For macaque management, it is recommended that residents use countermeasures, such as psychological attacks using fireworks and other to drive macaques away from farmland. However, these require ...settlement-wide cooperation and continuous implementation. I surveyed residents within settlements and aimed to clarify the conditions under which countermeasures were successful. I hypothesized that the effectiveness of countermeasures can be explained by the situation within the macaque-damaged settlements. A questionnaire survey such as the situation of the settlement, crop damage, and the state of macaque management was conducted in 2017 in each settlement of six municipalities in Niigata Prefecture. A gradient boosting model was used to predict the effects of psychological attacks and electric fences on multiple conditions. Of the 219 survey results, 193 settlements were affected by Japanese macaques. Several variables including the number of cooperative entities within the municipality, the number of settlement maintenance activities, and the degree of damage contributed to the effect of psychological attacks. Only the number of cooperative entities within the municipality contributed to the effect of the electric fence. The feasibility of implementing each of these countermeasures for macaque control could be predicted by assessing the situation in each settlement.
We investigated deoxynivalenol (DON) contamination status of corn silage (CS) and factors that affect DON contamination. DON was detected at a high rate in CS produced in Hokkaido. The ...contamination cases with the highest concentrations rarely exceeded the reference value for Japan. Weather conditions were found to significantly influence the incidence of contamination. We identified additional factors that affect DON contamination. Preharvest - 1) Incidence of Gibberella ear rot in maize is correlated with high concentrations of DON contamination, 2) Physical damage to maize increased the risk of DON contamination. Post-harvest - aerobic condition increase risk of DON contamination. In order to reduce DON contamination, the following measures can be considered : 1) elimination of cultivars susceptible to Gibberella ear rot; 2) instlation of electric fences to prevent damage by wild animals; 3) maintenance of anaerobic conditions during storage and preparation good quality silage.
We tested the effectiveness of electric fences to reduce moose (Alces alces)–vehicle collisions in 2 fenced sectors (5 km and 10 km) using weekly track surveys and Global Positioning System ...telemetry. Number of moose tracks along highways decreased by approximately 80% following fence installation. Only 30% (16/53) of moose tracks observed on the road side of the fence were left by moose that crossed an operational fence; moose mostly entered the fenced corridor through openings (e.g., secondary roads) or at fence extremities. Electric fences also prevented 78% (7/9) of collared moose from crossing the highway in fenced sectors. Fences were less effective during occasional power failures. We suggest that circuit breakers should be used to prevent power failures and that there should be no opening along the fence line unless anti-ungulate structures are used.
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► We released captive bred hamsters in various conditions to improve restocking success. ► Survival and reproduction were better inside electric fences than in control areas. ► Sudden lack of ...vegetative cover due to harvest strongly decreased hamsters’ survival. ► Survival seemed better in females and decreased with frequency of burrow change. ► Fences with well-developed cover are more suitable for releasing than unfenced and harvested plots.
Animal restocking is a widely used conservation tool to restore relict populations of endangered species. However, success of such operations is often low due to poor short-term survival and experimental evidence is required to improve restocking results. We tested the impact of different release conditions on survival and reproduction of captive bred common hamsters (Cricetus cricetus L. 1758), a highly endangered species in Western Europe. As predation plays a determinant role for released hamsters, especially during the first days after restocking, we performed two release experiments intending to reduce mortality: we tested (1) the efficiency of terrestrial predator proof electric fences and (2) the impact of improved shelter availability. We assessed both survival rate and reproductive success by radiotracking 70hamsters between release date and the end of their aboveground active period. Reducing contact between released animals and predators thanks to electric fences had a strong positive impact on hamsters’ survival and allowed them to have enough time to reproduce. It also appeared that release of hamsters was more efficient in wheat crop than in alfalfa. As expected, wheat harvest, inducing a sudden lack of shelter, negatively impacted restocking success. Finally, lifetime after release affected the number of litters per female and varied with individual characteristics: it decreased with burrow change frequency and was slightly lower for males. We conclude that electric fences associated with permanent well-developed vegetative cover like unharvested wheat seem to be suitable for releasing hamsters.
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World population is growing, and with it, the demand for food. In order to feed the world and attempt to slow the biodiversity crisis on the planet, farming practices must be altered to preserve ...species richness and ecological health. The fertile soil found in grassland biomes throughout the world provides a base for rich microorganism biodiversity, carbon sequestration, as well as water and nutrient cycling. Diverse biological communities are found in both natural and semi-natural grasslands; habitat destruction as a result of agricultural practices is a threat to biodiversity in these regions. While critics often blame modernized farming practices for agricultural pollution and habitat fragmentation, 21st century technology will likely be a means for updating farming practices to address both biodiversity conservation and enhanced efficiency for increased food demand. Recently developed portable electric fences, made of plastic netting and stainless steel, have made eco-agricultural practices, such as rotational grazing (RG) and multi-species pasture systems, easier and less expensive for farmers to put into practice than traditional electric fencing. Conflicting literature exists regarding whether or not RG systems outperform continuous grazing systems. Many studies suggest that more research is needed to observe the ecological benefits of RG on active farmland. Portable electric fences could be a valuable tool for completing additional research.
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A patient with selective bilateral damage to the amygdala did not acquire conditioned autonomic responses to visual or auditory stimuli but did acquire the declarative facts about which visual or ...auditory stimuli were paired with the unconditioned stimulus. By contrast, a patient with selective bilateral damage to the hippocampus failed to acquire the facts but did acquire the conditioning. Finally, a patient with bilateral damage to both amygdala and hippocampal formation acquired neither the conditioning nor the facts. These findings demonstrate a double dissociation of conditioning and declarative knowledge relative to the human amygdala and hippocampus.
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To mitigate the conflict derived from Iberian lynx (Lynx pardinus) predation on livestock, a prevention and compensation program has been implemented to compensate farmers for poultry and lambs ...killed by Iberian lynx. Although the majority of the attacks were carried out on poultry, the predation of lambs in extensive flocks leads to greater economic losses. The effectiveness of portable electric fences in preventing predation by Iberian lynx on lambs in such flocks was evaluated. Electric fences were installed around two flocks of sheep suffering from attacks by Iberian lynx. Before the experiment, both flocks grazed without any surveillance during the day. At night, sheep with a single lamb were left to roam freely or spent the night in a poorly constructed enclosure. Sheep with two lambs remained with their lambs without any type of protection. After the electrified enclosures were put in place, sheep with lambs were moved inside at night. No attacks were detected inside the electric fences. During the daytime, four attacks on lambs grazing without surveillance were recorded. Despite the initial success of this experiment, more study is still needed to test the long-term effectiveness of this preventive tool as a means of minimizing the conflict between Iberian lynx and humans at a broader scale.
One of the major challenges faced by farmers is that their farms are eaten by animals, which causes huge losses for them in terms of money, time, and effort. Constant agricultural maintenance becomes ...quite difficult. To solve this issue, a smart electric fence is created that energizes when an animal approaches it, and de-energizes when it moves away. The proposed system produces a very tiny shock pulses that paralyze the animal instead of injuring it. Additionally, an autonomous irrigation system is installed that activates the pump whenever the soil becomes dry and shuts it down when the soil becomes wet. Solar energy, a free energy source, powers the entire system. The demo module has two sets of IR sensors which are placed in separate locations all across the module. IR sensors are used to detect an approaching animal at the boundary. These miniature pole-mounted sensors also include conducting wires that produce shocking pulses. A high-frequency switching transformer with a ferrite core can produce shocking pulses when an IC 555 is configured in an astable mode of operation. The main processing unit is built on an Arduino nano-board. Information about the soil state, such as whether it is dry or wet, the motor state, such as whether it is on or off can be displayed on an LCD and transmitted to the app through the Wi-Fi module. An ESP8266-based communication link with a smartphone is employed. Simple soil sensors are used, and the water pumping motor connected to a tiny plastic water container will be mechanically controlled based on the data collected by these sensors. The motor will start running if the earth is completely dried out. Likewise, if the ground is damp, the motor will be off. When the fence is activated, the buzzer is activated automatically to notify inmates of their whereabouts. Once the fence is energized, it remains energized until the reset button is activated.
This paper presents a semianalytical technique that predicts the propagation characteristics of high-voltage (HV) transient pulses along a single-wire electric fence line with an earth return. The ...technique models the fence line in the frequency domain to facilitate an analytical solution for the propagation of HV pulses along the line. The frequency-domain solution is then transformed into time domain through a numerical Laplace inversion algorithm to determine the propagation characteristics of the line at a given location and time. For various line conditions, the propagation characteristics of HV pulses are investigated, and results indicate that the parameters of fence lines are frequency dependent, and an accurate insight into the propagation characteristics of HV pulses along single-wire fence lines can only be achieved through a frequency-dependent fence model. As confirmed by simulations of power systems computer-aided design, the proposed technique based on a frequency-dependent fence model is accurate, and can be considered an invaluable tool for designing complicated electric fence networks.
Snowshoe hare populations in the boreal forests of North America go through 10-year cycles. Supplemental food and mammalian predator abundance were manipulated in a factorial design on ...1-square-kilometer areas for 8 years in the Yukon. Two blocks of forest were fertilized to test for nutrient effects. Predator exclosure doubled and food addition tripled hare density during the cyclic peak and decline. Predator exclosure combined with food addition increased density 11-fold. Added nutrients increased plant growth but not hare density. Food and predation together had a more than additive effect, which suggests that a three-trophic-level interaction generates hare cycles.
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