Documenting the effects of novel forms of enrichment is becoming increasingly important within the field of environmental enrichment. Appropriate documentation and evaluation must accompany any enrichment research project in order for accurate results to be obtained. The objective of the present study was to provide an example of how the level of effort in documenting the effect of enrichment i...

Environmental enrichment as a discipline has continued to gain momentum as the benefits to animals and to zoos are recognized and documented. Many zoological institutions have implemented formal enrichment programs and dedicated personnel to enrichment efforts. Enrichment-focused research and publication is increasing in quantity and quality. Zoo keepers continue to collaborate to improve enric...

Experience of mice in a complex environment enhances neurogenesis and synaptic plasticity in the hippocampus of wild type and transgenic mice harboring familial Alzheimer's disease (FAD)-linked APPswe/PS1ΔE9. In FAD mice, this experience also reduces levels of tau hyperphosphorylation and oligomeric β-amyloid. Although environmental enrichment has significant effects on brain plasticity and neu...

Postnatal maternal separation increases hypothalamic corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) gene expression and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) and behavioral responses to stress. We report here that environmental enrichment during the peripubertal period completely reverses the effects of maternal separation on both HPA and behavioral responses to stress, with no effect on CRF mRNA expressi...

Expression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs) have been found to be enriched in trait-associated single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). However, whether eQTLs are adaptive to different environmental factors and its relative evolutionary significance compared with nonsynonymous SNPs (NS SNPs) are still elusive. Compiling environmental correlation data from three studies for more than 500,000 SNPs ...

Enrichment is widely used as tool for managing fearfulness, undesirable behaviors, and stress in captive animals, and for studying exploration and personality. Inconsistencies in previous studies of physiological and behavioral responses to enrichment led us to hypothesize that enrichment and its removal are stressful environmental changes to which the hormone corticosterone and fearfulness, ac...

This paper critically reviews the literature concerning environmental enrichment for weaner, grower and finisher pigs housed in intensive (indoor) production systems. The thesis of our review is that successful enrichment should meet four criteria of success: (1) it should increase species-specific behaviour, (2) it should maintain or improve levels of health, (3) it should improve the economic...

Depression is a commonly reported co-morbidity during rehabilitation from alcohol use disorders and its presence is associated with an increased likelihood of relapse. Interventions which impede the development of depression could be of potential benefit if incorporated into treatment programs. We previously demonstrated an ameliorative effect of physical exercise on depressive behaviors in a m...