On the Use of a Simple Physical System Analogy to Study Robustness Features in Animal Sciences.

ABSTRACT: Environmental perturbations can affect the health, welfare, and fitness of animals. Being able to characterize and phenotype adaptive capacity is therefore of growing scientific concern in animal ecology and in animal production sciences. Terms borrowed from physics are commonly used to describe adaptive responses of animals facing an environmental perturbation, but no quantitative characterization of these responses has been made. Modeling the dynamic responses to an acute challenge was used in this study to facilitate the characterization of adaptive capacity and therefore robustness. A simple model based on a spring and damper was developed to simulate the dynamic responses of animals facing an acute challenge. The parameters characterizing the spring and the damper can be interpreted i

SUBMITTER: Sadoul B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4554989 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature