Life Sciences Commons^™

Fish And Plant Sentience: Anesthetized Plants And Fishes Cannot Respond To Stimuli, Ken Yokawa, František Baluška

Animal Sentience

Recent denial of fish sentience is at variance with the fact that all living organisms need environmental awareness in order to survive in a continuously fluctuating environment. Moreover, fish sentience – like plant sentience – is also strongly supported by the sensitivity of fishes and plants to diverse anesthetics.

If It Looks Like A Duck: Fish Fit The Criteria For Pain Perception, Julia E. Meyers-Manor

Animal Sentience

Whereas we have denied the experience of pain to animals, including human babies, the evidence is becoming clearer that animals across a variety of species have the capacity to feel pain (Bellieni, 2012). As converging findings are collected from pain studies and the study of cognition, it is becoming harder to deny that fish are among the species that do feel pain.

Defining Denial And Sentient Seafood, Jennifer Jacquet

Animal Sentience

Sneddon et al. address the scientists who reject the empirical evidence on fish sentience, calling them “sceptics” and their work “denial”. This is the first article to frame the question of fish sentience in these terms, and it provides an obvious opening for social science and humanities research in the science of fish sentience. It is also worth asking what practical changes in the lives of fish might arise from the mounting evidence of their sentience. I suggest that the relationship between sentience and our sense of moral obligation is not as clear as we often assume.

Sentience: All Or None Or Matter Of Degree?, Loren Martin, Robert Gerlai

Animal Sentience

The question of whether fish feel pain is muddied by anthropomorphic thinking. Comparing biological phenomena in two species should be informed by the criteria for good animal models: face validity, construct validity and predictive validity. Viewed through this lens, we argue that fish do feel pain and may possess some level of sentience. Evolutionary relatedness, hence similarities and differences between species (fish and humans in this case), are not about black vs. white but about shades of grey.

Denialism And Muddying The Water Or Organized Skepticism And Clarity? That Is The Question, Ben Diggles, Howard I. Browman

Animal Sentience

The research being commented on here has been criticized and defended in journals. Sneddon et al. (2018) add nothing substantive. We have nothing further to add. Readers are referred to Diggles (2018) and to Browman et al. (2018) for a detailed assessment.

Degrees Of Sentience?, Jonathan Birch

Animal Sentience

I focus on the possibility of sentience in zebrafish larvae. The evidence here prompts two intuitive reactions that are difficult to reconcile: the reaction that larvae, if sentient, should be protected in some way, and the reaction that larvae, if capable of nociception, should be used as replacements for adults. Both reactions are reasonable, but they can be reconciled only by constructing a framework for assigning degrees of protection in proportion to degrees of sentience.

The Human Nervous System Is Not The Gold Standard For Pain, Riccardo Manzotti

Animal Sentience

The basis of pain could be the causal nexus between one’s phylogenetic/ontogenetic history and one’s behavior. It might turn out that the neural implementation is immaterial to the instantiation of pain. Widely different neural structures may token the same pain-type, and nearly identical neural structures may token different types.

Time To (Finally) Acknowledge That Fish Have Emotionality And Pain, Konstantin A. Demin, Anton M. Lakstygal, Allan V. Kalueff

Animal Sentience

The increasing work using fish as a model organism calls for a better understanding of their sentience. While growing evidence suggests that pain and emotionality exist in zebrafish, many deniers continue to ignore the evidence. Here we revisit the main conceptual breakthroughs in the field that argue clearly for pain and emotionality. We call for an end to denial and a focus on studying the mechanisms of fish pain and emotionality, and their translational relevance to human conditions.

