with the application of licks with tannin and without tannin were detected in spring of the following year. In the location treated with tannin, the number of damaged sample plots decreased, and the mean plot damage did not increase (no statistically significant differences were registered in mean plot damage between autumn and spring). Meanwhile, in the control location, the total amount of bark-stripped area doubled, mainly due to a statistically significant increase in mean plot damage between autumn and spring. Based on this, we conclude that tannin had a significant preventive effect and considerably reduced the extent of bark stripping. Such promising results indicate that tannin licks can effectively mitigate the problem of bark-stripping damage in areas heavily attacked by red deer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Globally, collisions with vehicles result in millions of animal deaths every year, representing a major issue for wildlife conservation and management. Consequently, and importantly, much research has focused on understanding patterns of animal–vehicle collisions with the aim to reduce roadkill of wildlife. However, existing data on animal–vehicle collisions might also represent a novel opportunity to monitor wildlife populations. For this purpose, we compared data of >1.2 million hunter‐shot deer and >40,000 deer–vehicle collisions collected over 11 years in Denmark. We show that deer–vehicle collision data can be useful for population monitoring of roe deer (Capreolus capreolus), fallow deer (Dama dama), and red deer (Cervus elaphus). Roe deer was the most numerous species, representing 90% of observations based both on deer–vehicle collisions and on hunting bag statistics. After accounting for factors related to road infrastructure (road length and density, traffic volume), local (municipality) deer–vehicle collisions were highly correlated with hunting bag data for roe and red deer (Pearson's r > 0.7) but not fallow deer, likely due to biases in hunting bags. Moreover, we used deer–vehicle collision data to map spatiotemporal changes in the distribution of fallow and red deer, and demographic changes in all species. Combined, our results suggest that animal–vehicle collision data can be a useful tool to supplement existing methods for monitoring wildlife populations, which will be relevant for the management of these populations. We point to important shortcomings in both animal–vehicle collision and hunting bag data and provide recommendations on how to improve their accuracy in the future, to be applicable for a broader range of species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The recent emergence of chronic wasting disease (CWD) in Europe has become a new public health risk for monitoring of wild and farmed cervids. This disease, due to prions, has proliferated in North America in a contagious manner. In several mammalian species, polymorphisms in the prion protein gene (PRNP) play a crucial role in the susceptibility to prions and their spread. To obtain a reliable picture of the distribution of PRNP polymorphisms in the two most common cervid species in France, we sequenced the open reading frame (ORF) of this gene in 2114 animals, 1116 roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) and 998 red deer (Cervus elaphus). Selection criteria such as historical origin, spatial distribution and sex ratio have been integrated to establish this sample collection. Except for one heterozygous animal with a non-synonymous mutation at codon 37 (G37A), all the 1116 French roe deer were monomorphic. Red deer showed greater variation with two non-synonymous substitutions (T98A; Q226E), three synonymous substitutions (codons 21, 78 and 136) and a new 24pb deletion (Δ69-77). We found significant regional variations between French regions in the frequency of the identified substitutions. After cloning of the PRNP ORF from animals presenting multiple non-synonymous polymorphisms, we identified six haplotypes and obtained a total of twelve genotypes. As in other European countries, we highlighted the apparent homogeneity of PRNP in the French roe deer and the existence of a greater diversity in the red deer. These results were in line with European phylogeographic studies on these two species.

In temperate regions, larger mammalian carrion naturally occurs in terrestrial landscapes as a pulsed resource towards the end of the winter through enhanced ungulate mortality due to starvation or exhaustion. The return of large carnivores in Central Europe provides carrion more equally throughout the year and the active enhancement of carrion for biodiversity by game managers has increased, raising the question of how different scavengers respond to the temporal variation in carrion supply. To address this question, we experimentally deployed 106 cervid carcasses throughout the year in a temperate forest of south-eastern Germany on two types of plots: permanent (i.e., site with multiple subsequent deployments) or random (i.e., site with unique deployment), and reported vertebrate scavenger visitations by camera trapping. Deployment on random or permanent sites