Buffaloes use wallowing behavior to release excess heat in tropical conditions. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of silvopastoral systems in the feeding and thermoregulatory behavior of water buffaloes under moderate and intense heat stress. The behavior of water buffaloes was evaluated in two different production systems. The conventional system with Guinea grass (
Megathyrsus maximus
) only, and the silvopastoral system with Guinea grass and
Leucaena leucocephala
trees. The relation between the frequency of animal activities and the length of time the animals engaged in each activity was measured during the day time (6:00–18:00 h) by visual observations at 10-min intervals. The results obtained suggest that buffaloes use tree shade to partially supplement wallowing. Feeding behavior increased under intense heat stress in the silvopastoral system indicating that it can be a promising alternative to improve the buffaloes rearing conditions in the tropics.
Socio-ecological resilience is vital for the long-term sustainability of communities in production landscapes and seascapes, but community members often find it difficult to understand and assess their own resilience in the face of changes that affect them over time due to economic and natural drivers, demographic changes, and market forces among others, due to the complexity of the concept of resilience and the many factors influencing the landscape or seascape. This chapter provides an overview of a project and its resilience assessment process using an indicator-based approach, which has been implemented under the International Partnership for the Satoyama Initiative (IPSI). In this project, a set of 20 indicators were identified to capture different aspects of resilience in SEPLS, and examples are included from various contexts around the world, with the purpose of identifying lessons learned and good practices for resilience assessment. These indicators have now been used by communities in many countries, often with the guidance of project implementers, with the goal of assessing, considering, and monitoring their landscape or seascape's circumstances, identifying important issues, and ultimately improving their resilience. While this particular approach is limited in that it cannot be used for comparison of different landscapes and seascapes, as it relies on community members' individual perceptions, it is found useful to understand multiple aspects of resilience and changes over time within a landscape or seascape.
In the wake of climate change and global warming, the production systems of water buffaloes (Bubalus bubalis) are receiving increasing attention in the tropics, where the silvopastoral systems can improve animal welfare and production conditions. The objective of this study was to characterize the behavior of heifer buffaloes in a silvopastoral system (SPS) with Leucaena leucocephala (600 trees/ha) and in a conventional system (CVS), under intense heat stress and moderate heat stress in Cuba. We observed nine animals, with an average weight of 167.9 kg at the beginning of the study, during the daylight period, from 6:00 to 18:00 h, at 10 min intervals, for 12 days. Activities recorded were grazing, ingestion of tree leaves, rumination, water intake, walking, lying, standing, sheltering in the shade of trees, and wallowing. Sheltering in the shade of trees and wallowing were collectively considered as thermoregulatory behavior (TB). TB was different in both systems and conditions of heat stress (p < 0.05), with 4.06 in CVS and 3.81 h in SPS in the intense heat stress period, while it was 2.91 and 1.08 h for SPS and CVS, respectively, during the moderate heat stress period. The wallowing activity showed statistically significant differences (p < 0.05) in the intense heat stress season with 1.18 and 2.35 h for SPS and CVS, respectively. Time spent on feeding behavior was highest in the SPS system (p < 0.05). Longer times of thermoregulatory and feeding behavior indicate the importance of trees in animal welfare for this species in tropical conditions, thus supporting avoided deforestation and the replanting of trees in existing production systems and landscapes.
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