How Albatrosses and Fulmars prevent a Crash Landing

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Stamhuis, Eize; Noffke, Nils

2016-01-01

Albatrosses and Fulmars are seabirds that have wing spans of over 3 m, which are amongst the largest of extant birds. Such a large wing span is better suitable for gliding flight than for flapping, and real flapping flight is therefore hardly observed in these birds. However, especially during slow

Mirage vs. Albatross - collision in the air / Rokas M. Tracevskis

Index Scriptorium Estoniae

Tracevskis, Rokas M.

2011-01-01

30. augustil põrkasid Leedus kokku NATO õhuturbemissioonil olev Prantsuse hävituslennuk Mirage 2000c ja Leedu õppehävitaja L-39ZA Albatross. Leedu piloodid katapulteerusid, Prantsusmaa piloot katapulteerumist ei vajanud. Ohvreid ei olnud

Predictable hotspots and foraging habitat of the endangered short-tailed albatross (Phoebastria albatrus) in the North Pacific: Implications for conservation

Science.gov (United States)

Piatt, John F.; Wetzel, J.; Bell, K.; DeGange, A.R.; Balogh, G.R.; Drew, G.S.; Geernaert, T.; Ladd, C.; Byrd, G.V.

2006-01-01

The short-tailed albatross (Phoebastria albatrus) is a rare and endangered seabird that ranges widely over the northern North Pacific. Populations are slowly recovering but birds face several threats at sea, in particular the incidental capture of birds in long-line fisheries. Conservation efforts are hampered by a lack of information about the at-sea distribution of this species, especially knowledge of where it may predictably co-occur with long-line fishing effort. During 18 years of transiting the Aleutian Islands Unit of the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge on a research vessel, we observed short-tailed albatross on 65 occasions. They were consistently observed near Ingenstrem Rocks (Buldir Pass) in the western Aleutians and near Seguam Pass in the central Aleutians. Based on the oceanographic characteristics of the locations where we saw most of the birds, we hypothesized that short-tailed albatross “hotspots” were located where tidal currents and steep bottom topography generate strong vertical mixing along the Aleutian Archipelago. As a test of this hypothesis, we analyzed a database containing 1432 opportunistic observations of 2463 short-tailed albatross at sea in the North Pacific. These data showed that short-tailed albatross were closely associated with shelf-edge habitats throughout the northern Gulf of Alaska and Bering Sea. In addition to Ingenstrem Rocks and Seguam Pass, important hotspots for short-tailed albatross in the Aleutians included Near Strait, Samalga Pass, and the shelf-edge south of Umnak/Unalaska islands. In the Bering Sea, hotspots were located along margins of Zhemchug, St. Matthews and Pervenets canyons. Because these short-tailed albatross hotspots are predictable, they are also protectable by regulation of threatening activities at local spatial scales.

Incidence, mass and variety of plastics ingested by Laysan (Phoebastria immutabilis) and Black-footed Albatrosses (P. nigripes) recovered as by-catch in the North Pacific Ocean.

Science.gov (United States)

Gray, Holly; Lattin, Gwendolyn L; Moore, Charles J

2012-10-01

Laysan Albatrosses (Phoebastria immutabilis) and Black-footed Albatrosses (P. nigripes) ingest plastic debris, as evidenced by studies showing plastic in the digestive contents of their chicks, but there is little documentation of the frequency and amount of ingested plastics carried in foraging adults. In this study, we quantify plastics among the digestive contents of 18 Laysan Albatrosses and 29 Black-footed Albatrosses collected as by-catch in the North Pacific Ocean. We found ingested plastic in 30 of the 47 birds examined, with Laysan Albatrosses exhibiting a greater frequency of plastic ingestion (83.3% n=18) than Black-footed Albatrosses (51.7% n=29) (X(2)=4.8, df=1, P=0.03). Though the mass of ingested plastic in both species (mean±SD=0.463g±1.447) was lower than previously noted among albatross chicks, the high frequency of ingested plastic we found in this study suggests that long-term effects, e.g. absorption of contaminants from plastics, may be of concern throughout the population. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Eye structure and amphibious foraging in albatrosses

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Martin, G. R.

1998-01-01

Anterior eye structure and retinal visual fields were determined in grey-headed and black-browed albatrosses, Diomedea melanophris and D. chrysostoma (Procellariiformes, Diomedeidae), using keratometry and an ophthalmoscopic reflex technique. Results for the two species were very similar and indicate that the eyes are of an amphibious optical design suggesting that albatross vision is well suited to the visual pursuit of active prey both on and below the ocean surface. The corneas are relatively flat (radius ca. 14.5 mm) and hence of low absolute refractive power (ca. 23 dioptres). In air the binocular fields are relatively long (vertical extent ca. 70 degrees) and narrow (maximum width in the plane of the optic axes 26–32 degrees), a topography found in a range of bird species that employ visual guidance of bill position when foraging. The cyclopean fields measure approximately 270 degrees in the horizontal plane, but there is a 60 degrees blind sector above the head owing to the positioning of the eyes below the protruding supraorbital ridges. Upon immersion the monocular fields decrease in width such that the binocular fields are abolished. Anterior eye structure, and visual field topography in both air and water, show marked similarity with those of the Humboldt penguin.

Recent population trends of sooty and light-mantled albatrosses ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Given the greater conservation concern for the sooty albatross, we recommend that dedicated annual counts be conducted during the early incubation period, and be repeated shortly after the chicks hatch (late December), mid-way through the nestling period (late February) and prior to fledging (late April), to give a better ...

Avian Pox Discovered in the Critically Endangered Waved Albatross (Phoebastria irrorata) from the Galápagos Islands, Ecuador.

Science.gov (United States)

Tompkins, Emily M; Anderson, David J; Pabilonia, Kristy L; Huyvaert, Kathryn P

2017-10-01

The Waved Albatross (Phoebastria irrorata) is a critically endangered seabird in a rapidly shrinking population in the Galápagos Islands, Ecuador. The introduction of novel pathogens and parasites poses a threat to population persistence. Monitoring disease prevalence and guarding against the spread of such agents in endemic taxa are conservation priorities for the Galápagos, where recent increases in the prevalence of avian pox may have contributed to population declines and range contractions in other bird species. During November 2013-January 2014, we identified 14 Waved Albatross nestlings at our study site on Española Island with avian pox-like lesions and clinical signs. Other seabirds, landbirds, and adult Waved Albatrosses were apparently unaffected. Histopathology of tissue samples from five infected nestlings revealed inclusion bodies in all samples, consistent with avipoxvirus infection. We documented higher mortality (6 of 14 nestlings) in affected nestlings than in unaffected young in this small outbreak of avian pox, the first report of its kind in the world's only tropical albatross.

Fibrous osteodystrophy in two Northern Royal albatross chicks (Diomedea sanfordi).

Science.gov (United States)

Morgan, K J; Alley, M R; Gartrell, B D; Thompson, K G; Perriman, L

2011-09-01

In February 2004, two Northern Royal albatross chicks aged 20 and 25 days old were presented for necropsy. Both chicks had been hand-fed in situ at a breeding colony, from 2-3 days post-hatch. The hand-rearing diet consisted of boneless hoki fillets (Macraronus novaezelandiae), electrolytes, and sooty shearwater (Puffinus griseus) proventricular oil obtained as a by-product of cultural harvest. Routine necropsies on the affected chicks revealed many bones were soft and easily bent. Radiography and histopathology revealed decreased bone density, pathological fractures, and extensive remodelling suggestive of fibrous osteodystrophy. Nutritional secondary hyperparathyroidism, resulting from an imbalance in the dietary Ca:P ratio. The imbalance in the dietary Ca:P ratio was a result of feeding deboned and eviscerated fish. This investigation also highlighted potential health risks associated with the practice of feeding stored rancid proventricular oil, including the destruction of fat-soluble vitamins. It is therefore possible that oxidative degradation of vitamin D may have contributed to the development of nutritional secondary hyperparathyroidism. Subsequently, dietary recommendations for supplementary feeding of orphaned Northern Royal albatross chicks include the feeding of whole human-grade fish with an appropriate Ca:P ratio, and the exclusion of proventricular oil. These cases highlight the need for scientific input into wildlife conservation projects, as lack of appropriate nutritional advice resulted in the feeding of a nutritionally inadequate diet. Following the recommended changes in diet, no further cases of osteodystrophy have been diagnosed in hand-raised chicks in the albatross colony.

Compaction and evolution of rock properties and rock physics diagnostics of Albatross discovery, SW Barents Sea

OpenAIRE

Butt, Arif

2012-01-01

The Albatross discovery is located approximately 140 km northwest of Hammerfest (city of midnight sun), Norway in the central part of Hammerfest Basin, SW Barents Sea. The Albatross discovery included within Snøhvit field development project (the first gas development project in the Barents Sea) with two other discoveries, Snøhvit and Askeladd, in the area. The reservoirs contain gas and condensate in the Lower and Middle Jurassic sandstones of the Stø Formation. The study focuses compaction ...

The anatomy of a (potential) disaster: Volcanoes, behavior, and population viability of the short-tailed albatross (Phoebastria albatrus)

Science.gov (United States)

Finkelstein, M.E.; Wolf, S.; Goldman, M.; Doak, D.F.; Sievert, P.R.; Balogh, G.; Hasegawa, H.