did not affect carrion use by any single species. Generalized additive modelling revealed that vertebrate scavenging peaked in the winter season and summer independent of carrion supply. Still, different scavenger species showed different temporal patterns. While wild boar as ungulate omnivores did not display any seasonal patterns, avian scavengers showed significant variation in visitation rates. The mesopredator red fox consumed carrion significantly more often from late winter to summer, while pine marten was present at carrion only during winter. Finally, the specialist large carnivore Eurasian lynx, visited carrion sites most frequently in late winter and early spring. Our results suggest that global warming might impact some groups of vertebrate scavengers more strongly than others by reducing carrion availability in late winter, while returning carnivores could mitigate these impacts.

Deer production options were modelled in two contrasting environments, Otago and Hawkes Bay, New Zealand, to estimate greenhouse gas emissions, productivity and profitability. A standard New Zealand deer farm was compared to the deer production scenarios: (1) increasing hind longevity through improved reproductive performance, (2) improving animal health management to increase weaner growth, (3) pre-winter finishing using larger hinds and superior growth genetics sires or (4) shifting to a mixed velvet antler/venison enterprise. Production (kg product/ha) increased as scenarios 1–3 were applied, being greatest for scenario 3, in both environments (+21% and +2% in the Otago and Hawkes Bay environments respectively). Production increases in the Hawkes Bay environment were muted by the inclusion of beef and sheep enterprises. Production in Otago and Hawkes Bay was reduced in scenario 4 by 12 and 7% but achieved increased gross margin (33% and 20% respectively). Some small differences in the magnitude of response were seen between the environments. Changes in total GHG emissions per hectare ranged between +4.6% and −6.7%. GHG emission per $ gross margin was reduced by up to 15%–21%. Altering production options in the deer industry altered total GHG emissions per hectare and reduced GHG emissions per kg of product. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Rotaviruses A (RVA) are a major cause of acute viral gastroenteritis in humans worldwide and are responsible for about two million hospitalizations per year. They can also infect other mammals such as pigs, calves, goats, lambs, and horses, in which they are also considered a major cause of viral diarrhea. While RVA is well studied in humans and domestic animals, its occurrence in wild ruminants is not well known. The RVA genome is a double-stranded RNA consisting of 11 segments, and genotyping is based on the VP7 (G) and VP4 (P) segments. Currently, there are 42G genotypes and 58P genotypes. RVA has a high mutation rate, and some combinations of G and P genotypes can infect different animal species, leading to speculation about the potential for zoonotic transmission. Materials and methods: A total of 432 fecal samples were collected from roe deer, red deer, chamois, mouflon and Alpine ibex in Slovenia between 2017 and 2021. To investigate the presence of RVA in wild ruminants, real-time RT-PCR was used. Positive samples were subjected to next generation sequencing (NGS) using RIP-seq method. Results and discussion: In total, 7 samples were RVA positive. Complete genomes were determined and phylogenetically analyzed for all 7 RVAs. Four different genotype constellations were present in 7 positive RVA animals: G8- P[14]-I2- R2-C2-M2-A3-N2-T6-E2-H3, G6-P [14]-I2-R2-C2-M2-A11-N2-T6- E2-H3, G10-P [15]-I2-R2-C2-M2-A3-N2-T6-E2-H3 and G10-P [15]-I2-R2-C2- M2-A11- N2-T6-E2-H3. Genotypes G6P[14] and G10P[15] were found in both roe deer and red deer, representing the first confirmed occurrence of RVA in red deer. In addition, genotype G8P[14] was found in chamois, representing the first known case of positive RVA in this species. Some of these genotypes have also been found in humans, indicating the potential for zoonotic transmission. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modern lifestyles have increased the focus on food stability and human health due to evolving industrial goals and scientific advancements. Pathogenic microorganisms significantly challenge food quality, with Salmonella enterica and other planktonic cells capable of forming biofilms that make them more resistant to broad-spectrum antibiotics. This research examined the chemical composition and antibacterial and antibiofilm properties of the essential oil from Eugenia caryophyllus (ECEO) derived from dried fruits. GC-MS analyses identified eugenol as the dominant component at 82.7%. Additionally, the study aimed to extend the shelf life of sous vide deer meat by applying a plant essential oil and inoculating it with S. enterica for seven days at 4 °C. The essential oil demonstrated strong antibacterial activity against S. enterica. The ECEO showed significant antibiofilm activity, as indicated by the MBIC crystal violet test results. Data from MALDI-TOF MS analysis revealed that the ECEO altered the protein profiles of bacteria on glass and stainless-steel surfaces. Furthermore, the ECEO was found to have a beneficial antibacterial effect on S. enterica. In vacuum-packed sous vide red deer meat samples, the anti-Salmonella activity of the ECEO was slightly higher than that of the control samples. These findings underscore the potential of the ECEO's antibacterial and antibiofilm properties in food preservation and extending the shelf life of meat. