The committee wishes to support underpinning research on the interactions between agriculture and biodiversity, aimed strategically at the rational development of productive but biodiverse systems. The Committee has identified that there is a need to focus on increasing understanding of ecological and genetic interactions between organisms to achieve a mechanistic understanding of agricultural ecosystems through a priority area in Evolutionary and Ecological Processes . The dynamics of transgenes in natural ecosystems. Research will focus on effects of transgenes on fitness in spatially and temporally heterogeneous environments and its implications for the dynamics of the transgene and the host plant populations in the field. This requires improved understanding and resolution of elements of the system, which are likely to impair fitness through reduced fertility, chronic injury, disease, or physiological exhaustion.
Research is needed to provide knowledge to underpin improved husbandry of farm animals.
The Agri-Food Committee wishes to support research that increases understanding of the interaction between farm animals and their environment at the farm level. This may include basic studies of production diseases, such as lameness, that can be directly attributed to the system itself, the perception and responses of animals to complex stimuli such as man and machines, and the welfare implications of the extensification of livestock units. Large-scale intervention studies may be supported, which are designed to explore and encourage specific goals for improved welfare. Co-ordinated approaches involving the major funders and Levy Boards are welcomed. The Animal Sciences Committee supports other, complementary, scientific studies relating to animal welfare.