Climate Change In Animal Production

1. Livestock And Climate Change. Going Beyond Preconceived Ideas And Recognizing The Contribution Of Small Scale Livestock Farming Facing Climate Change
2. Climate Change & Livestock Production In India
3. Thünen: International Research Collaboration On Mitigating Climate Change In Agriculture
   1. Effects Of Climate Change And Adaptation On The Livestock Component Of Mixed Farming Systems: A Modelling Study From Semi Arid Zimbabwe
4. Impact Of Climate Change On Animal Production

Image:Researchers identified a potential feedback loop arising from interactions among climate, infectious diseases and methane emissions. (Image courtesy of Trends in Ecology & Evolution) view more

Climate change is affecting the spread and severity of infectious diseases around the world -- and infectious diseases may in turn be contributing to climate change, according to a new paper in Trends in Ecology & Evolution.

The research, led by Vanessa Ezenwa, a professor of ecology at the University of Georgia, and funded by the Living Earth Collaborative at Washington University in St. Louis, describes how parasites can cause animals to produce more methane, a powerful greenhouse gas.

Livestock And Climate Change. Going Beyond Preconceived Ideas And Recognizing The Contribution Of Small Scale Livestock Farming Facing Climate Change

There is evidence that climate change, and warming temperatures in particular, are impacting some infectious diseases and increasing their prevalence, Ezenwa said. If that's happening for livestock diseases, and simultaneously higher prevalence is triggering increased methane release, you could end up with what we call a vicious cycle.

Methane is a greenhouse gas with an effect on global warming 28-36 times more potent than carbon dioxide. In the past 10 years, atmospheric methane concentrations have increased rapidly, with about half of the increase attributed to emissions from livestock.

Here, the researchers -- a team of ecologists, veterinarians and One Health experts -- formed a working group led by Amanda Koltz, senior scientist in biology in Arts & Sciences at Washington University, to study the effects of parasites on ecosystems -- including their impacts on climate.

Climate Change & Livestock Production In India

Infectious diseases impact all animals, but our understanding of how their effects extend to the broader ecosystem is still limited, Koltz said. For example, parasite-host interactions can shape host physiology, behavior and population dynamics -- some of those impacts are likely to have widespread, cascading effects on ecosystem-level processes.

The review focused on ruminant livestock, a group that includes cows, sheep and goats. These animals are known to be major contributors to global methane emissions and host to many parasites and pathogens as well. They are also an important part of the global food supply.

The researchers examined data from studies of sheep that showed that animals infected with intestinal worms produced up to 33% more methane per kilogram of feed than uninfected animals. The methane is released through normal body functions of ruminants. Infection also causes sheep to grow more slowly, increasing the time to slaughter and thereby increasing total methane emitted by the infected animals.

Thünen: International Research Collaboration On Mitigating Climate Change In Agriculture

They also reviewed studies of dairy cattle suffering from mastitis, a common disease caused by bacterial infections. These studies revealed that cows with mastitis release up to 8% more methane per kilogram of milk produced than uninfected cows.

For example, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations projects that global livestock production will increase by 2.7% annually, and that methane emissions will increase by more than 20%, from 2017 to 2050. But when the effects of parasitic worm infections are incorporated into these calculations, the study's authors estimate that methane emissions from livestock could increase instead by as much as 82% over the same period.

With human consumption of meat increasing four- to five-fold since the 1960s along with the ever-increasing impacts from climate change, this vicious climate-disease cycle is one more example of the interconnection of our greatest planetary ills -- climate change and emerging infectious diseases, said Sharon Deem, the director of the Saint Louis Zoo Institute for Conservation Medicine and a co-author of the paper.

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The team's findings highlight the need to take infectious diseases into account when modeling future climate scenarios to ensure that they don't underestimate methane emissions.

The vicious cycle between climate impacts on disease and disease impacts on climate is striking, said co-author Aimée Classen, a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology and director of the University of Michigan Biological Station. Our study highlights that scientists need to incorporate both animals and disease into the experiments and models used to predict future carbon emissions.

In addition to Ezenwa, Koltz, Deem and Classen, the study's co-authors are David J. Civitello and Matthew Malishev of Emory University; Brandon T. Barton and Zoë E. Johnson of Mississippi State University; Daniel J. Becker of Indiana University; Maris Brenn-White of the Saint Louis Zoo; Susan Kutz of the University of Calgary; Rachel M. Penczykowski of Washington University; Daniel L. Preston of the University of Wisconsin-Madison; and J. Trevor Vannatta of Purdue University.

Effects Of Climate Change And Adaptation On The Livestock Component Of Mixed Farming Systems: A Modelling Study From Semi Arid Zimbabwe

Disclaimer: AAAS and ! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to ! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the system.Climate change has many elements, affecting biological and human systems in different ways. The considerable spatial heterogeneity of climate change impacts has been widely studied; global average temperature increases mask considerable differences in temperature rise between land and sea and between high latitudes and low; precipitation increases are very likely in high latitudes, while decreases are likely in most of the tropics and subtropical land regions (IPCC 2007). It is widely projected that as the planet warms, climate and weather variability will increase. Changes in the frequency and severity of extreme climate events and in the variability of weather patterns will have significant consequences for human and natural systems. Increasing frequencies of heat stress, drought and flooding events are projected for the rest of this century, and these are expected to have many adverse effects over and above the impacts due to changes in mean variables alone (IPCC 2012).

Livestock play a major role in the agricultural sector in developing nations, and the livestock sector contributes 40% to the agricultural GDP. Global demand for foods of animal origin is growing and it is apparent that the livestock sector will need to expand (FAO, 2009). Livestock are adversely affected by the detrimental effects of extreme weather. Climatic extremes and seasonal fluctuations in herbage quantity and quality will affect the well-being of livestock, and will lead to declines in production and reproduction efficiency (Sejian, 2013).

Climate change is a major threat to the sustainability of livestock systems globally. Consequently, adaptation to, and mitigation of the detrimental effects of extreme climates has played a major role in combating the climatic impact on livestock (Sejian et al., 2015a).  There is little doubt that climate change will have an impact on livestock performance in many regions and as per most predictive models the impact will be detrimental. Climate change may manifest itself as rapid changes in climate in the short term (a couple of years) or more subtle changes over decades. Generally climate change is associated with an increasing global temperature. Various climate model projections suggest that by the year 2100, mean global temperature may be 1.1–6.4 °C warmer than in 2010. The difficulty facing livestock is weather extremes, e.g. intense heat waves, floods and droughts. In addition to production losses, extreme events also result in livestock death (Gaughan and Cawsell-Smith, 2015). Animals can adapt to hot climates, however the response mechanisms that are helpful for survival may be detrimental to performance. In this article we make an attempt to project the adverse impact of climate change on livestock production.

The Environmental Impact Of Livestock Farming (infographic)

In general climate is the average weather condition in a particular area, often articulated as expected temperature, rainfall or wind conditions with reference to past records. Such that, ‘climate change’ is defined as variability in climate that persists over a prolonged period.Climate change is predominantly triggered by greenhouse gas emissions which result in global warming.

Ironically, the livestock industry significantly contributes towards greenhouse gas emissions through escaping ammonia found in cattle manure. Ammonia emission results in atmospheric and water bodies’ pollution. Imagine a contaminated water source, used for drinking and watering a lucerne field. High quantities of ammonia cause poor lucerne growth, resulting in less forage material for your cattle. In terms of contaminated water sources; water borne diseases may be a challenge to a farmer due to excess ammonia in water for drinking by your cattle.Cattle may succumb to heat stress as a result of stealth change in temperature, which reduces production more especially among dairy cattle. Furthermore, routine movement of cattle to abattoirs can be affected as a result of extreme high temperatures, which may significantly distort meat quality.

In the long run, excess heat accompanied by prolonged droughts suppresses livestock sustainability, due to competition for resources (forage and water) on ranches. Hence,  destocking could be adopted so as to ease pressure on both animals and environment.Furthermore, food security for the growing population is adversely disturbed by climate change, as livestock productivity is negatively affected and mere sustainability is a challenge for most livestock farmers around the globe.

Impact Of Climate Change On Animal Production

Climate change will affect livestock production and consequently food security . Global warming as a result of Climate change may strongly affect production performance of farm animal and impact worldwide on livestock production and reproduction . Specifically, heat stress is a major source of production loss in dairy and beef industry and whereas new knowledge about animal response to the environment continuous to be developed, managing animals to reduce the impact of climate remains a challenge  . The potential impacts of climate change on livestock include changes in water availability, animal growth and milk production , production and quality of