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under an optimal foraging scenario, prey selection would be expected to occur when food resources are abundant. A positive frequency‐dependent prey selection would elicit prey switching when the abundance of main food resources decreases, potentially favouring community resilience to the effects of intensive, selective predation on a single prey. We assessed whether a positive frequency‐dependent prey selection by the wolf Canis lupus occurred in two areas hosting abundant populations of wild ungulates, one in northern (Słowiński National Park, Poland) and the other one in southern (Maremma Regional Park, Italy) Europe, throughout a cold semester. In Słowiński, ungulate community was dominated by red deer Cervus elaphus (57% availability) over wild boar Sus scrofa (35%) and roe deer Capreolus capreolus (8%); wild boar and fallow deer Dama dama (43–37%) were more abundant than roe deer (20%) in Maremma. In both areas, wolf diet was dominated by wild ungulates, with a major use of red deer in Słowiński and wild boar in Maremma. Prey selection occurred in both areas, and it was addressed towards the most abundant prey in Słowiński, that is, the red deer, but only towards the wild boar in Maremma, where the fallow deer was used according to availability. In Slowinski, high red deer density may have driven wolf prey selection, while the shifting of activity rhythms of the fallow deer in the Maremma as antipredator response to wolf presence may have reduced predation. Despite its comparable densities between the two areas, the wild boar was selected in Maremma and under‐used in Słowiński. Results provide partial support to positive frequency‐dependent selection, emphasising the spatiotemporal plasticity of wolf–prey relationships. The relative role of prey density and other factors (e.g., antipredator behavioural responses) should be assessed at longer temporal scales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The random encounter model (REM) is a camera trapping method to estimate population density (i.e. number of individuals per unit area) without the need for individual recognition. The REM can be applied considering camera trap data only by tracking the passages of animals in front of the camera (i.e. sequences). However, it has not been assessed how the number of sequences tracked (i.e. trajectory of the animal reconstructed) influences the REM estimates. In this context, we aimed to gain further insights into the relationship between the number of sequences tracked and reliability in REM estimates to optimize its applicability. We monitored multiple species using camera traps, and we applied REM to estimate population density. We considered red fox Vulpes vulpes, roe deer Capreolus capreolus, fallow deer Dama dama, red deer Cervus elaphus and wild boar Sus scrofa as model species. We tracked from a minimum of 154 (red fox) to a maximum of 527 (red deer) sequences per species, and we then sampled the dataset to simulate different scenarios in which a lower number of sequences were tracked (20, 40, 80 and 160). We also assessed the effect of adjusting the survey period to the minimum necessary to record the desired number of sequences. Our results suggest that tracking around 100 sequences returns a precision level equivalent to the one obtained by tracking a considerably higher number of sequences and reduced and optimized the human effort necessary to apply REM. Tracking less than 40 sequences could result in low precise density estimates. Our results also highlighted the relevance of considering study periods of ca. 2 months to increase the number of sequences recorded and tracking a random sample of them. Our results contribute to the optimization and harmonization of REM as a reference method to estimate wildlife population density without the need for individual identification. We make clear recommendations on the cost‐effective sample size for estimating REM parameters, optimizing the human effort when applying REM, and discouraging REM applications based on low sample sizes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, there has appeared a tendency to use non-traditional animal raw materials to expand the range of sausages. The purpose of the research is to determine the organoleptic and physico-chemical properties, as well as quality indicators of new sausages with a mass fraction of deer muscle tissue in the recipe (> 60%). An organoleptic evaluation was carried out, then the study of physicochemical parameters, the mass fraction of protein, fat, salt, sodium nitrite, total phosphorus, and residual activity of acid phosphatase was performed. Next