Veterinary aid clinic assessments of working ponies in West Nusa Tenggara province, Indonesia: A retrospective study

Working ponies in the West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) province of Indonesia are relied upon as the principal mode of transport. They have important cultural, logistical and One Health significance for the local community. Given the tropical climate, these ponies face well recognised health and welfare challenges . Parameters relating to the general health and welfare of the ponies were assessed following data analysis of clinical records from three veterinary clinics held in 2018 and 2019. Records relating to 454 clinical examinations of ponies (n=365 stallions) aged between 1 to 25 years (mean 7.59 ± 4.70) were analysed. The mean body condition score (1 to 5 scoring system) across all clinics was 2.89 (±0.49; range 1.5, 4.5), with no significant difference between clinics (P= 0.297). The majority of ponies (84.57%; 95% CI 80.50, 87.92; 307/363) assessed presented with tachypnoea, 37.24% presented with tachycardia (95% CI 32.78, 41.92; 159/427), 14.80% (95% CI 11.10, 19.46; 41/277) recorded rectal temperatures considered hyperthermic (>38.5°C), and 38.0% did not show obvious evidence of sweating (95% CI 32.21, 44.16; 95/250). Ponies examined at the April/May 2019 clinic were more likely to be considered hyperthermic (P=0.009) and/or presented with tachycardia (P<0.001), whereas ponies examined in the November 2019 clinic were more likely to present with tachypnoea (P=0.001). In general, the objective measures of body condition and health indices of these ponies were considered adequate. Some abnormalities relating to prolonged recovery following exercise whilst working were considered likely related to thermoregulatory stress. Parasite burdens were found to be low, no haemoprotozoan parasites were detected and median faecal egg count was zero. Measures to encourage cooling and greater frequent rest periods continued surveillance and monitoring the health of these ponies will result in both enhanced welfare and advances in One Health initiatives

Dry Me a River: Ecological Effects of Drought in the Upper San Francisco Estuary

Droughts have major effects on estuaries because freshwater entry is one of the defining features of an estuary, and freshwater flow is an important variable that determines the interannual change in the environment. In the upper San Francisco Estuary (the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta, Suisun Bay, and Suisun Marsh), the Mediterranean climate includes frequent multi-year droughts. To assess ecosystem responses to droughts in the upper estuary, the Interagency Ecological Program Drought Synthesis Team assembled a set of flow, water quality, chlorophyll, zooplankton, and fish data from 1975 to 2021 to test for differences between multi-year droughts and multi-year wet periods and tested for linear relationships between each variable and the Sacramento Valley Hydrologic Index (see definitions and relationships as outlined in Appendix A). Our models showed droughts decreased Delta outflow, project exports, zooplankton in Suisun Bay, and some fish species. We also found that droughts increased water clarity, salinity, nutrients, chlorophyll in the South Delta, zooplankton in the South Delta, and water residence time. Although our analyses only tested correlations, we hypothesized that most of the food-web responses could be traced to increased residence time, decreased transport rates, or both. However, some responses may have been caused by secondary effects, including shifts in salinity gradients, regional changes in water quality, or differences in top-down effects of increased predation and grazing rates. With increased frequency of droughts in the future, this increasingly low-outflow, warming, clearing estuary—which is invaded by non-native species and has low pelagic fish production—is rapidly becoming the new “normal.