Defining Pain And Painful Sentience In Animals, Edgar T. Walters

Animal Sentience

Sentience is essential to most definitions of pain, including a detailed definition invoked by Sneddon et al. to argue that adult and perhaps larval fish feel pain. Because proving painful sentience in non-human animals is not feasible, multiple lines of indirect evidence are needed to implicate pain. This commentary examines the list of 17 criteria used by Sneddon et al. to conclude that fish have conscious pain. The criteria include tests of nociceptive, motivational, and cognitive properties useful for revealing pain-like states that can be understood biologically and be related evolutionarily to human pain. However, additional research is needed to …

Nocifensive Behavior As Evidence For Sentient Pain In Fish, Marissol Leite Da Silva, Caio Maximino, Diógenes Henrique Siqueira-Silva

Animal Sentience

Fish nocifensive behavior can be studied and understood similarly to the way pain is studied and understood in more advanced vertebrates. Nocifensive behavior is a behavioral and physiological response to a noxious stimulus that leads to the fish avoiding it in the future. This behavioral flexibility is an important criterion for inferring pain sentience in fish. Modulation of the nocifensive behavior by anxiety, fear, or stress has already been demonstrated in zebrafish. The affective experiences of fish will not be identical to those of human beings, clearly. Empirical research will need to ascertain how similar they are.

Fish Are Smart And Feel Pain: What About Joy?, Becca Franks, Jeff Sebo, Alexandra Horowitz

Animal Sentience

Sneddon et al. rightly point out that the evidence of fish pain is now so strong and comprehensive that arguments against it have become increasingly difficult to defend in balanced academic discourse. But sentience involves more than just pain. Recent research indicates that fish have an impressive range of cognitive capacities, including the capacity for pleasure, in the form of play and other behaviors likely to involve positively valenced experience. Having made the case for pain, research can now focus on other aspects of fish sentience. Doing so will not only provide a more complete picture of the mental lives …

Ample Evidence For Fish Sentience And Pain, Lynne U. Sneddon, David C.C. Wolfenden, Matthew C. Leach, Ana M. Valentim, Peter J. Steenbergen, Nabila Bardine, Donald M. Broom, Culum Brown

Animal Sentience

The majority of commentaries are supportive of our position on the scepticism that muddies the waters surrounding fish pain and sentience. There is substantial empirical evidence for pain in fish. Animals’ experience of pain cannot be compared to artificial intelligence (AI) because AI can only mimic responses to nociceptive input on the basis of human observations and programming. Accepting that fish are sentient would not be detrimental to the industries reliant on fish. A more proactive discussion between scientists and stakeholders is needed to improve fish welfare for the benefit of all.

ผลของเสียงรบกวนต่อการปรากฏของนกในสวนสาธารณะ กรุงเทพมหานคร, ปาณิศา เอี่ยมวิจารณ์

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

ระบบนิเวศเมืองได้รับผลกระทบของการขยายตัวของเศรษฐกิจจึงส่งผลให้เกิดมลภาวะต่าง ๆ เพิ่มมากขึ้น เช่น มลภาวะทางเสียงซึ่งส่งผลต่อนกที่อาศัยอยู่ในเมืองที่ต้องใช้เสียงเพื่อการสื่อสาร งานวิจัยนี้จึงศึกษาผลกระทบของเสียงรบกวนต่อการปรากฏของนกภายในสวนสาธารณะทั้ง 12 แห่งในกรุงเทพมหานคร โดยทำการสำรวจการปรากฏของนก และปัจจัยทางกายภาพและชีวภาพของสวนสาธารณะทั้งหมด 10 ครั้งระหว่างเดือน มีนาคม-กันยายน 2561 โดยพบว่าระดับความดันเสียงของสวนสาธารณะอยู่ในช่วงระหว่าง 45-70 dB(A) ซึ่งเสียงการจราจรเป็นแหล่งกำเนิดเสียงหลัก พบนกทั้งหมด 25 ชนิดซึ่งพบนก 16-22 ชนิดในแต่ละสวน จำนวนชนิดนกลดลงเมื่อระดับความดันเสียงเพิ่มขึ้นแต่การปรากฏของนกเฉลี่ยไม่มีความสัมพันธ์กับระดับความดันเสียง เมื่อพิจารณารายชนิด การปรากฏของนกต่างชนิดมีความสัมพันธ์เชิงลบ หรือบวกกับระดับความดันเสียง ซึ่งแสดงถึงการตอบสนองที่แตกต่างกันระหว่างชนิดนกต่อเสียงรบกวนในสวนสาธารณะ นก 10 ชนิด เช่น นกกางเขนบ้าน Copsychus saularis นกขมิ้นน้อยธรรมดา Aegithinidae tiphia และนกปรอดสวน Pycnonotus blanfordi มีการปรากฏของนกลดลงเมื่อระดับความดันเสียงเพิ่มขึ้น และการปรากฏของนกเอี้ยงสาริกา Acridotheres tristis และนกเอี้ยงหงอน Acridotheres grandis เพิ่มขึ้นเมื่อระดับความดันเสียงเพิ่ม ปัจจัยบางประการของสวนสาธารณะ เช่น ขนาดของสวนสาธารณะ พื้นที่แหล่งน้ำภายในสวนสาธารณะ และความหนาแน่นของไม้ยืนต้น เป็นปัจจัยที่ส่งผลให้การปรากฏของนกเพิ่มขึ้น ดังนั้น ข้อมูลจากงานวิจัยนี้สามารถใช้ในการออกแบบ และจัดการสวนสาธารณะที่เอื้อต่อการปรากฏของนกนั้นจะสามารถช่วยในการอนุรักษ์นกภายในระบบนิเวศเมืองได้

Canine Emotions: Guidelines For Research, Miiamaaria V. Kujala

Animal Sentience

In the target article, I called for a discussion on the nature and extent of dogs’ emotions. The commentators generally agreed on the existence of dog emotions, but the diversity and quality of dog emotions, as well as the influence of human social cognition on perceiving dog emotions, raised more debate. To respond to the stimulating commentaries, I touch briefly on the philosophy of (canine) mind and discuss further the benefits of comparing cognition across species, secondary emotions, and the shaping of canine emotions by evolution, breeding and experience. I conclude with suggestions for future research guidelines on studies of …

Sentience In Fishes: More On The Evidence, Michael L. Woodruff

Animal Sentience

In my target article, I argued that the brains of ray-finned fishes of the teleost subclass (Actinopterygii) are sufficiently complex to support sentience — that these fishes have subjective awareness of interoceptive and exteroceptive sense experience. Extending previous theories centered on the tectum, I focused on the organization of the fish pallium. In this Response to the commentaries, I clarify that I do not propose that the fish pallium is, or must be, homologous to the mammalian neocortex to play a role in sentience. Some form of a functionalist approach to explaining the neural basis of sentience across taxa is …

Fish Consciousness, David Gamez

Animal Sentience

Woodruff makes two arguments to support his claim that ray-finned fish are conscious: (1) Fish neuroanatomy has similarities with the structures in the human brain that support consciousness. (2) The complexity and flexibility of fish behaviour suggest that they are conscious. This commentary will argue that neither the neuroanatomical nor the behavioural argument can provide conclusive evidence for consciousness in fish. We should suspend judgement until we have discovered mathematical theories of consciousness that can reliably map between states of consciousness and states of the physical world.

Lignocellulosic-Based Bioenergy And Water Quality Parameters: A Review, Bharat Sharma Acharya, Humberto Blanco-Canqui

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

High rates of crop residue removal as biofuel feedstocks could increase losses of nonpoint source pollutants, negatively affecting water quality. An alternative to residue removal can be growing dedicated bioenergy crops such as warm season grasses (WSGs) and short-rotation woody crops (SRWCs). Yet, our understanding of the implications of growing dedicated bioenergy crops on water quality is limited. Thus, we (i) synthesized and compared the impacts of crop residue removal, WSGs, and SRWCs on water quality parameters (i.e., sediment and nutrient runoff, and nutrient leaching) and (ii) identified research gaps for growing dedicated energy crops. Literature indicates that residue removal …

Hops On A Quarter-Acre, Stacy A. Adams

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

This publication presents information on how to develop a quarter-acre hop yard, suitably sized to explore the unique production methods associated with this specialty crop. Emerging growers with an interest in growing hop should gain knowledge about its unique plant growth and development, culture, common pests and diseases, and harvest handling. Using information in this publication, growers should be able to experiment with hop production and harvesting so that they can develop a measured vision for future production of this crop.

Biomass Production Of Herbaceous Energy Crops In The United States: Field Trial Results And Yield Potential Maps From The Multiyear Regional Feedstock Partnership, Dokyoung Lee, Ezra Aberle, Eric K. Anderson, William Anderson, Brian S. Baldwin, David D. Baltensperger, Michael Barrett, Jurg Blumenthal, Stacy Bonos, Joe Bouton, David I. Bransby, Charlie Brummer, Pane S. Burks, Chengci Chen, Christopher Daly, Jose Egenolf, Rodney L. Farris, John H. Fike, Roch E. Gaussoin, John R. Gill, Kenneth Gravois, Michael D. Halbleib, Anna Hale, Wayne Hanna, Keith Harmoney, Emily A. Heaton, Ron W. Heiniger, Lindsey Hoffman, Chang O. Hong, Gopal Kakani, Robert Kallenbach, Bisoondat Macoon, James C. Medley, Ali Missaoui, Robert B. Mitchell, Ken J. Moore, Jesse I. Morrison, Gary N. Odvody, Jonathan D. Richwine, Richard Ogoshi, Jimmy Ray Parrish, Lauren Quinn, Ed Richard, William L. Rooney, J. Brett Rushing, Ronnie Schnell, Matt Sousek, Scott A. Staggenborg, Thomas Tew, Goro Uehara, Donald R. Viands, Thomas Voigt, David Williams, Linda Williams, Lloyd Ted Wilson, Andrew Wycislo, Yubin Yang, Vance Owens

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Current knowledge of yield potential and best agronomic management practices for perennial bioenergy grasses is primarily derived from small-scale and short-term studies, yet these studies inform policy at the national scale. In an effort to learn more about how bioenergy grasses perform across multiple locations and years, the U.S. Department of Energy (US DOE)/Sun Grant Initiative Regional Feedstock Partnership was initiated in 2008. The objectives of the Feedstock Partnership were to (1) provide a wide range of information for feedstock selection (species choice) and management practice options for a variety of regions and (2) develop national maps of potential feedstock …

A Transcriptome‑Snp‑Derived Linkage Map Of Apios Americana (Potato Bean) Provides Insights About Genome Re‑Organization And Synteny Conservation In The Phaseoloid Legumes, Jugpreet Singh, Scott R. Kalberer, Vikas Belamkar, Teshale Assefa, Matthew N. Nelson, Andrew D. Farmer, William J. Blackmon, Steven B. Cannon

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Apios (Apios americana; “apios”), a tuberous perennial legume in the Phaseoleae tribe, was widely used as a food by Native Americans. Work in the last 40 years has led to several improved breeding lines. Aspects of the pollination biology (complex floral structure and tripping mechanism) have made controlled crosses difficult, and the previous reports indicated that the plant is likely primarily an outcrosser. We used a pseudo-testcross strategy to construct a genetic map specific to the maternal parent. The map was built using single-nucleotide polymorphism markers identified by comparing the expressed sequences of individuals in the mapping population …

Enhancing Resolution Of Natural Methylome Reprogramming Behavior In Plants, Robersy Sanchez, Xiaodong Yang, Hardik Kundariya, Jose R. Barreras, Yashitola Wamboldt, Sally A. Mackenzie

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

We have developed a novel methylome analysis procedure, Methyl-IT, based on information thermodynamics and signal detection. Methylation analysis involves a signal detection problem, and the method was designed to discriminate methylation regulatory signal from background noise induced by thermal fluctuations. Comparison with three commonly used programs and various available datasets to furnish a comparative measure of resolution by each method is included. To confirm results, methylation analysis was integrated with RNAseq and network enrichment analyses. Methyl-IT enhances resolution of genome methylation behavior to reveal network-associated responses, offering resolution of gene pathway influences not attainable with previous methods.