there were studied such microbiological indicators as QMAFAnM, BGKP (coliforms), sulfite-reducing clostridia, Staphylococcus aureus, and pathogenic microorganisms: Salmonella, Escherichia coli, Listeria monocytogenes. Safety indicators have been established: the content of toxic elements (mercury, arsenic, cadmium, lead) and quality indicators: the content of nitrosamines, pesticides. The quality control of packaging and labeling was carried out visually in accordance with the requirements of the standard. The temperature is measured inside the product with a glass liquid thermometer. The net weight of consumer packaging was determined gravimetrically by static weighing. It has been proved that all three types of the studied sausages «Zavtrak okhotnika», «Drezdenskiye» and «Oldenburgskiye» corresponded to the normative documentation in terms of organoleptic, physico-chemical properties, quality and safety indicators, nutritional value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates the effectiveness of feature extraction and selection techniques in enhancing the performance of classifier accuracy in Type II Diabetes Mellitus (DM) detection using microarray gene data. To address the inherent high dimensionality of the data, three feature extraction (FE) methods are used, namely Short-Time Fourier Transform (STFT), Ridge Regression (RR), and Pearson's Correlation Coefficient (PCC). To further refine the data, meta-heuristic algorithms like Bald Eagle Search Optimization (BESO) and Red Deer Optimization (RDO) are utilized for feature selection. The performance of seven classification techniques, Non-Linear Regression—NLR, Linear Regression—LR, Gaussian Mixture Models—GMMs, Expectation Maximization—EM, Logistic Regression—LoR, Softmax Discriminant Classifier—SDC, and Support Vector Machine with Radial Basis Function kernel—SVM-RBF, are evaluated with and without feature selection. The analysis reveals that the combination of PCC with SVM-RBF achieved a promising accuracy of 92.85% even without feature selection. Notably, employing BESO with PCC and SVM-RBF maintained this high accuracy. However, the highest overall accuracy of 97.14% was achieved when RDO was used for feature selection alongside PCC and SVM-RBF. These findings highlight the potential of feature extraction and selection techniques, particularly RDO with PCC, in improving the accuracy of DM detection using microarray gene data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases are a significant burden on the global economy, public, and animal health. These events are predominantly zoonotic (60.3%), with the majority (75%) originating from wildlife. In Italy, there are hundreds of research, monitoring, and surveillance activities targeting wildlife-related pathogens. The objective of this review is to highlight the importance of hunters in the context of disease research and surveillance in wild populations. A total of 192 papers, 16 theses, and 94 congress abstracts were selected by applying a specific string and inclusion criteria. The contribution of hunters amounts to nearly 400,000 sampled animals. These results underscore the paradigm of One Health in wildlife health surveillance, emphasizing the crucial role of hunters in sample availability, which forms the foundation of current health surveillance activities. In Italy, there are hundreds of research, monitoring, and surveillance activities targeting emerging and re-emerging pathogens. These activities heavily rely on hunters for sample collection and early identification of morbidity/mortality events. The objective of this review is to describe and quantify the contribution of hunters in the context of disease research, monitoring, and surveillance in wild populations. A literature review and descriptive summary statistics were performed following PRISMA-2020 guidelines; articles were obtained from major scientific databases, abstracts from national and international conferences, proceedings, graduate-level theses from online library repositories, and direct contact with academic experts. The contribution of hunters in terms of sample collection for health-related activities on wildlife amounts to 400,000 sampled animals. Wild boars were involved in 158 surveillance systems/research studies, followed by red deer (71), foxes (63), and roe deer (59). The pathogens under surveillance were mainly zoonotic (Salmonella spp.), emerging (Hepatitis E virus), and/or vector-borne (West Nile virus). The temporal distribution of scientific papers followed a positive trend that reflects the growing interest in wildlife from different sectors. These results highlight how wildlife health-related efforts are a paradigm of the concept of One Health, in which the role of hunters is crucial to ensure sample availability, and it constitutes the base of much current wildlife health research, monitoring, and surveillance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Encounters between animals occur when animals are close in space and time. Encounters are important in many ecological processes including sociality, predation and disease transmission. Despite this, there is little