Amphibian care and welfare webinar

Professor Matt Guille of the European Xenopus Resource Centre (EXRC) has worked with Xenopus since 1984. Matt shared his experience of undertaking research and directing a facility to serve as a “one stop shop” for others using Xenopus species as model organisms and improving welfare wherever possible. Alongside fundamental research programmes, he has developed welfare-specific programmes of work including NC3Rs-funded work on reducing the use and refining the distribution of male Xenopus and non-invasive identification of individual Xenopus by photography and image processing.

In his talk, Matt outlines the value of Xenopus species as a model and highlights the currently unanswered questions needed to improve care and welfare.

Professor Trent Garner has been an experimental ecologist for over 30 years, using non-model amphibians in research on social biology and sexual selection, heterozygosity/fitness correlations, and most recently, amphibian host/pathogen interactions. Trent is committed to improving knowledge on amphibian welfare science whilst undertaking fundamental research. With previous support form the NC3Rs, Trent has advanced the 3Rs in amphibian infectious disease research and held a workshop on the future of amphibian research.

In his talk, Trent discusses how each species and corresponding welfare needs should be considered separately. He highlights case studies and identifies the value of welfare informing work, not just for informing conservation science, but advancing our knowledge on amphibian welfare science. 

Dr Lola Brookes is a member of the our Training and Engagement Team with a background in amphibian welfare. She completed her NC3Rs-funded PhD on amphibian infectious disease research at the Zoological Society of London and Royal Veterinary College.

Lola's talk highlights the importance of validating welfare indicators for assessments of negative states and describes how this can be achieved. Lola emphasises the needs to establish valid welfare indicators that are repeatable and reliable to measure welfare in order to reduce the suffering of laboratory amphibians. 

Dr Christopher Michaels is a biologist and medical biostatistician, who for nearly ten years worked at the Zoological Society of London, managing the Herpetology section and then zoo research. Linking research and practical animal management, Christopher demonstrates how the ‘5 Domains Framework’ can both guide amphibian welfare assessments and be a method for cross-species comparisons, whilst also highlighting species-specific welfare needs and advances that can inform best practice. 

Kimberley Carter is a member of the ZSL London Zoo's Ectotherm team and is broadly focused on animal care and welfare. She has extensive experience in developing husbandry best practice, including welfare assessments for widely used amphibian species.

In Kimberley’s presentation, she talks through the zoological approach to establishing care guidelines for animals new to a zoo, inclusive of Xenopus longipes. She highlights the importance of establishing data and information on climate requirements, including enrichment. Kimberley’s approach to define best practice is modelled on the ‘five domains framework’ and includes the need for life support systems and microhabitats to support good welfare, including diet, water chemistry, temperature, humidity and lighting. Kimberley also discusses the health conditions that can arise from poor care and the value of behavioural monitoring to identify these problems early. She uses a combination of non-invasive monitoring techniques and training to safeguard welfare, with the latter to stimulate positive mental states. 

Joseph Trafford is a final-year PhD student working between the Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London and University College London. Joseph uses environmental DNA to monitor amphibian pathogens in traded and wild animals, in particular the chytrid fungus (Bd) and Ranavirus. He has developed a non-intrusive method and assay to monitor these pathogens in aquatic systems.

In his talk, Joseph highlights potential modes of pathogen transmission, and the inferred need for improved biosecurity and disease monitoring for all aquatic species housed in laboratories. 

Dr Natasha Kruger’s primary research interest is investigating the ecophysiology of invasive African Clawed frogs, and she recognises that her research would not be possible without appropriate consideration of amphibian welfare. Additionally, her research investigates how the environment affects the physiology of these model amphibians and how this can further inform welfare practices for this species.

In Natasha’s talk, she outlines how information on Xenopus laevis ecophysiology can inform amphibian welfare. She highlights that in the animal’s natural environment, Xenopus laevis can persist in highly variable climatic ranges and how they have developed breeding strategies under these varying conditions, showing high levels of plasticity to cope with changing conditions. This raises questions as to why laboratory housed animals struggle to cope with small variations in their home environments. Natasha’s research also highlighted variance in husbandry best practices across the globe and how this can create difficulties in translating programmes work.

Dr Kieran Bates completed his PhD in Infectious Disease Epidemiology at Imperial College London and moved on to a Post-Doctoral Research position in the Department of Zoology at the University of Oxford. His current research interests lie in understanding how microbe-host interactions shape health, resistance to infection and more broadly eco-evolutionary dynamics.

In Kieran's talk, he highlights extensive research on how microbiome relates to animal health. He outlines how animal models are being used to both understand human health and to establish what microbiomes can tell us about the health and welfare of animals in captivity. Kieran identifies key factors that shape the microbiome, including environment and diet. A healthy microbiome is both needed to support animal welfare and to obtain more meaningful results from animal model experiments to inform human health research.

Rue Green-Jones has years of experience working with Xenopus species and preparing oocytes for research, whilst ensuring optimum care and management by overseeing every aspect of the colonies’ husbandry and maintenance.

Rue has shared her knowledge with many other facilities, and in her talk addresses how non-invasive photo-identification can be implemented into practice as a refined method.