2010-01-01

Catastrophic events, either from natural (e.g., hurricane) or human-induced (e.g., forest clear-cut) processes, are a well-known threat to wild populations. However, our lack of knowledge about population-level effects of catastrophic events has inhibited the careful examination of how catastrophes affect population growth and persistence. For the critically endangered short-tailed albatross (Phoebastria albatrus), episodic volcanic eruptions are considered a serious catastrophic threat since approximately 80% of the global population of ???2500 birds (in 2006) currently breeds on an active volcano, Torishima Island. We evaluated how short-tailed albatross population persistence is affected by the catastrophic threat of a volcanic eruption relative to chronic threats. We also provide an example for overcoming the seemingly overwhelming problems created by modelling the population dynamics of a species with limited demographic data by incorporating uncertainty in our analysis. As such, we constructed a stochastic age-based matrix model that incorporated both catastrophic mortality due to volcanic eruptions and chronic mortality from several potential sources (e.g., contaminant exposure, fisheries bycatch) to determine the relative effects of these two types of threats on short-tailed albatross population growth and persistence. Modest increases (1%) in chronic (annual) mortality had a 2.5-fold greater effect on predicted short-tailed albatross stochastic population growth rate (lambda) than did the occurrence of periodic volcanic eruptions that follow historic eruption frequencies (annual probability of eruption 2.2%). Our work demonstrates that periodic catastrophic volcanic eruptions, despite their dramatic nature, are less likely to affect the population viability and recovery of short-tailed albatross than low-level chronic mortality. ?? 2009 Elsevier Ltd.

Birds gone wild: same-sex parenting in albatross.

Science.gov (United States)

Zuk, Marlene; Bailey, Nathan W

2008-12-01

Same-sex behavior in animals fascinates scientists as well as laypeople, partly because of implications about sexual orientation in humans. After all, if animals engage in homosexuality, can it be dismissed as 'unnatural'? A recent paper by Young and colleagues documents long-term female pairs in >30% of Laysan albatross on the Hawaiian island of Oahu. The unrelated females bred successfully, challenging ideas about cooperative breeding, alternative reproductive strategies and perhaps even the evolution of sexual orientation.

Effects of Climate Change and Fisheries Bycatch on Shy Albatross (Thalassarche cauta) in Southern Australia.

Science.gov (United States)

Thomson, Robin B; Alderman, Rachael L; Tuck, Geoffrey N; Hobday, Alistair J

2015-01-01

The impacts of climate change on marine species are often compounded by other stressors that make direct attribution and prediction difficult. Shy albatrosses (Thalassarche cauta) breeding on Albatross Island, Tasmania, show an unusually restricted foraging range, allowing easier discrimination between the influence of non-climate stressors (fisheries bycatch) and environmental variation. Local environmental conditions (rainfall, air temperature, and sea-surface height, an indicator of upwelling) during the vulnerable chick-rearing stage, have been correlated with breeding success of shy albatrosses. We use an age-, stage- and sex-structured population model to explore potential relationships between local environmental factors and albatross breeding success while accounting for fisheries bycatch by trawl and longline fisheries. The model uses time-series of observed breeding population counts, breeding success, adult and juvenile survival rates and a bycatch mortality observation for trawl fishing to estimate fisheries catchability, environmental influence, natural mortality rate, density dependence, and productivity. Observed at-sea distributions for adult and juvenile birds were coupled with reported fishing effort to estimate vulnerability to incidental bycatch. The inclusion of rainfall, temperature and sea-surface height as explanatory variables for annual chick mortality rate was statistically significant. Global climate models predict little change in future local average rainfall, however, increases are forecast in both temperatures and upwelling, which are predicted to have detrimental and beneficial effects, respectively, on breeding success. The model shows that mitigation of at least 50% of present bycatch is required to offset losses due to future temperature changes, even if upwelling increases substantially. Our results highlight the benefits of using an integrated modeling approach, which uses available demographic as well as environmental data

Effects of Climate Change and Fisheries Bycatch on Shy Albatross (Thalassarche cauta in Southern Australia.

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Robin B Thomson

Full Text Available The impacts of climate change on marine species are often compounded by other stressors that make direct attribution and prediction difficult. Shy albatrosses (Thalassarche cauta breeding on Albatross Island, Tasmania, show an unusually restricted foraging range, allowing easier discrimination between the influence of non-climate stressors (fisheries bycatch and environmental variation. Local environmental conditions (rainfall, air temperature, and sea-surface height, an indicator of upwelling during the vulnerable chick-rearing stage, have been correlated with breeding success of shy albatrosses. We use an age-, stage- and sex-structured population model to explore potential relationships between local environmental factors and albatross breeding success while accounting for fisheries bycatch by trawl and longline fisheries. The model uses time-series of observed breeding population counts, breeding success, adult and juvenile survival rates and a bycatch mortality observation for trawl fishing to estimate fisheries catchability, environmental influence, natural mortality rate, density dependence, and productivity. Observed at-sea distributions for adult and juvenile birds were coupled with reported fishing effort to estimate vulnerability to incidental bycatch. The inclusion of rainfall, temperature and sea-surface height as explanatory variables for annual chick mortality rate was statistically significant. Global climate models predict little change in future local average rainfall, however, increases are forecast in both temperatures and upwelling, which are predicted to have detrimental and beneficial effects, respectively, on breeding success. The model shows that mitigation of at least 50% of present bycatch is required to offset losses due to future temperature changes, even if upwelling increases substantially. Our results highlight the benefits of using an integrated modeling approach, which uses available demographic as well as

Mobile Incubation in Waved Albatross (Phoebastria irrorata: Associated Hatching Failure and Artificial Mitigation

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Jill A. Awkerman

2005-12-01

Full Text Available Waved albatrosses often relocate their eggs during incubation by placing the egg between the tarsi and shuffling forward. This behavior frequently results in eggs becoming lodged between rocks, accounting for at least 10%, and perhaps as much as 80%, of breeding failures. Because albatross populations worldwide are currently threatened, artificial means of augmenting reproductive success may be necessary to mitigate losses caused by anthropogenic effects. We characterize the frequency and extent of egg movement; test several hypotheses related to microhabitat, timing, and incubation location to explain the behavior; and investigate the utility of repositioning lodged eggs in a location in which breeding birds might resume incubation. Egg rescue increased both the likelihood of continued incubation as well as the hatching rate in our experiment, and provides an efficient, low-cost management option for this species.

Flying at no mechanical energy cost: disclosing the secret of wandering albatrosses.

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Gottfried Sachs

Full Text Available Albatrosses do something that no other birds are able to do: fly thousands of kilometres at no mechanical cost. This is possible because they use dynamic soaring, a flight mode that enables them to gain the energy required for flying from wind. Until now, the physical mechanisms of the energy gain in terms of the energy transfer from the wind to the bird were mostly unknown. Here we show that the energy gain is achieved by a dynamic flight manoeuvre consisting of a continually repeated up-down curve with optimal adjustment to the wind. We determined the energy obtained from the wind by analysing the measured trajectories of free flying birds using a new GPS-signal tracking method yielding a high precision. Our results reveal an evolutionary adaptation to an extreme environment, and may support recent biologically inspired research on robotic aircraft that might utilize albatrosses' flight technique for engineless propulsion.

Vultures of the seas: hyperacidic stomachs in wandering albatrosses as an adaptation to dispersed food resources, including fishery wastes.

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David Grémillet

Full Text Available Animals are primarily limited by their capacity to acquire food, yet digestive performance also conditions energy acquisition, and ultimately fitness. Optimal foraging theory predicts that organisms feeding on patchy resources should maximize their food loads within each patch, and should digest these loads quickly to minimize travelling costs between food patches. We tested the prediction of high digestive performance in wandering albatrosses, which can ingest prey of up to 3 kg, and feed on highly dispersed food resources across the southern ocean. GPS-tracking of 40 wandering albatrosses from the Crozet archipelago during the incubation phase confirmed foraging movements of between 475-4705 km, which give birds access to a variety of prey, including fishery wastes. Moreover, using miniaturized, autonomous data recorders placed in the stomach of three birds, we performed the first-ever measurements of gastric pH and temperature in procellariformes. These revealed surprisingly low pH levels (average 1.50±0.13, markedly lower than in other seabirds, and comparable to those of vultures feeding on carrion. Such low stomach pH gives wandering albatrosses a strategic advantage since it allows them a rapid chemical breakdown of ingested food and therefore a rapid digestion. This is useful for feeding on patchy, natural prey, but also on fishery wastes, which might be an important additional food resource for wandering albatrosses.

Anatomy and histochemistry of spread-wing posture in birds. 3. Immunohistochemistry of flight muscles and the "shoulder lock" in albatrosses.

Science.gov (United States)

Meyers, Ron A; Stakebake, Eric F

2005-01-01

As a postural behavior, gliding and soaring flight in birds requires less energy than flapping flight. Slow tonic and slow twitch muscle fibers are specialized for sustained contraction with high fatigue resistance and are typically found in muscles associated with posture. Albatrosses are the elite of avian gliders; as such, we wanted to learn how their musculoskeletal system enables them to maintain spread-wing posture for prolonged gliding bouts. We used dissection and immunohistochemistry to evaluate muscle function for gliding flight in Laysan and Black-footed albatrosses. Albatrosses possess a locking mechanism at the shoulder composed of a tendinous sheet that extends from origin to insertion throughout the length of the deep layer of the pectoralis muscle. This fascial "strut" passively maintains horizontal wing orientation during gliding and soaring flight. A number of muscles, which likely facilitate gliding posture, are composed exclusively of slow fibers. These include Mm. coracobrachialis cranialis, extensor metacarpi radialis dorsalis, and deep pectoralis. In addition, a number of other muscles, including triceps scapularis, triceps humeralis, supracoracoideus, and extensor metacarpi radialis ventralis, were found to have populations of slow fibers. We believe that this extensive suite of uniformly slow muscles is associated with sustained gliding and is unique to birds that glide and soar for extended periods. These findings suggest that albatrosses utilize a combination of slow muscle fibers and a rigid limiting tendon for maintaining a prolonged, gliding posture.

Ingested plastic as a route for trace metals in Laysan Albatross (Phoebastria immutabilis) and Bonin Petrel (Pterodroma hypoleuca) from Midway Atoll.

Science.gov (United States)

Lavers, Jennifer L; Bond, Alexander L

2016-09-15

Seabirds are declining faster than any other group of birds, with plastic ingestion and associated contaminants linked to negative impacts on marine wildlife, including >170 seabird species. To provide quantitative data on the effects of plastic pollution, we sampled feathers and stomach contents from Laysan Albatross (Phoebastria immutabilis) and Bonin Petrel (Pterodroma hypoleuca) on Midway Atoll, North Pacific Ocean, and assessed our ability to detect change over time by synthesizing previous studies. Between 25 and 100% of fledglings exceed international targets for plastic ingestion by seabirds. High levels of ingested plastic were correlated with increased concentrations of chlorine, iron, lead, manganese, and rubidium in feathers. The frequency of plastic ingestion by Laysan Albatross and concentration of some elements in both species is increasing, suggesting deterioration in the health of the marine environment. Variability in the frequency of plastic ingestion by Laysan Albatross may limit their utility as an indicator species. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Temporal variability in shell mound formation at Albatross Bay, northern Australia.

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Simon J Holdaway

Full Text Available We report the results of 212 radiocarbon determinations from the archaeological excavation of 70 shell mound deposits in the Wathayn region of Albatross Bay, Australia. This is an intensive study of a closely co-located group of mounds within a geographically restricted area in a wider region where many more shell mounds have been reported. Valves from the bivalve Tegillarca granosa (Linnaeus, 1758 were dated. The dates obtained are used to calculate rates of accumulation for the shell mound deposits. These demonstrate highly variable rates of accumulation both within and between mounds. We assess these results in relation to likely mechanisms of shell deposition and show that rates of deposition are affected by time-dependent processes both during the accumulation of shell deposits and during their subsequent deformation. This complicates the interpretation of the rates at which shell mound deposits appear to have accumulated. At Wathayn, there is little temporal or spatial consistency in the rates at which mounds accumulated. Comparisons between the Wathayn results and those obtained from shell deposits elsewhere, both in the wider Albatross Bay region and worldwide, suggest the need for caution when deriving behavioural inferences from shell mound deposition rates, and the need for more comprehensive sampling of individual mounds and groups of mounds.

High feather mercury concentrations in the wandering albatross are related to sex, breeding status and trophic ecology with no demographic consequences

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bustamante, Paco, E-mail: pbustama@univ-lr.fr [Littoral Environnement et Sociétés (LIENSs), UMR 7266 CNRS-Université de la Rochelle, 2 rue Olympe de Gouges, 17000 La Rochelle (France); Carravieri, Alice [Littoral Environnement et Sociétés (LIENSs), UMR 7266 CNRS-Université de la Rochelle, 2 rue Olympe de Gouges, 17000 La Rochelle (France); Centre d’Etudes Biologiques de Chizé (CEBC), UMR 7372 du Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique-Université de La Rochelle, 79360 Villiers-en-Bois (France); Goutte, Aurélie [Centre d’Etudes Biologiques de Chizé (CEBC), UMR 7372 du Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique-Université de La Rochelle, 79360 Villiers-en-Bois (France); École Pratique des Hautes Études (EPHE), SPL, UPMC Université Paris 06, UMR 7619 METIS, F-75005, 4 place Jussieu, Paris (France); Barbraud, Christophe; Delord, Karine; Chastel, Olivier; Weimerskirch, Henri; Cherel, Yves [Centre d’Etudes Biologiques de Chizé (CEBC), UMR 7372 du Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique-Université de La Rochelle, 79360 Villiers-en-Bois (France)

2016-01-15

Hg can affect physiology of seabirds and ultimately their demography, particularly if they are top consumers. In the present study, body feathers of >200 wandering albatrosses from Possession Island in the Crozet archipelago were used to explore the potential demographic effects of the long-term exposure to Hg on an apex predator. Variations of Hg with sex, age class, foraging habitat (inferred from δ{sup 13}C values), and feeding habits (inferred from δ{sup 15}N values) were examined as well as the influence of Hg on current breeding output, long-term fecundity and survival. Wandering albatrosses displayed among the highest Hg feather concentrations reported for seabirds, ranging from 5.9 to 95 µg g{sup −1}, as a consequence of their high trophic position (δ{sup 15}N values). These concentrations fall within the same range of those of other wandering albatross populations from subantarctic sites, suggesting that this species has similar exposure to Hg all around the Southern Ocean. In both immature and adult albatrosses, females had higher Hg concentrations than males (28 vs. 20 µg g{sup −1} dw on average, respectively), probably as a consequence of females foraging at lower latitudes than males (δ{sup 13}C values). Hg concentrations were higher in immature than in adult birds, and they remained fairly constant across a wide range of ages in adults. Such high levels in immature individuals question (i) the frequency of moult in young birds, (ii) the efficiency of Hg detoxification processes in immatures compared to adults, and (iii) importantly the potential detrimental effects of Hg in early life. Despite very high Hg concentrations in their feathers, neither effects on adults' breeding probability, hatching failure and fledgling failure, nor on adults' survival rate were detected, suggesting that long-term bioaccumulated Hg was not under a chemical form leading to deleterious effects on reproductive parameters in adult individuals

High feather mercury concentrations in the wandering albatross are related to sex, breeding status and trophic ecology with no demographic consequences

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bustamante, Paco; Carravieri, Alice; Goutte, Aurélie; Barbraud, Christophe; Delord, Karine; Chastel, Olivier; Weimerskirch, Henri; Cherel, Yves

2016-01-01

Hg can affect physiology of seabirds and ultimately their demography, particularly if they are top consumers. In the present study, body feathers of >200 wandering albatrosses from Possession Island in the Crozet archipelago were used to explore the potential demographic effects of the long-term exposure to Hg on an apex predator. Variations of Hg with sex, age class, foraging habitat (inferred from δ 13 C values), and feeding habits (inferred from δ 15 N values) were examined as well as the influence of Hg on current breeding output, long-term fecundity and survival. Wandering albatrosses displayed among the highest Hg feather concentrations reported for seabirds, ranging from 5.9 to 95 µg g −1 , as a consequence of their high trophic position (δ 15 N values). These concentrations fall within the same range of those of other wandering albatross populations from subantarctic sites, suggesting that this species has similar exposure to Hg all around the Southern Ocean. In both immature and adult albatrosses, females had higher Hg concentrations than males (28 vs. 20 µg g −1 dw on average, respectively), probably as a consequence of females foraging at lower latitudes than males (δ 13 C values). Hg concentrations were higher in immature than in adult birds, and they remained fairly constant across a wide range of ages in adults. Such high levels in immature individuals question (i) the frequency of moult in young birds, (ii) the efficiency of Hg detoxification processes in immatures compared to adults, and (iii) importantly the potential detrimental effects of Hg in early life. Despite very high Hg concentrations in their feathers, neither effects on adults' breeding probability, hatching failure and fledgling failure, nor on adults' survival rate were detected, suggesting that long-term bioaccumulated Hg was not under a chemical form leading to deleterious effects on reproductive parameters in adult individuals. - Highlights: • Immature

Demographic Responses to Oxidative Stress and Inflammation in the Wandering Albatross (Diomedea exulans.

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David Costantini

Full Text Available One of the major challenges in ecological research is the elucidation of physiological mechanisms that underlie the demographic traits of wild animals. We have assessed whether a marker of plasma oxidative stress (TBARS and plasma haptoglobin (protein of the acute inflammatory phase response measured at time t predict five demographic parameters (survival rate, return rate to the breeding colony, breeding probability, hatching and fledging success in sexually mature wandering albatrosses over the next four years (Diomedea exulans using a five-year individual-based dataset. Non-breeder males, but not females, having higher TBARS at time t had reduced future breeding probabilities; haptoglobin was not related to breeding probability. Neither TBARS nor haptoglobin predicted future hatching or fledging success. Haptoglobin had a marginally positive effect on female survival rate, while TBARS had a marginally negative effect on return rate. Our findings do not support the role for oxidative stress as a constraint of future reproductive success in the albatross. However, our data point to a potential mechanism underlying some aspects of reproductive senescence and survival. Our results also highlight that the study of the consequences of oxidative stress should consider the life-cycle stage of an individual and its reproductive history.

Albatrosses following fishing vessels: how badly hooked are they on an easy meal?

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José P Granadeiro

Full Text Available Fisheries have major impacts on seabirds, both by changing food availability and by causing direct mortality of birds during trawling and longline setting. However, little is known about the nature and the spatial-temporal extent of the interactions between individual birds and vessels. By studying a system in which we had fine-scale data on bird movements and activity, and near real-time information on vessel distribution, we provide new insights on the association of a threatened albatross with fisheries. During early chick-rearing, black-browed albatrosses Thalassarche melanophris from two different colonies (separated by only 75 km showed significant differences in the degree of association with fisheries, despite being nearly equidistant to the Falklands fishing fleet. Most foraging trips from either colony did not bring tracked individuals close to vessels, and proportionally little time and foraging effort was spent near ships. Nevertheless, a few individuals repeatedly visited fishing vessels, which may indicate they specialise on fisheries-linked food sources and so are potentially more vulnerable to bycatch. The evidence suggests that this population has little reliance on fisheries discards at a critical stage of its nesting cycle, and hence measures to limit fisheries waste on the Patagonian shelf that also reduce vessel attractiveness and the risk of incidental mortality, would be of high overall conservation benefit.

Role of wing color and seasonal changes in ambient temperature and solar irradiation on predicted flight efficiency of the Albatross.

Science.gov (United States)

Hassanalian, M; Throneberry, G; Ali, M; Ben Ayed, S; Abdelkefi, A

2018-01-01

Drag reduction of the wings of migrating birds is crucial to their flight efficiency. Wing color impacts absorption of solar irradiation which may affect drag but there is little known in this area. To this end, the drag reduction induced by the thermal effect of the wing color of migrating birds with unpowered flight modes is presented in this study. Considering this natural phenomenon in the albatross as an example of migrating birds, and applying an energy balance for this biological system, a thermal analysis is performed on the wings during the summer and winter to obtain different ranges of air density, viscosity, and wing surface temperature brought about from a range of ambient temperatures and climatic conditions seen in different seasons and to study their effects. The exact shape of the albatross wing is used and nine different wing colors are considered in order to gain a better understanding of the effect different colors' absorptivities make on the change in aerodynamic performances. The thermal effect is found to be more important during the summer than during the winter due to the higher values of solar irradiation and a maximum drag reduction of 7.8% is found in summer changing the wing color from light white to dark black. The obtained results show that albatrosses with darker colored wings are more efficient (constant lift to drag ratio and drag reduction) and have better endurance due to this drag reduction. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Trends and tactics of mouse predation on Tristan Albatross Diomedea dabbenena chicks at Gough Island, South Atlantic Ocean

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Delia Davies

2015-06-01

Full Text Available The critically endangered Tristan Albatross Diomedea dabbenena breeds almost exclusively on Gough Island, in the central South Atlantic, where breeding success is much lower than other great albatrosses (Diomedea spp. worldwide. Most breeding failures occur during the chick-rearing stage, when other great albatrosses suffer few failures. This unusual pattern of breeding failure is assumed to be largely due to predation by introduced house mice Mus musculus, but there have been few direct observations of mouse attacks. We closely monitored the fates of 20 chicks in the Gonydale study colony (123 chicks in 2014 using motion-activated cameras to determine the causes of chick mortality. Only 5 of 20 chicks survived to fledge, and of the 15 failures, 14 (93% were due to mouse predation. One mouse-wounded chick was killed by a Southern Giant Petrel Macronectes giganteus; the rest died outright from their wounds within 3.9 ± 1.2 days of the first attack. Despite this high impact, most chicks were attacked by only 1-2 mice at once (maximum 9. The remaining 103 chicks in the study colony were checked less frequently, but the timing of failures was broadly similar to the 20 closely monitored nests, and the presence of mouse wounds on other chicks strongly suggests that mice were responsible for most chick deaths. Breeding success in the Gonydale study colony averages 28% from 2001 to 2014; far lower than the normal range of breeding success of Diomedea species occurring on islands free from introduced predators. Island-wide breeding success fell below 10% for the first time in 2014, making it even more urgent to eradicate mice from Gough Island.

Bringing home the trash: do colony-based differences in foraging distribution lead to increased plastic ingestion in Laysan albatrosses?

Science.gov (United States)

Young, Lindsay C; Vanderlip, Cynthia; Duffy, David C; Afanasyev, Vsevolod; Shaffer, Scott A

2009-10-28

When searching for prey, animals should maximize energetic gain, while minimizing energy expenditure by altering their movements relative to prey availability. However, with increasing amounts of marine debris, what once may have been 'optimal' foraging strategies for top marine predators, are leading to sub-optimal diets comprised in large part of plastic. Indeed, the highly vagile Laysan albatross (Phoebastria immutabilis) which forages throughout the North Pacific, are well known for their tendency to ingest plastic. Here we examine whether Laysan albatrosses nesting on Kure Atoll and Oahu Island, 2,150 km apart, experience different levels of plastic ingestion. Twenty two geolocators were deployed on breeding adults for up to two years. Regurgitated boluses of undigestable material were also collected from chicks at each site to compare the amount of plastic vs. natural foods. Chicks from Kure Atoll were fed almost ten times the amount of plastic compared to chicks from Oahu despite boluses from both colonies having similar amounts of natural food. Tracking data indicated that adults from either colony did not have core overlapping distributions during the early half of the breeding period and that adults from Kure had a greater overlap with the putative range of the Western Garbage Patch corroborating our observation of higher plastic loads at this colony. At-sea distributions also varied throughout the year suggesting that Laysan albatrosses either adjusted their foraging behavior according to constraints on time away from the nest or to variation in resources. However, in the non-breeding season, distributional overlap was greater indicating that the energy required to reach the foraging grounds was less important than the total energy available. These results demonstrate how a marine predator that is not dispersal limited alters its foraging strategy throughout the reproductive cycle to maximize energetic gain and how this has led to differences in plastic

Bringing home the trash: do colony-based differences in foraging distribution lead to increased plastic ingestion in Laysan albatrosses?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lindsay C Young

Full Text Available When searching for prey, animals should maximize energetic gain, while minimizing energy expenditure by altering their movements relative to prey availability. However, with increasing amounts of marine debris, what once may have been 'optimal' foraging strategies for top marine predators, are leading to sub-optimal diets comprised in large part of plastic. Indeed, the highly vagile Laysan albatross (Phoebastria immutabilis which forages throughout the North Pacific, are well known for their tendency to ingest plastic. Here we examine whether Laysan albatrosses nesting on Kure Atoll and Oahu Island, 2,150 km apart, experience different levels of plastic ingestion. Twenty two geolocators were deployed on breeding adults for up to two years. Regurgitated boluses of undigestable material were also collected from chicks at each site to compare the amount of plastic vs. natural foods. Chicks from Kure Atoll were fed almost ten times the amount of plastic compared to chicks from Oahu despite boluses from both colonies having similar amounts of natural food. Tracking data indicated that adults from either colony did not have core overlapping distributions during the early half of the breeding period and that adults from Kure had a greater overlap with the putative range of the Western Garbage Patch corroborating our observation of higher plastic loads at this colony. At-sea distributions also varied throughout the year suggesting that Laysan albatrosses either adjusted their foraging behavior according to constraints on time away from the nest or to variation in resources. However, in the non-breeding season, distributional overlap was greater indicating that the energy required to reach the foraging grounds was less important than the total energy available. These results demonstrate how a marine predator that is not dispersal limited alters its foraging strategy throughout the reproductive cycle to maximize energetic gain and how this has led to

Underway physical and meteorological data collected aboard NOAA Ship ALBATROSS IV in the Northwest Atlantic from 2007-05-08 to 2007-06-11 (NODC Accession 0020395)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Underway physical and meteorological data were collected using thermosalinograph and meteorological sensors from NOAA Ship ALBATROSS IV in the NW Atlantic Ocean from...

How quickly do albatrosses and petrels digest plastic particles?

Science.gov (United States)

Ryan, Peter G

2015-12-01

Understanding how rapidly seabirds excrete or regurgitate ingested plastic items is important for their use as monitors of marine debris. van Franeker and Law (2015) inferred that fulmarine petrels excrete ∼75% of plastic particles within a month of ingestion based on decreases in the amounts of plastic in the stomachs of adult petrels moving to relatively clean environments to breed. However, similar decreases occur among resident species due to adults passing plastic loads to their chicks. The few direct measures of wear rates and retention times of persistent stomach contents suggest longer plastic residence times in most albatrosses and petrels. Residence time presumably varies with item size, type of plastic, the amount and composition of other persistent stomach contents, and the size at which items are excreted, which may vary among taxa. Accurate measures of ingested plastic retention times are needed to better understand temporal and spatial patterns in ingested plastic loads within marine organisms, especially if they are to be used as indicators of plastic pollution trends. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Bringing home the trash: Do colony-based differences in foraging distribution lead to increased plastic ingestion in Laysan albatrosses?

OpenAIRE

Young, Lindsay C.; Vanderlip, Cynthia; Duffy, David C.; Afanasyev, Vsevolod; Shaffer, Scott A.

2009-01-01

When searching for prey, animals should maximize energetic gain, while minimizing energy expenditure by altering their movements relative to prey availability. However, with increasing amounts of marine debris, what once may have been 'optimal' foraging strategies for top marine predators, are leading to sub-optimal diets comprised in large part of plastic. Indeed, the highly vagile Laysan albatross (Phoebastria immutabilis) which forages throughout the North Pacific, are well known for their...