theory regarding the spatial distribution of encounters and no formal framework to relate environmental characteristics to encounters. The probability of encounter could be estimated with resource selection functions (RSFs) by comparing locations where encounters occurred to available locations where they may have occurred, but this estimate is complicated by the hierarchical nature of habitat selection.We developed a method to relate resources to the relative probability of encounter based on a scale‐integrated habitat selection framework. This framework integrates habitat selection at multiple scales to obtain an appropriate estimate of availability for encounters. Using this approach, we related encounter probabilities to landscape resources. The RSFs describe habitat associations at four scales, home ranges within the study area, areas of overlap within home ranges, locations within areas of overlap, and encounters compared to other locations, which can be combined into a single scale‐integrated RSF. We apply this method to intraspecific encounter data from two species: white‐tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) and elk (Cervus elaphus) and interspecific encounter data from a two‐species system of caribou (Rangifer tarandus) and coyote (Canis latrans).Our method produced scale‐integrated RSFs that represented the relative probability of encounter. The predicted spatial distribution of encounters obtained based on this scale‐integrated approach produced distributions that more accurately predicted novel encounters than a naïve approach or any individual scale alone.Our results highlight the importance of accounting for the conditional nature of habitat selection in estimating the habitat associations of animal encounters as opposed to 'naïve' comparisons of encounter locations with general availability. This method has direct relevance for testing hypotheses about the relationship between habitat and social or predator–prey behaviour and generating spatial predictions of encounters. Such spatial predictions may be vital for understanding the distribution of encounters driving disease transmission, predation rates and other population and community‐level processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The structure of cellular prion proteins encoded by the prion protein gene (PRNP) impacts susceptibility to transmissible spongiform encephalopathies, including chronic wasting disease (CWD) in deer. The recent emergence of CWD in Northern European reindeer (Rangifer tarandus), moose (Alces alces alces) and red deer (Cervus elaphus), in parallel with the outbreak in North America, gives reason to investigate PRNP variation in European deer, to implement risk assessments and adjust CWD management for deer populations under threat. We here report PRNP-sequence data from 911 samples of German red, roe (Capreolus capreolus), sika (Cervus nippon) and fallow deer (Dama dama) as well as additional data from 26 Danish red deer close to the German border and four zoo species not native to Germany. No PRNP sequence variation was observed in roe and fallow deer, as previously described for populations across Europe. In contrast, a broad PRNP variation was detected in red deer, with non-synonymous polymorphisms at codons 98, 226 and 247 as well as synonymous mutations at codons 21, 78, 136 and 185. Moreover, a novel 24 bp deletion within the octapeptide repeat was detected. In summary, 14 genotypes were seen in red deer with significant differences in their geographical distribution and frequencies, including geographical clustering of certain genotypes, suggesting "PRNP-linages" in this species. Based on data from North American CWD and the genotyping results of the European CWD cases, we would predict that large proportions of wild cervids in Europe might be susceptible to CWD once introduced to naive populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent decades, ungulates have expanded in number and range in Europe. This review aims to analyze the impact of ungulate browsing in different forest ecosystems and identify the main driving factors and trends. In total, 155 studies were analyzed in preparing this review, across 19 European countries. In Europe, the main browsers are represented by roe deer (Capreolus capreolus L.), red deer (Cervus elaphus L.), moose (Alces alces L.), chamois (Rupicapra rupicapra L.), and fallow deer (Dama dama L.). Regarding browsing severity, they frequently exceeded 50%, meaning that over half of the saplings were browsed. Ungulate density was the main driving factor of browsing severity, with areas exhibiting high browsing pressure often having more than ten individuals per square kilometer. The type of silvicultural system used played a vital role in the severity of browsing, and trends in foraging for preferred tree species were identified. Fencing was the most common non-harmful protection method used, while hunting management was the most efficient method for controlling deer numbers and browsing intensity. Large carnivores were missing in most study areas, but in the areas where they were present, they played a significant role