Accuracy, rationality and specialization in a generalized model of collective navigation.

Animal navigation is a key behavioural process, from localized foraging to global migration. Within groups, individuals may improve their navigational accuracy by following those with more experience or knowledge, by pooling information from many directional estimates ('many wrongs') or some combination of these strategies. Previous agent-based simulations have highlighted that homogeneous leaderless groups can improve their collective navigation accuracy when individuals preferentially copy the movement directions of their neighbours while giving a low weighting to their own navigational knowledge.

Where did my dog go? A pilot study exploring the movement ecology of farm dogs.

Movement ecology is important for advancing our comprehension of animal behavior, but its application is yet to be applied to farm dogs. This pilot study uses combined GPS and accelerometer technology to explore the spatial patterns and activity levels of free roaming farm dogs, ( = 3). Space-use distributions and range sizes were determined to compare locations visited across days and between individuals, as well as in relation to specific areas of interest.

Bunching behavior in housed dairy cows at higher ambient temperatures.

Bunching behavior in cattle may occur for several reasons including enabling social interactions, a response to stress or danger, or due to shared interest in resources such as feeding or watering areas. There is evidence in pasture grazed cattle that bunching may occur more frequently at higher ambient temperatures, possibly due to sharing of fly-load or to seek shade from the direct sun under heat stress conditions. Here we demonstrate how bunching behavior is associated with higher ambient temperatures in a barn-housed UK dairy herd.

Phytoremediation efficacy of native vegetation for nutrients and heavy metals on soils amended with poultry litter and fertilizer.

Poultry litter on agricultural lands could introduce nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), heavy metals in soil and ground water. Native vegetations were identified to assess efficacy for phytoremediation of nutrients and metals from soil and water. Objective was to measure capability of multi-year native species to remove metals, nutrients, and prevent Nitrate-N leaching below the rooting zone.

The Safe Urban Harvests Study: A Community-Driven Cross-Sectional Assessment of Metals in Soil, Irrigation Water, and Produce from Urban Farms and Gardens in Baltimore, Maryland.

Background: Emerging evidence suggests social, health, environmental, and economic benefits of urban agriculture (UA). However, limited work has characterized the risks from metal contaminant exposures faced by urban growers and consumers of urban-grown produce.

Objectives: We aimed to answer community-driven questions about the safety of UA and the consumption of urban-grown produce by measuring concentrations of nine metals in the soil, irrigation water, and urban-grown produce across urban farms and gardens in Baltimore, Maryland.