Assessing Explanatory Factors For Variation In On-Farm Irrigation In Us Maize-Soybean Systems, Katherine E.B. Gibson, Haishun S. Yang, Trenton E. Franz, Dean E. Eisenhauer, John B. Gates, Paolo Nasta, Bhupinder S. Farmaha, Patricio Grassini

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Irrigation exhibits large variation across producer fields, even within same region and year. A knowledge gap exists relative to factors that explain this variation, in part due to lack of availability of high-quality irrigation data from multiple field-years. This study assessed sources of variation in irrigation using a large database collected during 9 years (2005–2013) from ca. 1400 maize and soybean producer fields in Nebraska, central USA (total of 12,750 field-year observations). The study area is representative of ca. 4.5 million ha of irrigated land sown with maize and soybean. Influence of biophysical (weather, soil, and crop type) and behavioral …

Prospects For Increasing Sugarcane And Bioethanol Production On Existing Crop Area In Brazil, Fábio R. Marin, Geraldo B. Martha Jr., Kenneth Cassman, Patricio Grassini

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

This article assesses sugarcane yield gaps (YG) in Brazil to determine the degree to which production can be increased without land expansion. In our scenario assessments, we evaluated how much of the projected sugarcane demand to 2024 (for both sugar and bioethanol) can be satisfied through YG closure. The current national average yield is 62% of yield potential estimated for rainfed conditions (i.e., a YG of 38%). Continuing the historical rate of yield gain is not sufficient to meet the projected demand without an area expansion by 5% and 45% for lowand high-demand scenarios, respectively. Closing the exploitable YG to …

Biomass Yield Of Warm-Season Grasses Affected By Nitrogen And Harvest Management, Chamara S. Weerasekara, Newell R. Kitchen, Shibu Jose, Peter P. Motavalli, Sougata Bardhan, Robert B. Mitchell

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Native perennial warm-season grasses (NPWSG) have drawn interest as bioenergy feedstocks due to their high productivity with minimal amounts of inputs under a wide range of environments. Nitrogen fertility and harvest timing are critical management practices when optimizing biomass yield of NPWSG. Our objective was to quantify the impact of N fertilizer rate and timing in combination with harvest timing and frequency on NPWSG yield. Research was conducted in 2014 and 2015 on four field-plot locations in Missouri. The experiment was a split-plot design with three replications where N rate and harvest timing were the main and sub-plot treatments, respectively. …

Mapping Rootable Depth And Root Zone Plant-Available Water Holding Capacity Of The Soil Of Sub-Saharan Africa, John G. B. Leenaars, Lieven Claessens, Gerard B. M. Heuvelink, Tom Hengl, Maria Ruiperez Gonzalez, Lenny G. J. Van Bussel, Nicolas Guilpart, Haishun Yang, Kenneth G. Cassman

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

In rainfed crop production, root zone plant-available water holding capacity (RZ-PAWHC) of the soil has a large influence on crop growth and the yield response to management inputs such as improved seeds and fertilisers. However, data are lacking for this parameter in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). This study produced the first spatially explicit, coherent and complete maps of the rootable depth and RZ-PAWHC of soil in SSA. We compiled georeferenced data from 28,000 soil profiles from SSA, which were used as input for digital soil mapping (DSM) techniques to produce soil property maps of SSA. Based on these soil properties, we …

Lowland Rice Nutrient Responses For The Guinea And Sudan Savannas Of Nigeria, Christogonus K. Daudu, Enemona M. Ugbaje, Eunice Y. Oyinlola, Bitrus D. Tarfa, Adamu A. Yakubu, Ishaku Y. Amapu, Charles S. Wortmann