in creating a chain reaction of ecological impacts. Considering the significant impact of ungulate browsing on forest ecosystems, there is a pressing need for more research to comprehend and effectively mitigate the effects of deer presence comprehensively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In contemporary power transmission systems, substation monitoring stands as a vital but challenging task. While robotics offers promise in this regard, its potential is still nascent, struggling to replicate human intelligence. This article's core aim was to optimize robot path planning (RPP). Employing the enhanced red deer algorithm (ERDA), we sought to bolster RPP for more efficient substation inspections. The key methods used seem to be modeling, experimentation, comparative analysis, and some elements of data benchmarking to systematically evaluate and validate their proposed technique and models both in simulation and the real world. Research aims to enhance substation inspection effectiveness and bolster the safety of power usage in society. Proposed hybrid approach, combining proportional–integral–derivative (PID) with ERDA (PID–ERDA), underpins an Intelligent Intelligent RPP framework tailored to substation inspections. Examining the PID–ERDA model's performance, it significantly improved path length by 18%–29% and reduced response times by 14%–26% compared with PID or ERDA alone. PID–ERDA consistently achieved optimal solutions in 40–60 trials out of 85, while PID and ERDA managed 20–40 trials with inconsistent optimization. Additionally, it reduced average response times to 17–20 s from 21 to 27 s observed when using PID and ERDA separately. PID–ERDA also demonstrated superior path accuracy, surpassing methods like improved adaptive control algorithm‐feedforward neural network, enhanced unified algorithm‐susceptible‐infected‐removed, and bounded behavior‐particle swarm optimization by 7%–13%. The study affirms that the PID–ERDA model significantly enhances path planning for substation inspections, representing a milestone in RPP for power station inspections within modern power transmission systems. The primary contribution of this research is the significant improvement it brings to RPP for power station inspections, especially in substation monitoring within modern power transmission systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chronic wasting disease (CWD), a prion disease affecting cervids, has been known in North America (NA) since the 1960s and emerged in Norway in 2016. Surveillance and studies have revealed that there are different forms of CWD in Fennoscandia: contagious CWD in Norwegian reindeer and sporadic CWD in moose and red deer. Experimental studies have demonstrated that NA CWD prions can infect various species, but thus far, there have been no reports of natural transmission to non-cervid species. In vitro and laboratory animal studies of the Norwegian CWD strains suggest that these strains are different from the NA strains. In this work, we describe the intracerebral transmission of reindeer CWD to six scrapie-susceptible sheep. Detection methods included immunohistochemistry (IHC), western blot (WB), enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), real-time quaking-induced conversion (RT-QuIC) and protein misfolding cyclic amplification (PMCA). In the brain, grey matter vacuolation was limited, while all sheep exhibited vacuolation of the white matter. IHC and WB conventional detection techniques failed to detect prions; however, positive seeding activity with the RT-QuIC and PMCA amplification techniques was observed in the central nervous system of all but one sheep. Prions were robustly amplified in the lymph nodes of all animals, mainly by RT-QuIC. Additionally, two lymph nodes were positive by WB, and one was positive by ELISA. These findings suggest that sheep can propagate reindeer CWD prions after intracerebral inoculation, resulting in an unusual disease phenotype and prion distribution with a low amount of detectable prions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Insufficient density of red deer has affected the stability of forest ecosystems and the recovery of large carnivores (represented by Amur tiger). Conservation translocations from captivity to the wild has become an important way to restore the red deer populations. However, the difference in gut microbes between pre-release and wild red deer may affect the feeding adaptability of red deer after release. In this study, we clarified the differences in gut microbes between pre-released and wild red deer and screened the key gut microbes of the red deer involved in feeding by using metagenomic sequencing and feeding analysis. The results showed that the microbial difference between pre-released and wild red deer was mainly related to Firmicutes represented by Eubacteriales and Clostridia, and Firmicutes abundance in pre-released red deer (68.23%) was significantly lower than that of wild red deer (74.91%, p < 0.05). The expression of microbial metabolic pathways in pre-released red deer were significantly lower than those in wild red deer (p < 0.05), including