Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences, Royal Veterinary College, Hawkshead Lane, North Mymms, Hatfield AL9 7TA, UK.
J R Soc Interface. 2009 Dec 6;6(41):1103-19. doi: 10.1098/rsif.2009.0221. Epub 2009 Sep 9.
While the incorporation of mathematical and engineering methods has greatly advanced in other areas of the life sciences, they have been under-utilized in the field of animal welfare. Exceptions are beginning to emerge and share a common motivation to quantify 'hidden' aspects in the structure of the behaviour of an individual, or group of animals. Such analyses have the potential to quantify behavioural markers of pain and stress and quantify abnormal behaviour objectively. This review seeks to explore the scope of such analytical methods as behavioural indicators of welfare. We outline four classes of analyses that can be used to quantify aspects of behavioural organization. The underlying principles, possible applications and limitations are described for: fractal analysis, temporal methods, social network analysis, and agent-based modelling and simulation. We hope to encourage further application of analyses of behavioural organization by highlighting potential applications in the assessment of animal welfare, and increasing awareness of the scope for the development of new mathematical methods in this area.
虽然数学和工程方法的结合在生命科学的其他领域已经取得了很大的进展，但在动物福利领域却没有得到充分利用。现在开始出现一些例外，它们都有一个共同的动机，即量化个体或动物群体行为结构中的“隐藏”方面。这种分析有可能对疼痛和压力的行为标志物进行量化，并客观地量化异常行为。本综述旨在探讨这些分析方法作为福利行为指标的范围。我们概述了可用于量化行为组织的四个类别的分析。对于分形分析、时间方法、社会网络分析以及基于主体的建模和模拟，我们描述了其基本原理、可能的应用和局限性。我们希望通过突出动物福利评估中潜在的应用，以及提高人们对该领域新数学方法发展的认识，来鼓励进一步应用行为组织分析。