Underway physical and meteorological data collected aboard NOAA Ship ALBATROSS IV in the Northwest Atlantic from 1999-11-01 to 2001-05-25 (NODC Accession 0000543)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Physical, meteorological, and other data were collected in the NW Atlantic (limit-40W) from NOAA Ship ALBATROSS IV from 01 November 1999 to 25 May 2001. Data were...

Underway physical and meteorological data collected aboard NOAA Ship ALBATROSS IV in the North Pacific and Bay of Fundy from 2005-08-13 to 2005-11-04 (NODC Accession 0002440)

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National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Temperature profile, conductivity, and wind direction/speed data were collected using meteorological sensors and CTD casts from NOAA Ship ALBATROSS IV in the North...

The albatross plot: A novel graphical tool for presenting results of diversely reported studies in a systematic review.

Science.gov (United States)

Harrison, Sean; Jones, Hayley E; Martin, Richard M; Lewis, Sarah J; Higgins, Julian P T

2017-09-01

Meta-analyses combine the results of multiple studies of a common question. Approaches based on effect size estimates from each study are generally regarded as the most informative. However, these methods can only be used if comparable effect sizes can be computed from each study, and this may not be the case due to variation in how the studies were done or limitations in how their results were reported. Other methods, such as vote counting, are then used to summarize the results of these studies, but most of these methods are limited in that they do not provide any indication of the magnitude of effect. We propose a novel plot, the albatross plot, which requires only a 1-sided P value and a total sample size from each study (or equivalently a 2-sided P value, direction of effect and total sample size). The plot allows an approximate examination of underlying effect sizes and the potential to identify sources of heterogeneity across studies. This is achieved by drawing contours showing the range of effect sizes that might lead to each P value for given sample sizes, under simple study designs. We provide examples of albatross plots using data from previous meta-analyses, allowing for comparison of results, and an example from when a meta-analysis was not possible. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Research Synthesis Methods Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

BAROMETRIC PRESSURE and Other Data from NOAA Ship ALBATROSS IV and Other Platforms From NW Atlantic (limit-40 W) from 1995-02-11 to 1995-07-20 (NODC Accession 9600140)

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National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Hydrochemical, hydrophysical, and other data were collected from the ENDEAVOR and NOAA Ship ALBATROSS IV from February 11, 1995 to July 20, 1995. Data were submitted...

Physical, meteorological and profile data from NOAA Ship ALBATROSS IV and R/V ENDEAVOR in the Northwest Atlantic (limit-40 W) from 1992-07-12 to 1996-06-11 (NODC Accession 9700037)

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National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Hydrophysical, hydrochemical, and other data were collected from the ALBATROSS 4 and ENDEAVOR from July 18, 1992 to June 11, 1996. Data were submitted by Dr. Thomas...

Temperature profiles from XBT casts from NOAA Ship ALBATROSS IV as part of the Marine Resources Monitoring, Assessment and Prediction (MARMAP) project from 1984-04-17 to 1984-06-02 (NODC Accession 8400111)

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National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Temperature profiles were collected from XBT casts from NOAA Ship ALBATROSS IV from 17 April 1984 to 02 June 1984. Data were collected by the National Marine...

Conductivity, temperature, depth, and salinity from NOAA Ship ALBATROSS IV and other platforms from the Northwest Atlantic Ocean (limit-40 W) and others from 1992-03-03 to 1996-06-25 (NODC Accession 9600124)

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National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Hydrochemical, hydrophysical, and other data were collected from NOAA Ship ALBATROSS IV from March 3, 1992 to June 25, 1996. Data were submitted by Dr. David...

Chlorophyll a and Other Data from NOAA Ship ALBATROSS IV and other platforms as part of the Marine Resources Monitoring, Assessment and Prediction (MARMAP) project from 1977-03-16 to 1985-06-04 (NODC Accession 9800126)

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National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Chlorophyll a and other data were collected from NOAA Ship ALBATROSS IV and other platforms from 16 March 1977 to 04 June 1985. Data were collected by the University...

Temperature profiles from mechanical bathythermograph (MBT) casts from the USS ALBATROSS in the East China Sea in support of the Fleet Observations of Oceanographic Data (FLOOD) project from 1963-03-30 to 1963-05-31 (NODC Accession 6300736)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — MBT data were collected from the USS ALBATROSS in support of the Fleet Observations of Oceanographic Data (FLOOD) project. Data were collected by US Navy; Ships of...

Oceanographic profile, temperature, salinity and other measurements collected using bottle from NOAA Ship ALBATROSS IV 2/27/63-PRESENT, OCEANUS and other platforms in the Coastal N Atlantic and North Atlantic from 1997 to 1999 (NODC Accession 0000522)

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National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Temperature profile and nutrients data were collected using bottle casts from the OCEANUS and NOAA Ship ALBATROSS IV in the Georges Bank. Data were collected from 14...

Oceanographic Station Data and temperature profiles from XBT, CTD, and bottle casts from NOAA Ship ALBATROSS IV as part of the Marine Resources Monitoring, Assessment and Prediction (MARMAP) from 1974-03-13 to 1975-05-12 (NODC Accession 7600874)

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National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Oceanographic Station Data and temperature profiles were collected from XBT, CTD, and bottle casts from NOAA Ship ALBATROSS IV from 13 March 1974 to 12 May 1975....

Young parents produce offspring with short telomeres: A study in a long-lived bird, the Black-browed Albatross (Thalassarche melanophrys)

Science.gov (United States)

Barbraud, Christophe; Chastel, Olivier; Delord, Karine; Ruault, Stéphanie; Weimerskirch, Henri; Angelier, Frédéric

2018-01-01

In wild vertebrates, young parents are less likely to successfully rear offspring relative to older ones because of lower parental skills (‘the constraint hypothesis’), lower parental investment (‘the restraint hypothesis’) or because of a progressive disappearance of lower-quality individuals at young ages (‘the selection hypothesis’). Because it is practically difficult to follow an offspring during its entire life, most studies have only focused on the ability of individuals to breed or produce young, while neglecting the ability of such young to subsequently survive and reproduce. Several proxies of individual quality can be useful to assess the ability of young to survive and recruit into the population. Among them, telomere length measurement appears especially promising because telomere length has been linked to longevity and fitness in captive and wild animals. By sampling 51 chicks reared by known-aged parents, we specifically tested whether parental age was correlated to offspring telomere length and body condition in a long-lived bird species, the Black-browed Albatross (Thalassarche melanophrys). Young Black-browed albatrosses produced chicks with shorter telomere relative to those raised by older ones. Short offspring telomeres could result from poor developmental conditions or heritability of telomere length. Moreover, young parents also had chicks of lower body condition when compared with older parents, although this effect was significant in female offspring only. Overall, our study demonstrates that parental age is correlated to two proxies of offspring fitness (body condition and telomere length), suggesting therefore that older individuals provide better parental cares to their offspring because of increased parental investment (restraint hypothesis), better foraging/parental skills (constraint hypothesis) or because only high-quality individuals reach older ages (selection hypothesis). PMID:29561856

Oceanographic Station Data and temperature profiles from CTD, XBT, and bottle casts from NOAA Ship ALBATROSS IV and other platforms as part of the Marine Resources Monitoring, Assessment and Prediction (MARMAP) from 1973-01-01 to 1973-03-29 (NODC Accession 7300686)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Oceanographic Station Data and temperature profiles were collected from CTD, XBT, and bottle casts from NOAA Ship ALBATROSS IV and other platforms from 01 January...

Physical, chemical, phytoplankton, marine toxin, and other data from bottle casts and bottom grabs from NOAA Ship ALBATROSS IV and other platforms as part of the North East Monitoring Program and other projects from 1977-02-12 to 1981-08-10 (NODC Accession 8500078)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Physical, chemical, phytoplankton, marine toxin, and other data from bottle casts and bottom grabs from NOAA Ship ALBATROSS IV and other platforms from 12 February...

Zooplankton species identities and other data from net tows from NOAA Ship ALBATROSS IV and other platforms from NE Atlantic (limit-40 W) as part of the Marine Resources Monitoring, Assessment and Prediction (MARMAP) project from 1977-04-20 to 1986-12-10 (NODC Accession 9400006)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Zooplankton species identities and other data were collected from net tows from NOAA Ship ALBATROSS IV and other platforms in the NE Atlantic (limit-40 W) from 20...

Albatross-Like Utilization of Wind Gradient for Unpowered Flight of Fixed-Wing Aircraft

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shangqiu Shan

2017-10-01

Full Text Available The endurance of an aircraft can be considerably extended by its exploitation of the hidden energy of a wind gradient, as an albatross does. The process is referred to as dynamic soaring and there are two methods for its implementation, namely, sustainable climbing and the Rayleigh cycle. In this study, the criterion for sustainable climbing was determined, and a bio-inspired method for implementing the Rayleigh cycle in a shear wind was developed. The determined sustainable climbing criterion promises to facilitate the development of an unpowered aircraft and the choice of a more appropriate soaring environment, as was demonstrated in this study. The criterion consists of three factors, namely, the environment, aerodynamics, and wing loading. We develop an intuitive explanation of the Raleigh cycle and analyze the energy mechanics of utilizing a wind gradient in unpowered flight. The energy harvest boundary and extreme power point were determined and used to design a simple bio-inspired guidance strategy for implementing the Rayleigh cycle. The proposed strategy, which involves the tuning of a single parameter, can be easily implemented in real-time applications. In the results and discussions, the effects of each factor on climbing performance are examined and the sensitivity of the aircraft factor is discussed using five examples. Experimental MATLAB simulations of the proposed strategy and the comparison of the results with those of Gauss Pseudospectral Optimization Software confirm the feasibility of the proposed strategy.

