In this paper, we describe the development of a set of guiding principles for the evaluation of breeding techniques by the organic sector over time. The worldwide standards of organic agriculture (OA) do not allow genetic engineering (GE) or any products derived from genetic engineering. The standards in OA are an expression of the underlying principles of health, ecology, fairness and care. Th...

The wetlands of the Gulf Coast region of the United States are under pressure from relative sea level rise and subsidence pressures that threaten to alter fishery breeding grounds and increase expected damage from stochastic storm events, among other issues. Barrier islands, marshes, and swamps are thus forms of natural capital that serve both an intermediate role in supporting fishery stocks, ...

In North America and in Western Europe the valuation of pork is changing from input driven towards output directed. It is changing from selling the products of slaughtered pigs towards producing the pigs for which a clear market exists. Two discussions are underway; one is about specifications and value of pork products and the other one on classification systems. These classification systems t...

This report contains abridged evidence given at a hearing. The Minister of Conservation had objected to a proposed District Plan Change which would have sanctioned extensive subdivision near the Waipu Spit Wildlife Refuge. The Minister's evidence focused on natural values of the area, including wildlife values, history of management at the site, and the implications of the proposed subdivision ...

In vertebrates, stressors such as starvation or predator attacks stimulate the rapid elevation of circulating glucocorticoid hormones, triggering physiological and behavioral responses that aid immediate survival but simultaneously inhibit reproduction. This stress response has been proposed to serve as a physiological mediator of life-history trade-offs: when the value of current reproduction ...

Mate choice is favored by indirect selection if choosy females mate with males of high genetic quality. We believe, however, that testing hypotheses about indirect selection has been constrained by how we conceptualize and therefore empirically measure male genetic quality. Here, we argue that genetic quality is the breeding value of an individual for total fitness. We can therefore learn littl...

The paper reports on a fast EM algorithm for genomic selection by mapping QTL in genomewide dense SNP marker data. The algorithm called emBayesB was used to analyse a 6000 SNP dataset simulated for the QTLMAS XII workshop. True breeding value was accurately predicted by GEBV with a correlation of 0.85 in the validation data, while the regression coefficient of 0.97 indicated unbiased prediction...

BACKGROUND Genomic selection (GS) is emerging as an efficient and cost-effective method for estimating breeding values using molecular markers distributed over the entire genome. In essence, it involves estimating the simultaneous effects of all genes or chromosomal segments and combining the estimates to predict the total genomic breeding value (GEBV). Accurate prediction of GEBVs is a central...

The stress response is highly variable among individuals, but the causes of this variation remain largely unknown. In response to stressors, vertebrates secrete elevated levels of glucocorticoids which enhance survival, but concurrently interfere with reproduction. We tested the hypothesis that individuals flexibly modulate their stress response with respect to the reproductive value of their b...

This paper presents an overview of the history and the foreseeable developments of animal breeding. After the transition from population genetics to modern quantitative genetics, realized in the late 1950s, major progress has occurred in the field of breeding value evaluation and, more recently, with the advent of genomics and its potential contribution to genetic improvement. Various challenge...