Meet our grantees
Wild Animal Initiative funds academic research on high-priority questions in wild animal welfare.
The goal of our grants program is to fund research that deepens scientific knowledge of the welfare of wild animals in order to better understand how to improve the welfare of as many wild animals as possible, regardless of what causes the threats to their well-being.
We showcase our grantees and their projects here and continuously update this page as new projects are added.
Improving the welfare of farmland invertebrates
Grantee: Dr. Ruth Feber
Institution: University of Oxford
Project summary
In Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths), larvae are much more abundant and less mobile than adults. Larvae are therefore particularly vulnerable to negative stimuli, including starvation and disease. This project will use lepidopteran larvae as a model for auditing the welfare impact of agricultural activities on invertebrates. Juvenile stages of Lepidoptera are exposed to agricultural practices that have the potential to affect their welfare. To quantify these impacts, the study will extend the Quality Adjusted Life Year (QALY) methodology to take into account the number of individuals affected by a specified action.
Grantee: Dr. Ruth Feber
Institution: Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, Recanati-Kaplan Centre, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, United Kingdom
Grant amount: $58,448
Grant type: Challenge grant
Focal species: Butterflies (Rhopalocera sp.)
Conservation status: Near threatened
Disciplines: Entomology, population ecology, physiology
Research location: United Kingdom
Project summary
Invertebrates, particularly insects, often have complex life histories. Juveniles (which make up the overwhelming majority of invertebrate numbers) may experience a range of different life quality outcomes. In Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths), for example, adults are the most visible stage, but the much more abundant larvae are less mobile than adults and are particularly vulnerable to negative stimuli including starvation and disease.
This project will use lepidopteran larvae as a model for auditing the welfare impact of agricultural activities on invertebrates. Juvenile stages of Lepidoptera tend to comprise the largest proportion of the total lifespan in temperate regions and, as juveniles, they are exposed to a wide range of agricultural practices that have the potential to affect their welfare. Lepidoptera are also among the better-studied invertebrates, with published data on the ecology, life histories, and survivorship of some species. This knowledge will be used to help inform welfare impact assessments.
The study will adapt the Quality Adjusted Life Year (QALY) methodology to quantify the welfare impacts of agriculture, which has recently been adapted by Teng et al. (2018) to compare the impact of diseases of domestic animals with a Welfare Adjusted Life Year (WALY). This project aims to extend the QALY to take into account the number of individuals affected by a specified action.
Why we funded this project
Farms take up nearly half of the world’s habitable land, but there is a lack of research into how agricultural management practices might impact wild animals, especially invertebrates. In order to improve welfare for invertebrates, we first need to understand how to measure welfare. This project will explore a model to quantify wild insect health and well-being. We were especially attracted to this project because it will repurpose existing data, allowing the research objectives to be accomplished more cheaply and with less animal suffering than might otherwise be required. We were also excited by the PI’s interest in quantifying welfare using a QALY-like framework, which fits perfectly with our utilitarian approach and could lead to actionable policy recommendations.
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Does population density influence the welfare of wild newts?
Grantee: Luiza Figueiredo Passos
Institution: Liverpool John Moores University
Project summary
This project will explore how the welfare of the widespread great crested newt (Triturus cristatus) is influenced by population density. It will test the hypothesis that optimal conditions for population sustainability could be suboptimal at the individual level, and consequently negative for welfare. The researchers will study the welfare of newts in populations with varying densities throughout England. Welfare will be assessed using the Five Domains Model by collecting measures of health, behavior, and nutrition. Environmental parameters will also be collected to assess the relationship between habitat quality and welfare.
Grantee: Luiza Figueiredo Passos
Institution: Liverpool John Moores University, United Kingdom
Grant amount: $158,060
Grant type: Challenge grants
Focal species: Great crested newt (Triturus cristatus)
Conservation status: Least concern
Disciplines: Physiology, animal behavior, herpetology
Research location: United Kingdom
Project summary
The project seeks to determine how the welfare of the widespread species of great crested newts, Triturus cristatus, is influenced by population density in order to help determine how management practices can foster the welfare of individuals. Based on previous studies that have shown that population size and density correlate negatively with body condition and adult survivorship, this study will test the hypothesis that optimal conditions for population sustainability (i.e., conditions that result in higher juvenile survival) could be suboptimal at the individual level, and consequently negative for welfare. The project will study the welfare of newts in populations with varying densities at different locations in England. Welfare will be assessed using the Five Domains model of animal welfare by collecting measures of health (presence of injuries or diseases, corticosterone level, and telomere attrition), behavior (expression of abnormal behavior, flight response, behavioral restriction), and nutrition (body condition, food availability). Environmental parameters (water quality, shelter availability, predator pressure, proximity to anthropogenic threats) will also be collected to assess the relationship between habitat quality and welfare.
Why we funded this project
We funded this project because it will assess density-dependent welfare using a diverse battery of indicators. It is especially exciting to see them applied to a highly abundant amphibian, as the overwhelming majority of wild animal welfare projects have focused on mammals or birds. The proposing team is also very well qualified and has previously been funded by Wild Animal Initiative, which makes them well-suited to take on an analytically challenging project to disentangle influences of population density on newt welfare.
Find Luiza’s other project, studying house sparrows, here.