carbohydrate metabolism, amino acid metabolism, glycan biosynthesis and metabolism, etc. The combinations of Firmicutes were significantly positively correlated with the intake of plant fiber and carbohydrate (p < 0.05), and were key microbes to help red deer deal with wild plant resources. Additionally, the combinations of Firmicutes represented by Eubacteriales and Clostridia lacking in pre-released red deer contributed the most to expression of microbial metabolic pathways (importance > 1), showing a significant positive correlation (p < 0.05). This study indicates that high abundance of Firmicutes is an important guarantee for red deer to adapt to the wild feeding environment, which provides critical implications for the recovery of red deer populations and the protection of endangered ungulates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasing consumer interest in game meat has globally expanded wild animal farming, with deer being a prominent non-traditional species farmed in numerous countries. Consequently, methods for assessing the welfare of captive animals have been developed over the last few decades, and despite its limitations, the Five Domains Model has become one of the most popular practical tools for welfare assessment. Our review focuses on welfare indicators in farmed red and fallow deer, the primary deer species in European farms. Among 57 studies, the majority emphasized deer health and nutrition, neglecting aspects like behavior and mental state. Notably, a significant portion explored human-animal interactions, especially in deer transportation. Summarizing literature for each domain, we propose reliable physical, behavioral, and physiological welfare indicators for farmed red and fallow deer. This comprehensive approach addresses current research gaps and contributes to enhancing the overall well-being of farmed deer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND RESULTS CONCLUSION Deer‐derived materials (antler, venison, fetus, penis, bone, tail, and others) are some of the most valuable traditional animal‐based medicinal and food materials in China. In production, processing, and trade, the quality of deer products varies. The market is confusing, and counterfeit and shoddy products are common. There is an urgent need to establish an accurate identification method.Two pairs of primers suitable for identifying deer‐derived medicinal materials were obtained by screening the cytochrome oxidase I (COI) sequences of 18 species from nine genera of the deer family. The two primers were used to identify the species and adulteration of 22 batches of commercially available deer‐derived products with a mini‐barcode combining high‐resolution melting (HRM) technology and methodical investigation. Deer‐derived materials (sika and red deer) were correctly identified by species using varying DNA amounts (1 to 500 ng). The two pairs of primers COI‐1FR and COI‐2FR yielded melting temperatures (Tm) of 80.55 to 81.00 °C and 82.00 to 82.50 °C for sika deer, and 81.00 to 82.00 °C and 81.40 to 82.00 °C for red deer. Twenty‐two batches of commercially available samples were analyzed by HRM analysis and conventional amplification sequencing, and it was found that the species samples had an error rate of species labeling of 31.8%. Four batches of samples were identified as mixed (adulterated) in the HRM analysis.The combination of DNA mini‐barcode with HRM analysis facilitated the accurate identification of species of deer‐derived materials, especially the identification of samples in an adulterated mixed state. © 2024 Society of Chemical Industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Red deer populations, once extirpated in large parts of Europe, have recovered over the last century in many regions. In Switzerland, primarily inhabiting mountain forests, they have recently started to expand into human-dominated lowland landscapes. To study their habitat selection, we analyzed day- and nighttime positions of 15 GPS-collared red deer. Our results show that during daytime, all animals generally preferred forests; open land was mainly used at night. In summer and fall, some lowland individuals deviated from this pattern and used agricultural crops as daytime retreats. Human settlements were often avoided in the lowlands. Day-site selection in the lowlands occurred irrespective of the distance to trails and the probability of being accessed by humans, in contrast to the pattern observed in the mountains. At night, red deer preferred forest edges and open land. In the lowlands, human settlements were avoided. Trails and transport infrastructures had a marginal influence at night. Our study confirmed a high behavioral plasticity of red deer. The use of daytime retreats close to trails and in high-standing crops represent major extensions of their behavior. Our habitat models indicate that there is ample suitable habitat in the lowlands, which is of major relevance for their management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A significant issue in the design of the Brushless Direct Current (BLDC) motors is the cogging torque reduction that leads to negative effects