Titel Deelnemers "Basic biology and geographical distribution of tick species involved in the transmission of animal pathogens, including zoonoses" "R. Farkas, A. Estrada-Pe¤a, T.G.T. Jaenson, I. Pascucci, Maxime Madder" "They have seen the light: 3D light distribution and effects of light intensity on animal welfare in swine husbandry" "Daniel Berckmans" "EU rules for the welfare of pigs define 40 lx for a minimum period of eight hours per day as the minimum standards of light intensity in swine buildings. The aim of this study was to verify if the 40 lx light intensity level requested by EU rules was achieved in naturally vs. artificially illuminated areas of a pig house and to investigate light intensity distribution within the building and the pens. For this purpose, light intensity was continuously monitored in two compartments of a piggery at the height of 1.50 m along the central corridor, according to standard inspections adopted in pig farms. As a second step, light intensity was measured in a three dimensional grid at 5 heights (0 to 1.5 m) in six different positions in the pens to investigate light distribution at the heights of animals and humans. The light intensity level required by EU rules was reached 93±5.65% (9:00 am to 5:00 pm) in the artificially illuminated areas. In pens illuminated only by natural light and without dunging areas, the 40 lx level was never reached, while in pens with dunging areas the 40 lx were reached 83±1.83% (9:00 am to 5:00 pm). Analysis of the 3D distribution of light intensity revealed that the light level remained very low (15 lx) inside the pen. © Wageningen Academic Publishers 2013." "Distribution of mercury in sediments, plant and animal tissues in Matang Mangrove Forest Reserve, Malaysia" "Giovanna Wolswijk, Behara Satyanarayana, Le Quang Dung, Yin Fui Siau, Ahmad Nazila Bin Ali, Ibrahim Sunkanmi Saliu, Muhammad Amir Bin Fisol, Cristina Gonnelli, Farid Dahdouh Guebas" "Charcoal production activities at the Matang Mangrove Forest Reserve (MMFR) in Peninsular Malaysia have a potential to emit volatile compounds such as Hg back into the ambient environment, raising concerns on the public health and safety. The present study was aimed at analyzing Hg concentration from different plant/animal tissues and sediment samples (in total 786 samples) to understand clearly the Hg distribution at the MMFR. Leaves of Rhizophora spp. showed higher Hg concentration with an increasing trend from young, to mature, to senescent and decomposing stages, which was possibly due to accumulation of Hg over time. The low Hg concentration in Rhizophora roots and bark suggests a limited absorption from the sediments and a meagre accumulation/partitioning by the plant tissue, respectively. In the case of mangrove cockles the concentration of Hg was lower than the permissible limits for seafood consumption. Although the mangrove gastropod - Cassidula aurisfelis Bruguière had rather elevated Hg in the muscle tissue, it is still less than the environmental safely limit. Beside the chances of atmospheric deposition for Hg, the sediment samples were found to be unpolluted in nature, indicating that in general the MMFR is still safe in terms of Hg pollution." "Animal Board Invited Review: Sheep birth distribution in past herds: a review for prehistoric Europe (6th to 3rd millennia BC)" "Delphine Frémondeau" "In temperate latitudes sheep have a seasonal reproductive behaviour, which imposes strong constraints on husbandry in terms of work organization and availability of animal products. During the last 50 years, researchers have focused on understanding the mechanisms driving small ruminants’ reproduction cycles and finding ways to control them. This characteristic is inherited from their wild ancestor. However, the history of its evolution over the 10 millennia that separates present day European sheep from their Near Eastern ancestors’ remains to be written. This perspective echoes archaeologists’ current attempts at reconstructing ancient pastoral societies’ socio-economical organization. Information related to birth seasonality may be retrieved directly from archaeological sheep teeth. The methodology consists of reconstructing the seasonal cycle record in sheep molars, through sequential analysis of the stable oxygen isotope composition (δ18O) of enamel. Because the timing of tooth development is fixed within a species, inter-individual variability in this parameter reflects birth seasonality. A review of the data obtained from 10 European archaeological sites dated from the 6th to the 3rd millennia BC is provided. The results demonstrate a restricted breeding season for sheep: births occurred over a period of 3 to 4 months, from late winter to early summer at latitudes 43°N to 48°N, while a later onset was observed at a higher latitude (59°N). All conclusions concurred with currently held expectations based on present day sheep physiology, which, aside from the historical significance, contributes to the reinforcing of the methodological basis of the approach. Further study in this area will permit regional variability attributable to technical choices, within global schemes, to be fully reported." "Perinatal distribution of appetite regulating hormones in the porcine IUGR animal model" "Sofie Willemen" "Experimental and Model-based Study of Airflows and Ammonia Distributions in and around Animal Houses" "Experimental and model-based study of airflows and ammonia distributions in and around animal houses" "Merlijn De Paepe" "Protein fractions and lactico-dehydrogenase isozyme distribution in normal and pathological nervous tissue (man and animal)" "M van Sande, D Karcher, A Löwenthal" "Models for studying the distribution of ticks and tick-borne diseases in animals : a systematic review and a meta-analysis with a focus on Africa" "Olivier M. Zannou, Achille S. Ouedraogo, Abel S. Biguezoton, Emmanuel Abatih, Marco Coral-Almeida, Souaïbou Farougou, Kouassi Patrick Yao, Laetitia Lempereur, Claude Saegerman" "Estimating the Contamination Factor’s Distribution in Unsupervised Anomaly Detection" "Lorenzo Perini"