Pulling the wool over their eyes?:Object permanence, numerical competence and categorisation in alternative livestock species

The adaptive abilities of grazing livestock species are not well understood, despite the potential link between behaviour driven decision making and the overall productive efficiency of the animal through foraging strategy. This study aimed to assess and compare these adaptive behaviours, relating to i) object permanence, ii) numerical competence, and iii) categorisation capabilities of domesticated species that possess distinctly different digestive physiologies and backgrounds. Seven animals from each species, including sheep (Ovis aries) (avg. 5 years of age, 60 kg initial weight), goats (Capra hircus) (avg. 3 years, 45 kg initial weight), and alpacas (Lama pacos (Linnaeus, 1758)) (avg. 3 years, 70 kg initial weight), were presented with a total of nine choice tasks, grouped relative to the three abilities being tested (object permanence, numerical competence, and categorisation). Specifically, the stage of object permanence for each subject was tested based on their ability to solve simple visible displacement, to overcome perseveration error, and double invisible displacement tasks. Subjects were also presented with a two-choice task of different open-centre and filled shapes to assess the capacity for simple discrimination and open-ended categorisation. Lastly, numerical competence was compared across five trials consisting of different ratios and volumes of food reward. A basic awareness of object permanence was found in all subjects. Overall, the goats demonstrated the greatest capacity for object permanence across the three species, particularly when presented with more complex three-cup A-not-B tasks. This increase in complexity had no significant effect on goat performance as a group (p = 0.13), whereas alpaca (p = 0.0005) and sheep performance significantly declined (p = 0.04). We also found no evidence to demonstrate contrasting cognitive capabilities between these species in relation to spontaneous numerical cognition (p &gt; 0.05), or in the use of perceptual cues in open-ended categorisation (p = 0.246). This study is the first instance of multiple direct comparisons of cognitive capability across domesticated livestock species. Furthermore, this work is the first account of object permanence, numerical competence and categorisation in alpacas, as well as object permanence in sheep and numerical competence in sheep and goats. This information could prove useful to predict the outcome of interaction between these species in a grazing context and for inferences relating to behaviour driven decision making, such as foraging strategy, and the overall productive efficiency of the animal. Here, we conclude that the three species tested possess comparable capacity for physical cognition in the tasks discussed.</p

Metabolic Profiling of Heathland Plants in the Diet of Sheep

Little is known about how plant biochemistry influences the grazing behaviour of animals grazing heterogeneous vegetation communities. Furthermore, most biochemical profiles of grassland species are restricted to major nutritional characteristics. Recent developments in analytical techniques have made possible the detailed analysis of minor components, which can potentially affect animal feeding preferences, performance and health. Gas chromatography/time of flight mass spectroscopy (GC/TOF-MS) coupled with automated library annotation is ideally suited to the acquisition of detailed metabolite profiles of plant extracts (Wagner et al., 2003) and can be applied to other matrices such as blood and faeces. In this study GC/TOF-MS was used to identify metabolites within heathland plants, and to investigate which of these metabolites were present and absent within plasma and faeces from sheep consuming mixtures of these plants

Artenvielfalt auf biologischen und nicht-biologischen Landwirtschaftsbetrieben in zehn europäischen Regionen

One of the aims of organic farming is the protection of biodiversity. In the EU FP7 project BioBio, we studied the effect of organic farming on species numbers at farm level on 169 randomly selected organic and non-organic farms with mostly low to medium intensity in ten European regions. Using a preferential sampling scheme based on habitat mapping, numbers of plants, earthworms, spiders and bees were assessed at farm level. A global analysis across the ten regions shows that organic farms have significantly higher numbers of plant and bee species than non-organic farms. The effect of organic farming on earthworm and spider species numbers are also positive but insignificant. The effects in absolute terms are small and much smaller than the variation between individual farms. Currently ongoing analyses aim at identifying the important driving factors for farmland biodiversity

Gains to species diversity in organically farmed fields are not propagated at the farm level

Organic farming is promoted to reduce environmental impacts of agriculture, but surprisingly little is known about its effects at the farm level, the primary unit of decision making. Here we report the effects of organic farming on species diversity at the field, farm and regional levels by sampling plants, earthworms, spiders and bees in 1470 fields of 205 randomly selected organic and nonorganic farms in twelve European and African regions. Species richness is, on average, 10.5% higher in organic than nonorganic production fields, with highest gains in intensive arable fields (around +45%). Gains to species richness are partly caused by higher organism abundance and are common in plants and bees but intermittent in earthworms and spiders. Average gains are marginal +4.6% at the farm and +3.1% at the regional level, even in intensive arable regions. Additional, targeted measures are therefore needed to fulfil the commitment of organic farming to benefit farmland biodiversity

Farmland biodiversity and agricultural management on 237 farms in 13 European and two African regions

Farmland is a major land cover type in Europe and Africa and provides habitat for numerous species. The severe decline in farmland biodiversity of the last decades has been attributed to changes in farming practices, and organic and low-input farming are assumed to mitigate detrimental effects of agricultural intensification on biodiversity. Since the farm enterprise is the primary unit of agricultural decision making, management-related effects at the field scale need to be assessed at the farm level. Therefore, in this study, data were collected on habitat characteristics, vascular plant, earthworm, spider, and bee communities and on the corresponding agricultural management in 237 farms in 13 European and two African regions. In 15 environmental and agricultural homogeneous regions, 6–20 farms with the same farm type (e.g., arable crops, grassland, or specific permanent crops) were selected. If available, an equal number of organic and non-organic farms were randomly selected. Alternatively, farms were sampled along a gradient of management intensity. For all selected farms, the entire farmed area was mapped, which resulted in total in the mapping of 11 338 units attributed to 194 standardized habitat types, provided together with additional descriptors. On each farm, one site per available habitat type was randomly selected for species diversity investigations. Species were sampled on 2115 sites and identified to the species level by expert taxonomists. Species lists and abundance estimates are provided for each site and sampling date (one date for plants and earthworms, three dates for spiders and bees). In addition, farmers provided information about their management practices in face-to-face interviews following a standardized questionnaire. Farm management indicators for each farm are available (e.g., nitrogen input, pesticide applications, or energy input). Analyses revealed a positive effect of unproductive areas and a negative effect of intensive management on biodiversity. Communities of the four taxonomic groups strongly differed in their response to habitat characteristics, agricultural management, and regional circumstances. The data has potential for further insights into interactions of farmland biodiversity and agricultural management at site, farm, and regional scale