What do rates of deposition of dental cementum tell us? Functional and evolutionary hypotheses in red deer.

Cementum is a bone connective tissue that provides a flexible attachment for the tooth to the alveolar bone in many mammalian species. It does not undergo continuous remodelling, unlike non-dental bone, which combined with its growth pattern of seasonal layering makes this tissue uniquely suitable as a proxy for tracking changes in body repair investment throughout an animal´s life. We tested functional and sexual selection hypotheses on the rate of cementum deposition related to the highly polygynous mating strategy of red deer. We used a sample of 156 first lower molars from wild Scottish red deer of known age between 1 and 17 years old, approximately balanced by sex and age class. Cementum deposition on the inter-radicular pad increased with age at a constant average rate of 0.26 mm per year, with no significant differences between sexes. Cementum deposition was independent of (i) tooth wear, other than that associated with age, and (ii) enamel and dentine micro-hardness. The results partially supported the hypothesis that the main function of cementum is the repositioning of the tooth to maintain opposing teeth in occlusion. However, teeth that had more wear or males´ teeth that had faster rates of tooth wear than those of females did not present the expected higher rates of cementum deposition

Assessing social perceptions of rewilding approaches in Spain using traditional domestic livestock

Rewilding is habitat restoration that attempts to return ecosystems to their state before human alterations were imposed. Rewilding might involve actions that are not desired by society. As a result, a compromised form of rewilding has been proposed that is generally known as rewilding lite, which involves some human intervention to achieve the goals of a more natural state of ecosystems that were historically disturbed by anthropogenic influences. Rewilding lite is gaining traction in Europe where marginal agriculture areas are being abandoned. We addressed a variant that we called livestock rewilding (LR) based on the use of herbivorous livestock species to restore ecological functions and trophic complexity (functional integrity) in abandoned agricultural landscapes. Our objective was to assess societal attitudes and awareness of LR in Spain based on the answers of 1,036 respondents of a self-selecting questionnaire of 27 closed-ended questions addressed to the general public using snowball sampling, conducted between March and July 2021. Seventy-five percent of the respondents supported LR but only on the condition of imposing minimum hazards to people, crops, and property. Ranchers were the least likely societal group to support LR (58%). Women had the greatest enthusiasm for LR (79% women vs. 71% men). Horses, donkeys, and goats were the most preferred species to be included in LR programs, with pigs as the least popular after cattle and sheep. There was support for the removal of excess individuals of rewilded livestock and for the use of their meat for human consumption, especially among male respondents. Respondents were reticent to accept mortality in LR populations caused by natural stochastic events and discriminated between livestock species for population control methods. Respondents preferred non-lethal methods of population control; involving hunters was a second choice. Some hunters were reluctant to participate in population control of rewilded livestock, especially if they had to pay, and were reticent to shoot equids but keen to shoot goats. There was general support among Spanish respondents for LR, though there were significant differences between societal groups in attitudes towards the type, species, and intensity of management required to minimize hazards to people's health, crops, and the environment. Livestock rewilding is a plausible tool for the restoration of trophic complexity in abandoned agricultural land in Spain that could be used to circumvent the introduction of allochthonous wild species

Sexual dimorphism, activity budget and synchrony in groups of sheep

SCOPUS: ar.jinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Tree-Growth Variations of Nothofagus antarctica Related to Climate and Land Use Changes in Southern Patagonia, Argentina

Isolated forest patches of Nothofagus antarctica (ñire) are frequent in the Patagonian forest-steppe ecotone. These remnants, also called relicts (R), are separate from the continuous forests (C). Over the past century, these ecotonal forests have been impacted by anthropogenic activities, including fires, logging, and cattle ranching. In order to identify in N. antarctica ring-width records the variations in tree growth associated with documented changes in land use, five sites were selected in Santa Cruz, Argentina. In each site, increment cores from R and C were collected. We developed individual chronologies, and the relationships between regional climate variations and N. antarctica growth were established for each forest type and site. The similarities/differences between site-paired chronologies (R-C) were estimated by calculating moving correlation coefficients lagged by 1 year. N. antarctica regional growth was directly related to precipitation during the current growing season (November–December; r = 0.34, n = 62, p < 0.01), and inversely related to temperature (December–March; r = −0.58, n = 62, p < 0.001). Since the middle of the twentieth century, a progressive decrease has been recorded in regional radial growth, consistent with an increase in summer temperature and a decrease in spring precipitation. In the context of this regional response of N. antarctica to climate, differences in growth patterns between R and C were associated with past changes in land use. Overall, the largest differences between R and C chronologies were concurrent with the settlement of cattle ranches and the associated use of forests. Conversely, similarities between R and C records increased after the establishment of protected areas and during the implementation of similar management practices in both forest types. Our research provides the first dendrochronological records from Nothofagus antarctica for the Argentinean Patagonia and represents one of the first efforts to identify in tree-rings past changes in livestock practices in southern South America.EEA Santa CruzFil: Vettese, Evangelina S. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. CIT Santa Cruz; Argentina.Fil: Villalba, Ricardo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto Argentino de Nivología, Glaciología y Ciencias Ambientales; Argentina.Fil: Orellana Ibáñez, Ivonne A. Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia San Juan Bosco. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Ciencias de la Salud; Argentina.Fil: Peri, Pablo Luis. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Santa Cruz; Argentina.Fil: Peri, Pablo Luis. Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia Austral; Argentina.Fil: Peri, Pablo Luis. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina