Dataset Information

Understanding the spatiotemporal pattern of grazing cattle movement.

ABSTRACT: Understanding the drivers of animal movement is significant for ecology and biology. Yet researchers have so far been unable to fully understand these drivers, largely due to low data resolution. In this study, we analyse a high-frequency movement dataset for a group of grazing cattle and investigate their spatiotemporal patterns using a simple two-state 'stop-and-move' mobility model. We find that the dispersal kernel in the moving state is best described by a mixture exponential distribution, indicating the hierarchical nature of the movement. On the other hand, the waiting time appears to be scale-invariant below a certain cut-off and is best described by a truncated power-law distribution, suggesting that the non-moving state is governed by time-varying dynamics. We explore possible explanations for the observed phenomena, covering factors that can play a role in the generation of mobility patterns, such as the context of grazing environment, the intrinsic decision-making mechanism or the energy status of different activities. In particular, we propose a new hypothesis that the underlying movement pattern can be attributed to the most probable observable energy status under the maximum entropy configuration. These results are not only valuable for modelling cattle movement but also provide new insights for understanding the underlying biological basis of grazing behaviour.

SUBMITTER: Zhao K

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4995401 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Understanding the spatiotemporal pattern of grazing cattle movement.

Zhao Kun K Jurdak Raja R

Scientific reports 20160824

Understanding the drivers of animal movement is significant for ecology and biology. Yet researchers have so far been unable to fully understand these drivers, largely due to low data resolution. In this study, we analyse a high-frequency movement dataset for a group of grazing cattle and investigate their spatiotemporal patterns using a simple two-state 'stop-and-move' mobility model. We find that the dispersal kernel in the moving state is best described by a mixture exponential distribution, ...[more]

PMID: 27555220

Similar Datasets

Project description:Land-use and land-cover change associated with agriculture is one of the main drivers of biodiversity loss. In heavily modified agricultural landscapes, grazing lands may be the only areas that can provide essential resources for native grassland species. Management decisions, such as choice of livestock species, affect the extent to which grazing lands provide suitable habitat for native species such as pollinators.Our study compared how sheep versus cattle herbivory affected floral resources and butterfly abundance across low-diversity, former Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) pastures managed with patch-burn grazing.Across all years (2017-2019), flowering species richness and abundance were significantly higher in cattle pastures than sheep pastures. On average, we recorded 6.9 flowering species/transect in cattle pastures and 3.8 flowering species/transect in sheep pastures. The average floral abundance per transect was 1278 stems/transect in cattle pastures and 116 stems/transect in pastures grazed by sheep.Similarly, we observed higher butterfly species richness, diversity, and abundance in cattle than in sheep pastures. In cattle pastures, we observed an average of 75 butterflies and 6.75 species per transect, compared with an average of 52 butterflies and 3.37 species per transect in sheep pastures. However, the butterfly community composition did not significantly differ between grazing treatments likely because agricultural-tolerant, habitat generalists comprised the majority of the butterfly community. Five generalist butterflies comprised 92.3% of observations; Colias philodice was the most abundant (61% of observations). Speyeria idalia and Danaus plexippus, two butterflies of conservation concern, comprised less than 0.5% of butterfly observations.Our results, which are among the first attempt quantifying butterfly use of post-CRP fields grazed by livestock, show that increased precipitation and cattle grazing promoted higher forb abundance and richness. However, additional interventions may be needed to enhance floral resources to sustain and improve pollinator diversity in these landscapes.

Project description:BACKGROUND:House fly larvae (Musca domestica L.) require a live microbial community to successfully develop. Cattle manure is rich in organic matter and microorganisms, comprising a suitable substrate for larvae who feed on both the decomposing manure and the prokaryotic and eukaryotic microbes therein. Microbial communities change as manure ages, and when fly larvae are present changes attributable to larval grazing also occur. Here, we used high throughput sequencing of 16S and 18S rRNA genes to characterize microbial communities in dairy cattle manure and evaluated the changes in those communities over time by comparing the communities in fresh manure to aged manure with or without house fly larvae. RESULTS:Bacteria, archaea and protist community compositions significantly differed across manure types (e.g. fresh, aged, larval-grazed). Irrespective of manure type, microbial communities were dominated by the following phyla: Euryarchaeota (Archaea); Proteobacteria, Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes (Bacteria); Ciliophora, Metamonanda, Ochrophyta, Apicomplexa, Discoba, Lobosa and Cercozoa (Protists). Larval grazing significantly reduced the abundances of Bacteroidetes, Ciliophora, Cercozoa and increased the abundances of Apicomplexa and Discoba. Manure aging alone significantly altered the abundance bacteria (Acinetobacter, Clostridium, Petrimonas, Succinovibro), protists (Buxtonella, Enteromonas) and archaea (Methanosphaera and Methanomassiliicoccus). Larval grazing also altered the abundance of several bacterial genera (Pseudomonas, Bacteroides, Flavobacterium, Taibaiella, Sphingopyxis, Sphingobacterium), protists (Oxytricha, Cercomonas, Colpodella, Parabodo) and archaea (Methanobrevibacter and Methanocorpusculum). Overall, larval grazing significantly reduced bacterial and archaeal diversities but increased protist diversity. Moreover, total carbon (TC) and nitrogen (TN) decreased in larval grazed manure, and both TC and TN were highly correlated with several of bacterial, archaeal and protist communities. CONCLUSIONS:House fly larval grazing altered the abundance and diversity of bacterial, archaeal and protist communities differently than manure aging alone. Fly larvae likely alter community composition by directly feeding on and eliminating microbes and by competing with predatory microbes for available nutrients and microbial prey. Our results lend insight into the role house fly larvae play in shaping manure microbial communities and help identify microbes that house fly larvae utilize as food sources in manure. Information extrapolated from this study can be used to develop manure management strategies to interfere with house fly development and reduce house fly populations.

Dataset Information

Understanding the spatiotemporal pattern of grazing cattle movement.

Publications

Understanding the spatiotemporal pattern of grazing cattle movement.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets