Heat Stress in Farm Animals: The Impacts of Climate Change on Animal Comfort Conditions
A special issue of Animals (ISSN 2076-2615).
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 January 2025 | Viewed by 977
Special Issue Editors
Interests: animal welfare; heat stress; cattle; buffalo; small ruminants; animal physiology; animal behavior; sustainability
Interests: animal welfare; heat stress; cattle; buffalo; small ruminants; animal physiology; animal behavior; sustainability
Interests: animal welfare; heat stress; cattle; buffalo; small ruminants; animal physiology; animal behavior; sustainability
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Animal welfare is determined as the mental and physical state of an animal in relation to the environment in which they live and die. Therefore, animal welfare demonstrates that an individual is healthy, safe, comfortable, well-nourished and free to express natural species behaviors without suffering from harmful psychological states such as frustration, pain and stress. Thus, animals have the ability to control their body temperature when exposed to high temperature variations, with thermoregulation being the mechanism responsible for homeostasis, dissipating excess heat accumulated in the body through perspiration and peripheral circulation, resulting in increased respiration and panting, and a decrease in the rate of food intake to retain metabolic heat. Therefore, one of the most common causes capable of reducing animal welfare is thermal conditions, i.e., temperatures that are too low or too high, due to animals’ anatomy or the environment in which they are raised. The animal organism tends to prioritize homeostasis; however, when subjected to agents that trigger stress, it responds through a combination of physiological, biochemical and behavioral reactions. Therefore, heat stress causes serious negative effects on the welfare of cattle and can lead to major economic and production losses on a large scale. In addition, sweating, increased respiratory rate, water intake, vasodilation, reduced productivity, decreased milk production and, at high degrees of stress, an increased mortality rate can occur. In this context, this Special Issue seeks to present articles that investigate heat stress and the behavior of farm animals.
Prof. Dr. Welligton Conceição da Silva
Dr. José de Brito Lourenço-Júnior
Prof. Dr. Jamile Andréa Rodrigues da Silva
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- animal welfare
- heat stress
- cattle
- buffalo
- small ruminants
- animal physiology
- animal behavior
- sustainability
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