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Yield response of irrigated lowland rice (Oryza sativa L.) to nutrient application was determined to improve the information base for fertilizer use in the Sudan and Southern Guinea Savannas of Nigeria. Economically optimal rates (EOR) and agronomic efficiency (AE) were determined. Five N levels and four levels each P, K, and Zn were evaluated with two varieties at two locations. Nitrogen effects varied by variety and location but mean paddy yield with 0 kg ha^–1 N was 3.4 Mg ha^–1 and was increased by 1.3 Mg ha^–1 with 40 kg ha^–1 N. The mean EOR …

Lowland Rice Nutrient Responses For The Guinea And Sudan Savannas Of Nigeria, Christogonus K. Daudu, Enemona M. Ugbaje, Eunice Y. Oyinlola, Bitrus D. Tarfa, Adamu A. Yakubu, Ishaku Y. Amapu, Charles S. Wortmann

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Copyright © 2018 by the American Society of Agronomy

This is an open access article

doi:10.2134/agronj2017.08.0469

Phenotypic Data From Inbred Parents Can Improve Genomic Prediction In Pearl Millet Hybrids, Zhikai Liang, Shashi K. Gupta, Cheng-Ting Yeh, Yang Zhang, Daniel W. Ngu, Ramesh Kumar, Hemant T. Patil, Kanulal D. Mungra, Dev Vart Yadav, Abhishek Rathore, Rakesh K. Srivastava, Rajeev Gupta, Jinliang Yang, Rajeev K. Varshney, Patrick S. Schnable, James C. Schnable

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Pearl millet is a non-model grain and fodder crop adapted to extremely hot and dry environments globally. In India, a great deal of public and private sectors’ investment has focused on developing pearl millet single cross hybrids based on the cytoplasmic-genetic male sterility (CMS) system, while in Africa most pearl millet production relies on open pollinated varieties. Pearl millet lines were phenotyped for both the inbred parents and hybrids stage. Many breeding efforts focus on phenotypic selection of inbred parents to generate improved parental lines and hybrids. This study evaluated two genotyping techniques and four genomic selection schemes in pearl …

Mulch And Groundcover Effects On Soil Temperature And Moisture, Surface Reflectance, Grapevine Water Potential, And Vineyard Weed Management, Christina M. Bavougian, Paul E. Read

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

The objectives of this research were to identify alternatives to glyphosate for intra- row (under-trellis) vineyard floor management and to evaluate the potential for intra- row and inter-row (alleyway) groundcovers to reduce vegetative vigor of `Marquette' grapevines (Vitis spp.) in a southeast Nebraska vineyard. The experiment was a randomized factorial design with five intra-row treatments (crushed glass mulch [CG], distillers' grain mulch [DG], creeping red fescue [CRF], non-sprayed control [NSC], and glyphosate [GLY]) and three inter-row treatments (creeping red fescue [CRF], Kentucky bluegrass [KB], and resident vegetation [RV]). Treatments were established in 2010-2011 and measurements were conducted during 2012 …

Genotype-Corrector: Improved Genotype Calls For Genetic Mapping In F2 And Ril Populations, Chenyong Miao, Jingping Fang, Delin Li, Pingping Liang, Xingtan Zhang, Jinliang Yang, James C. Schnable, Haibao Tang

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

F₂ and recombinant inbred lines (RILs) populations are very commonly used in plant genetic mapping studies. Although genome-wide genetic markers like single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) can be readily identified by a wide array of methods, accurate genotype calling remains challenging, especially for heterozygous loci and missing data due to low sequencing coverage per individual. Therefore, we developed Genotype-Corrector, a program that corrects genotype calls and imputes missing data to improve the accuracy of genetic mapping. Genotype-Corrector can be applied in a wide variety of genetic mapping studies that are based on low coverage whole genome sequencing (WGS) or Genotyping-by-Sequencing …