Age-related variation in foraging behaviour in the wandering albatross at South Georgia: no evidence for senescence.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hannah Froy

Full Text Available Age-related variation in demographic rates is now widely documented in wild vertebrate systems, and has significant consequences for population and evolutionary dynamics. However, the mechanisms underpinning such variation, particularly in later life, are less well understood. Foraging efficiency is a key determinant of fitness, with implications for individual life history trade-offs. A variety of faculties known to decline in old age, such as muscular function and visual acuity, are likely to influence foraging performance. We examine age-related variation in the foraging behaviour of a long-lived, wide-ranging oceanic seabird, the wandering albatross Diomedea exulans. Using miniaturised tracking technologies, we compared foraging trip characteristics of birds breeding at Bird Island, South Georgia. Based on movement and immersion data collected during the incubation phase of a single breeding season, and from extensive tracking data collected in previous years from different stages of the breeding cycle, we found limited evidence for age-related variation in commonly reported trip parameters, and failed to detect signs of senescent decline. Our results contrast with the limited number of past studies that have examined foraging behaviour in later life, since these have documented changes in performance consistent with senescence. This highlights the importance of studies across different wild animal populations to gain a broader perspective on the processes driving variation in ageing rates.

Morphological and genomic comparisons of Hawaiian and Japanese Black-footed Albatrosses (Phoebastria nigripes) using double digest RADseq: implications for conservation.

Science.gov (United States)

Dierickx, Elisa G; Shultz, Allison J; Sato, Fumio; Hiraoka, Takashi; Edwards, Scott V

2015-08-01

Evaluating the genetic and demographic independence of populations of threatened species is important for determining appropriate conservation measures, but different technologies can yield different conclusions. Despite multiple studies, the taxonomic status and extent of gene flow between the main breeding populations of Black-footed Albatross (Phoebastria nigripes), a Near-Threatened philopatric seabird, are still controversial. Here, we employ double digest RADseq to quantify the extent of genomewide divergence and gene flow in this species. Our genomewide data set of 9760 loci containing 3455 single nucleotide polymorphisms yielded estimates of genetic diversity and gene flow that were generally robust across seven different filtering and sampling protocols and suggest a low level of genomic variation (θ per site = ∼0.00002-0.00028), with estimates of effective population size (N e = ∼500-15 881) falling far below current census size. Genetic differentiation was small but detectable between Japan and Hawaii (F ST ≈ 0.038-0.049), with no F ST outliers. Additionally, using museum specimens, we found that effect sizes of morphological differences by sex or population rarely exceeded 4%. These patterns suggest that the Hawaiian and Japanese populations exhibit small but significant differences and should be considered separate management units, although the evolutionary and adaptive consequences of this differentiation remain to be identified.

What shall I do now? State-dependent variations of life-history traits with aging in Wandering Albatrosses.

Science.gov (United States)

Pardo, Deborah; Barbraud, Christophe; Weimerskirch, Henri

2014-02-01

Allocation decisions depend on an organism's condition which can change with age. Two opposite changes in life-history traits are predicted in the presence of senescence: either an increase in breeding performance in late age associated with terminal investment or a decrease due to either life-history trade-offs between current breeding and future survival or decreased efficiency at old age. Age variation in several life-history traits has been detected in a number of species, and demographic performances of individuals in a given year are influenced by their reproductive state the previous year. Few studies have, however, examined state-dependent variation in life-history traits with aging, and they focused mainly on a dichotomy of successful versus failed breeding and non-breeding birds. Using a 50-year dataset on the long-lived quasi-biennial breeding wandering albatross, we investigated variations in life-history traits with aging according to a gradient of states corresponding to potential costs of reproduction the previous year (in ascending order): non-breeding birds staying at sea or present at breeding grounds, breeding birds that failed early, late or were successful. We used multistate models to study survival and decompose reproduction into four components (probabilities of return, breeding, hatching, and fledging), while accounting for imperfect detection. Our results suggest the possible existence of two strategies in the population: strict biennial breeders that exhibited almost no reproductive senescence and quasi-biennial breeders that showed an increased breeding frequency with a strong and moderate senescence on hatching and fledging probabilities, respectively. The patterns observed on survival were contrary to our predictions, suggesting an influence of individual quality rather than trade-offs between reproduction and survival at late ages. This work represents a step further into understanding the evolutionary ecology of senescence and its

and Prince Edward Island

African Journals Online (AJOL)

spamer

Dark-mantled sooty albatross. 564. 1 000. 1 564 .... albatrosses (dark-mantled P. fusca and light-mantled .... Affairs and Tourism 2001, www.environment.gov.za); the decision to .... is of a nature that may negatively impact on the sur- vival of a ...

76 FR 62503 - Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; 12-Month Finding on a Petition To List the Black...

Science.gov (United States)

2011-10-07

... was later judged, by size and shape, to be that of a Laysan and not a black- footed albatross (Rice... List the Black-footed Albatross as Endangered or Threatened; Proposed Rule #0;#0;Federal Register / Vol...] Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; 12-Month Finding on a Petition To List the Black-footed...

Cultural Resources Assessment of the Faulkner Lake Revetment, East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana.

Science.gov (United States)

1987-05-06

Palmer commande-- e vessels above the town (consisting of the U.S.S. Hartford, Albatross, Sachem, Estrella , and Arizona) . With tTeexception of the first...Hudson) 53 Tunica Indians 27 Tuscaloosa Trend 33, 44 80 000 U Union (see Federal) U.S.S. Albatross 47, 49 Arizona 49 Essex 47, 49 Estrella 49 Genessee

Birds and Aircraft on Midway Islands, 1959-63 Investigations

Science.gov (United States)

Robbins, C.S.

1966-01-01

At Midway Naval Station, 1.100 miles west-northwest of Honolulu, military aircraft collide with flying albatrosses at the rate of about 300 to 400 per year. One aircraft out of every five that hits an albatross on takeoff either aborts (stops before it is airborne), or dumps fuel and returns for appraisal of damage. About 70,000 pairs of Laysan albatrosses and 7,000 pairs of blackfooted albatrosses nest at Midway in any given year. The population is declining. Two-thirds or more of the birds of breeding age nest each year. The minimum breeding age recorded is 5 years (each species), but many individuals do not nest until at least 7 years of age. Young birds begin to return to Midway at 3 years of age and are found more frequently as breeding age approaches. They come ashore more frequently in March and April (the high bird strike months) than in midwinter. Even in midwinter the number of 'walkers' (birds not on nests) may comprise more than 40 percent of the albatrosses present on Sand Island, Midway. Maximum longevity of the Laysan albatross is believed to exceed 40 years; 6 out of 99 birds banded as breeding adults (7+ years old) were still alive 24 years after banding. Control methods tested experimentally include disturbance, gunfire, other sounds, radar beams, smoke, odors, destruction of nests, eggs, chicks, and adults, moving of birds, eggs, and chicks, erection of obstacles to flight, and habitat management. Habitat management (leveling and hardsurfacing of shoulders of runways) has been the most effective. Albatrosses were counted over the runways at 10 locations in 1957, 1958, and 1960 to determine the effects of wind direction, wind speed, and topography on the numbers of flying birds. Birds were most concentrated in areas where rising air currents were created as winds blew against dunes or tall trees. Soaring and strike rate both increased with greater wind speeds. There was a highly significant correlation between strike frequency and wind direction

Avian disease assessment in seabirds and non-native passerines birds at Midway Atoll NWR

Science.gov (United States)

LaPointe, Dennis A.; Atkinson, Carter T.; Klavitter, John L.

2013-01-01

Midway Atoll in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands supports the largest breeding colony of Laysan albatross (Phoebastria immutabilis) in the world and is a proposed site for the translocation of endangered Northwestern Hawaiian Island passerine birds such as the Nihoa finch (Telespiza ultima), Nihoa millerbird (Acrocephalus familiaris kingi), or Laysan finch (Telespiza cantans). On the main Hawaiian Islands, introduced mosquito-borne avian malaria (Plasmodium relictum) and avian pox (Avipoxvirus) have contributed to the extinction and decline of native Hawaiian avifauna. The mosquito vector (Culex quinquefasciatus) is present on Sand Island, Midway Atoll, where epizootics of Avipoxvirus have been reported among nestling Laysan albatross, black-footed albatross (Phoebastria nigripes), and red-tailed tropicbirds (Phaethon rubricauda) since 1963. Two introduced passerines, the common canary (Serinus canaria) and the common myna (Acridotheres tristis), are also present on Sand Island and may serve as reservoirs of mosquito-borne pathogens. Assessing disease prevalence and transmission potential at Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) is a critical first step to translocation of Nihoa endemic passerines. In May 2010 and April 2012 we surveyed Midway Atoll NWR for mosquitoes and evidence of mosquito-borne disease. Although we did not observe active pox infections on albatross nestlings in May 2010, active infections were prevalent on albatross nestlings in April 2012. Presumptive diagnosis of Avipoxvirus was confirmed by PCR amplification of the Avipoxvirus 4b core protein gene from lesions collected from 10 albatross nestlings. Products were sequenced and compared to 4b core protein sequences from 28 Avipoxvirus isolates from the Hawaiian Islands and other parts of the world. Sequences from all Midway isolates were identical and formed a clade with other Avipoxvirus isolates from seabirds that was distinct from other Avipoxvirus isolates from the Hawaiian Islands

Longline fishing (how what you don't know can hurt you).

