|
Project properties |
|
| Title | Is animal welfare relevant for bivalves? |
| Group | Marine Animal Ecology |
| Project type | thesis |
| Credits | 24-39 |
| Supervisor(s) | Edwin Foekema |
| Examiner(s) | Tinka Murk, Ronald Osinga, Reindert Nijland, Rosa van der Ven or Diede Maas |
| Contact info | edwin.foekema@wur.nl
mae.education@wur.nl |
| Begin date | 2025/03/01 |
| End date | 2026/03/01 |
| Description | The welfare of sentient animals affected by human management is a core societal concern. Other than cephalopods, invertebrates are not recognized as sentient (capable of feeling pain and pleasure) and are consequently not protected by law with regards to their welfare. In insects and crustaceans there is compelling evidence for sentience, yet other groups of invertebrates such as bivalves remain absent from any type of sentience or welfare research. The student will study the literature on invertebrate welfare to identify tests that could be applied to mussels, will design experiments, conduct these experiments, analyze collected data and finally write a report where they conclude on the possibility for mussel sentience and further required research in this area. In this stage we hypothesize that the combination of behavior and heart rate variability can tell us what mussels find ‘pleasant’. |
| Used skills | |
| Requirements | |