on the BLDC motor's performance such as vibration and noise. However, most methods proposed to reduce cogging torque influence the output torque. Hence, this research aims to reduce cogging torque without having a significant effect on the output torque. For achieving the desired aim which is minimizing the cogging torque concerning the value of output torque, multi-objective optimization is a reliable approach. In this paper, some well-known multi-objective optimization including Multi-Objective Particle Swarm Optimization (MOPSO), Multi-Objective Simulated Annealing (MOSA), and Multi-Objective Red Deer Algorithm (MORDA), are employed to obtain the optimal design of a BLDC motor. In all used optimization algorithms, Simulation results are satisfying and display a significant reduction in the cogging torque, as well as the output torque increases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Roads can have diverse impacts on wildlife species, and while some species may adapt effectively, others may not. Studying multiple species' responses to the same infrastructure in a given area can help understand this variation and reveal the effects of disturbance on the ecology of wildlife communities. This study investigates the behavioural responses of four species with distinctive ecological and behavioural traits to roads in the protected Bohemian Forest Ecosystem in central Europe: European roe deer Capreolus capreolus, a solitary herbivore; red deer Cervus elaphus a gregarious herbivore; wild boar Sus scrofa, a gregarious omnivore and Eurasian lynx Lynx lynx, a solitary large carnivore. We used GPS data gathered from each species to study movement behaviour and habitat selection in relation to roads using an integrated step selection analysis. For all species and sexes, we predicted increased movement rates in response to roads, selection of vegetation cover near roads and open areas after road crossings, and increased road avoidance during the day. We found remarkably similar behavioural responses towards roads across species. The behavioural adaptations to road exposure, such as increased movement rates and selection for vegetation cover, were analogous to responses to natural predation risk. Roads were more strongly avoided during daytime, when traffic volume was high. Road crossings were more frequent at twilight and at night within open areas offering food resources. Gregarious animals exposed to roads favoured stronger road avoidance over faster movements. Ungulates crossed roads more at twilight, coinciding with commuter traffic during winter. Despite differences in the ecology and behaviour of the four species, our results showed similar adaptations towards a common threat. The continuous expansion of the global transportation network should be accompanied by efforts to understand and minimise the impact of roads on wildlife to assist wildlife management and ensure conservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hunting triggers behavioral responses in wildlife that may have important consequences for conservation and wildlife management. We studied movement and habitat selection in 51 global positioning system‐collared red deer (Cervus elaphus) in response to 63 large‐scale (x̄ = 18.8 km2) drive hunts conducted in 2015‐2022 on a military training area in southern Germany. The drive hunts were characterized by a low density of beaters and dogs to avoid rapid and long‐distance displacement of red deer. We determined if red deer spatial responses to drive hunts differed in various forest covers, between sexes, and in relation to the individual position prior to the hunt. On the hunting days, red deer increased their hourly displacement rates and shifted their preference for forest versus open habitats from early morning to late morning hours. Individuals initially located within the boundaries of the hunted areas exhibited longer maximum net displacements, had a greater probability of leaving their home ranges, and spent longer times outside of their home ranges than individuals outside the hunted areas. All these parameters were greater in the more forested site than in the less forested site. Males displayed shorter net displacements than females. Red deer moved away (i.e., fled) from their initial positions for variable periods, either only during the hunt or until the next day. The probability of prolonged flight was greater in the more forested site and more likely if the individuals were deeper in the forest in the less forested site. The prolonged flight behavior was desired from the hunters' perspective because red deer displaying this type of response were less likely to leave the hunted area during the hunt. Prolonged flight was associated with greater costs for the red deer, such as greater movement distances after the hunt and longer times outside of home ranges. Wildlife managers should consider that drive hunts may cause prolonged behavioral responses in game that occur both inside and outside the hunted areas. These responses depend on habitat characteristics and may be stronger in more forested landscapes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]