Science.gov (United States)

Fitzgerald, Kevin T

2013-11-01

Longline fishing utilizes monofilament lines that can be as much as 62 miles long. The line itself is buoyed by Styrofoam or plastic floats. Usually, at about every 100ft, a secondary line is attached and hangs down from the mainline. The lines are baited with mackerel, squid, or shark meat and have as many as 10,000 hooks. Every 12-24 hours, the line is hauled in, mechanically rebaited, and set back into the water behind the vessel. The baited hooks can be seen by albatross and other seabirds as they are placed in the water or being hauled out. When the birds dive for the bait, they are hooked, dragged behind the fishing boat, and drown. Spectacularly nonselective, longline fishing techniques also hook many other forms of marine life-"bycatch" (sea turtles, seals, dolphins, penguins, sharks, and many other nontarget finfish). It is estimated that 300,000 seabirds (including 100,000 albatross) die on longlines each year. Albatross are among the longest-lived birds. They can live up to 60 years and some species do not start breeding until they are 10 years old. They have a low reproductive rate and many species only breed every other year. In addition, a species like the Wandering Albatross (Diomedea exulans) rears its chicks for an average of more than 270 days. Albatross pair for life and may take years to find a new partner if their mate is killed. Owing to their incredibly low reproductive rate, albatross are particularly vulnerable to longline fishing. Currently, it is believed that 4 albatross drown per 100,000 hooks set. This is more than 400 birds a week. The current mortality rate for adult birds is not sustainable and for some species, the birds are dying faster that they can repopulate. Currently, 19 of the world's 22 albatross species are threatened with extinction. This year longline fishing ships will set 10 billion hooks worldwide. Various mitigation measures (bird-scaring lines, weighted, faster-sinking line, setting lines deeper out of the bird

IN VITRO REGENERATION OF THREE CHRYSANTHEMUM (Dendrathema grandiflora VARIETIES “VIA” ORGANOGENESIS AND SOMATIC EMBRYOGENESIS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Elizabeth Hodson de Jaramillo

2008-09-01

Full Text Available Chrysanthemum (Dendrathema grandiflora has a high demand in the Colombian and international cut flower markets.Since commercial production of this ornamental species is strongly affected by fungal diseases such as chrysanthemumwhite rust (Puccinia horiana, high doses of fungicides are being used posing increased environmental and commercialcosts. Assessment of in vitro regeneration systems from leaf discs was a first step in developing a plant genetic transformationprotocol to obtain fungi-resistant plants. Leaf discs of White Albatross, Yellow Albatross, and Escapade varieties wereestablished in vitro on MS medium supplemented with NAA (0 - 4.83 μM and BAP (0 - 13.32 μM alone and incombination. Leaf discs were also cultured on MumB medium containing 2,4-D (0 - 4.52 μM for 7, 14, and 21 days priorto their transferral to a 2,4-D free MumB medium. Regenerated shoots were individualized, rooted, and hardened. Resultsshow that MS with 4.83 μM NAA + 4.44 μM BAP and 4.83 μM NAA + 13.32 μM BAP induce organogenesis, and MumBwith 2.26 μM 2,4-D induces somatic embryogenesis on all three varieties, with exposition periods to 2,4-D of 14 days forWhite Albatross and 21 days for Yellow Albatross and Escapade. Shoot development from somatic embryos was observedin the three varieties when cultured on a 2,4-D free MumB medium. Spontaneous rooting was recorded in 85% of the shootsthus facilitating hardening and successful transfer to soil.

Evaluation of the effectiveness of light streamer tori-lines and characteristics of bait attacks by seabirds in the western North Pacific.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Noriyosi Sato

Full Text Available To improve the effectiveness of tori-lines it is necessary to evaluate the ability of tori-lines to mitigate seabird bycatch and determine what kind of seabird species gather during line settings, attack the bait and are incidentally caught. We conducted two experiments in the western North Pacific and examined the effectiveness for seabird mitigation of light streamer tori-lines which have no long streamers but many light (short streamers and are mainly used in the North Pacific area. Firstly, the effectiveness of two different types of tori-line (light streamer (1 m and long streamer (up to 7 m tori-line and of two different colors (yellow and red of light streamers for seabird bycatch avoidance was evaluated using 567 sets based on data from 20 offshore surface commercial longliners. No significant difference in the bycatch number between the different tori-line types and streamer colors was found. Secondly, we investigated the characteristics of the seabird bycatch in the North Pacific and the effectiveness of three different types of streamers (light, hybrid and modified light types by detailed observations of seabird attacks using a chartered longline vessel. Although the appearance rate of albatrosses and shearwaters were 40.9% and 27.7%, Laysan albatross was the main seabird species that followed the vessel but shearwaters seldom followed the vessel and did not aggregate during line setting. In all attacks on bait observed during line settings, 81% and 7% were by albatrosses and shearwaters, respectively. In the number of primary attacks by Laysan albatrosses which attacked most aggressively of all seabirds, there were no significant differences among the tori-line types. No individuals of shearwater were caught. The results of both experiments indicated that light streamer tori-lines were as effective as tori-lines with long streamers for mitigating seabird bycatch in the North Pacific.

Study on elements concentrations on seabird feathers by instrumental neutron activation analysis

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Theophilo, Carolina Y.S.; Moreira, Edson G. [Instituto de Pesquisas Energeticas e Nucleares (IPEN-CNEN/SP), São Paulo, SP (Brazil); Figueira, Rubens C.L.; Colabuono, Fernanda I., E-mail: carolina.theophilo@gmail.com, E-mail: emoreira@ipen.br, E-mail: rfigueira@usp.br, E-mail: ficolabuono@gmail.com [Universidade de São Paulo (USP), São Paulo, SP (Brazil). Instituto Oceanográfico

2017-07-01

Seabirds are very sensitive to environmental changes and because of their large longevity they are also sensitive to cumulative impacts. These birds usually occupy the higher trophic levels. White-chinned petrel (Procellaria aequinoctialis) and black-browed albatross (Thalassarche melanophris) are Procellariiformes, which is a seabird order, composed of 4 families. In the last years, researches are being done and actions are being taken to reduce the mortality of albatrosses and petrels caused by human activities. Due to the great ecological importance of these birds and the developed work with Procellariiformes, this study purpose is to quantify the Br, Cl, Cu, K, Mg, Mn, Na and V elements in white-chinned petrel and black-browed albatross feathers. Bird specimens were killed accidentally by pelagic longline fisheries operating off southern Brazil. Feathers were cleaned with acetone and then milled in a cryogenic mill. Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis (INAA) was used for quantification of the element concentrations and measurements of induced activities were performed in a HPGe detector for gamma ray spectrometry. The obtained results on feathers showed that concentrations in these birds are not higher than others studies with the same species and, with exception of Br, there are no significant differences between elements mean concentrations in the two seabirds. (author)

Study on elements concentrations on seabird feathers by instrumental neutron activation analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Theophilo, Carolina Y.S.; Moreira, Edson G.; Figueira, Rubens C.L.; Colabuono, Fernanda I.

2017-01-01

Seabirds are very sensitive to environmental changes and because of their large longevity they are also sensitive to cumulative impacts. These birds usually occupy the higher trophic levels. White-chinned petrel (Procellaria aequinoctialis) and black-browed albatross (Thalassarche melanophris) are Procellariiformes, which is a seabird order, composed of 4 families. In the last years, researches are being done and actions are being taken to reduce the mortality of albatrosses and petrels caused by human activities. Due to the great ecological importance of these birds and the developed work with Procellariiformes, this study purpose is to quantify the Br, Cl, Cu, K, Mg, Mn, Na and V elements in white-chinned petrel and black-browed albatross feathers. Bird specimens were killed accidentally by pelagic longline fisheries operating off southern Brazil. Feathers were cleaned with acetone and then milled in a cryogenic mill. Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis (INAA) was used for quantification of the element concentrations and measurements of induced activities were performed in a HPGe detector for gamma ray spectrometry. The obtained results on feathers showed that concentrations in these birds are not higher than others studies with the same species and, with exception of Br, there are no significant differences between elements mean concentrations in the two seabirds. (author)

Will the Effects of Sea-Level Rise Create Ecological Traps for Pacific Island Seabirds?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Michelle H Reynolds

Full Text Available More than 18 million seabirds nest on 58 Pacific islands protected within vast U.S. Marine National Monuments (1.9 million km2. However, most of these seabird colonies are on low-elevation islands and sea-level rise (SLR and accompanying high-water perturbations are predicted to escalate with climate change. To understand how SLR may impact protected islands and insular biodiversity, we modeled inundation and wave-driven flooding of a globally important seabird rookery in the subtropical Pacific. We acquired new high-resolution Digital Elevation Models (DEMs and used the Delft3D wave model and ArcGIS to model wave heights and inundation for a range of SLR scenarios (+0.5, +1.0, +1.5, and +2.0 m at Midway Atoll. Next, we classified vegetation to delineate habitat exposure to inundation and identified how breeding phenology, colony synchrony, and life history traits affect species-specific sensitivity. We identified 3 of 13 species as highly vulnerable to SLR in the Hawaiian Islands and quantified their atoll-wide distribution (Laysan albatross, Phoebastria immutabilis; black-footed albatross, P. nigripes; and Bonin petrel, Pterodroma hypoleuca. Our models of wave-driven flooding forecast nest losses up to 10% greater than passive inundation models at +1.0 m SLR. At projections of + 2.0 m SLR, approximately 60% of albatross and 44% of Bonin petrel nests were overwashed displacing more than 616,400 breeding albatrosses and petrels. Habitat loss due to passive SLR may decrease the carrying capacity of some islands to support seabird colonies, while sudden high-water events directly reduce survival and reproduction. This is the first study to simulate wave-driven flooding and the combined impacts of SLR, groundwater rise, and storm waves on seabird colonies. Our results highlight the need for early climate change planning and restoration of higher elevation seabird refugia to prevent low-lying protected islands from becoming ecological traps in the

FISH SPECIES and Other Data from MULTIPLE SHIPS From NW Atlantic (limit-40 W) from 19740603 to 19750602 (NODC Accession 8300071)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Spawing season data of Mid-Atlantic finfish, collected by various ships (Delaware II, Albatross II, Atl. Twin, Xiphias, and the Rorqual) as part of study "The...

AFSC/RACE/MACE: Association between large cetaceans and their prey: East Kodiak

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Analysis of two different surveys of acoustic and biological data from the Albatross Bank region of the Gulf of Alaska off eastern Kodiak Island indicates that...

The availability of relatively cheap hand-held Global Positioning ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

spamer

conditions, so the approach failed to produce results ... Hand-held Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers provide opportunities for detailed and rapid mapping of features ..... TICKELL, W. L. N. 1968 — The biology of the great albatrosses,.

WATER TEMPERATURE and other data from GLORIA MICHELE, NOAA Ship DELAWARE II and other platforms in the NW Atlantic, North Atlantic Ocean and Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary from 1991-03-30 to 1996-08-09 (NODC Accession 9600133)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Depth, temperature, and other data were collected from NOAA Ship CHAPMAN, NOAA Ship DELAWARE II, NOAA Ship ALBATROSS IV, and the GLORIA MICHELE from March 30, 1991...

WATER TEMPERATURE and other data from unknown platforms in the Bismarck Sea, Gulf of Mexico and other waters on 1996-07-31 (NODC Accession 9600126)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Depth, temperature, and other data were collected from the ALBATROSS IV from July 31, 1996 to July 31, 1996. Data were submitted by Ms. Marie Claire Fabri of...

Acoustics Research

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Fisheries acoustics data are collected from more than 200 sea-days each year aboard the FRV DELAWARE II and FRV ALBATROSS IV (decommissioned) and the FSV Henry B....

Stability and control of the Gossamer human powered aircraft by analysis and flight test

Science.gov (United States)

Jex, H. R.; Mitchell, D. G.

1982-01-01

The slow flight speed, very light wing loading, and neutral stability of the Gossamer Condor and the Gossamer Albatross emphasized apparent-mass aerodynamic effects and unusual modes of motion response. These are analyzed, approximated, and discussed, and the resulting transfer functions and dynamic properties are summarized and compared. To verify these analytical models, flight tests were conducted with and electrically powered Gossamer Albatross II. Sensors were installed and their outputs were telemetered to records on the ground. Frequency sweeps of the various controls were made and the data were reduced to frequency domain measures. Results are given for the response of: pitch rate, airspeed and normal acceleration from canard-elevator deflection; roll rate and yaw rate from canard-rudder tilt; and roll rate and yaw rate from wing warp. The reliable data are compared with the analytical predictions.

Vene reaktiivlennukid tuuakse Eesti registrisse

Index Scriptorium Estoniae

2011-01-01

Eesti õhusõidukite registris on 14 reaktiivlennukit Aero L-39C Albatross, enamik neist kuulub Prantsuse vigurlennumeeskonnale. Vene aerobaatikatiim Russ võtab Eestis arvele oma viis L-39 marki lennukit. Põhjustest, miks L-39-sid just Eestis registreerida tahetakse

Isolation and characterization of Campylobacter jejuni subsp jejuni from macaroni penguins (Eudyptes chrysolophus) in the subantarctic region

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Broman, T.; Bergstrom, S.; On, Stephen L.W.

2000-01-01

On Bird Island, South Georgia, albatrosses (n = 140), penguins (n = 100), and fur seals (n = 206) were sampled for Campylobacter jejuni. C. jejuni subsp. jejuni was recovered from three macaroni penguins (Eudyptes chrysolophus). These isolates, the first reported for the subantarctic region, showed...

Scaling of soaring seabirds and implications for flight abilities of giant pterosaurs.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Katsufumi Sato

Full Text Available The flight ability of animals is restricted by the scaling effects imposed by physical and physiological factors. In comparisons of the power available from muscle and the mechanical power required to fly, it is predicted that the margin between the powers should decrease with body size and that flying animals have a maximum body size. However, predicting the absolute value of this upper limit has proven difficult because wing morphology and flight styles varies among species. Albatrosses and petrels have long, narrow, aerodynamically efficient wings and are considered soaring birds. Here, using animal-borne accelerometers, we show that soaring seabirds have two modes of flapping frequencies under natural conditions: vigorous flapping during takeoff and sporadic flapping during cruising flight. In these species, high and low flapping frequencies were found to scale with body mass (mass(-0.30 and mass(-0.18 in a manner similar to the predictions from biomechanical flight models (mass(-1/3 and mass(-1/6. These scaling relationships predicted that the maximum limits on the body size of soaring animals are a body mass of 41 kg and a wingspan of 5.1 m. Albatross-like animals larger than the limit will not be able to flap fast enough to stay aloft under unfavourable wind conditions. Our result therefore casts doubt on the flying ability of large, extinct pterosaurs. The largest extant soarer, the wandering albatross, weighs about 12 kg, which might be a pragmatic limit to maintain a safety margin for sustainable flight and to survive in a variable environment.

Homme toimub NATO pilootidega ühisõppus

Index Scriptorium Estoniae

2010-01-01

Balti V õhuturbeharjutuse osana maanduvad Tallinna lennuväljal tankimiseks ja teeninduseks kaks prantsuse hävitajat Mirage 2000C, kaks poola hävitajat F-16, kaks Leedu reaktiivlennukit L-39 Albatross, Poola transpordilennuk CASA C-295M ja Leedu transpordilennuk Spartan C-27

Effects of travel time delay on multi-faceted activity scheduling under space-time constraints : a simulation study

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Rasouli, S.; Timmermans, H.J.P.

2014-01-01

This paper presents the results of a study, which simulates the effects of travel time delay on adaptations of planned activity-travel schedules. The activity generation and scheduling engine of the Albatross model system is applied to a fraction of the synthetic population of the Rotterdam region,

77 FR 1501 - Special Purpose Permit Application; Draft Environmental Assessment; Hawaii-Based Shallow-Set...

Science.gov (United States)

2012-01-10

...-FF01M01000] Special Purpose Permit Application; Draft Environmental Assessment; Hawaii-Based Shallow-Set... the operation of the Hawaii-based shallow-set longline fishery that targets swordfish (Xiphias gladius... albatross, by NMFS in its regulation of the shallow-set longline fishery based in Hawaii. This fishery...

45 CFR 670.20 - Designation of native birds.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 45 Public Welfare 3 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Designation of native birds. 670.20 Section 670.20... CONSERVATION OF ANTARCTIC ANIMALS AND PLANTS Native Mammals, Birds, Plants, and Invertebrates § 670.20 Designation of native birds. The following are designated native birds: Albatross Black-browed—Diomedea...

The Quality of Quantity: Mini-UAVS As An Alternative UAV Acquisition Strategy at the Army Brigade Level

Science.gov (United States)

2002-05-24

contrast to the Exdrone is the more conventional, and more Spartan, Pointer UAV. Designed by Paul McCready, PhD., the engineer who designed the “ Gossamer ... Albatross ”, the first human powered aircraft to cross the English Channel, the Pointer UAV’s design reflects an engineering philosophy predicated on

Author Details

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Aboh, James Ajang. Vol 15, No 2 (2015) - Articles Child labour and forced marriage: Modern slavery in Nigeria Abstract · Vol 16, No 1 (2015) - Articles Assassinating political opposition: An "Albatross" and aberration-the Cross River example. Abstract. ISSN: 1119-443X. AJOL African Journals Online. HOW TO USE AJOL.

POPULATION DYNAMICS OF THE WANDERING ALBATROSS ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Changes in several demographic parameters that appear to be influenced by both environmental and anthropogenic effects are described. From 1994–2001, the proportion of first-time breeders in the population was positively correlated with the maximum ENSO (Niño 3) index, whereas from 1984–2000 the annual survival ...

Sampling design considerations for demographic studies: a case of colonial seabirds

Science.gov (United States)

Kendall, William L.; Converse, Sarah J.; Doherty, Paul F.; Naughton, Maura B.; Anders, Angela; Hines, James E.; Flint, Elizabeth

2009-01-01

For the purposes of making many informed conservation decisions, the main goal for data collection is to assess population status and allow prediction of the consequences of candidate management actions. Reducing the bias and variance of estimates of population parameters reduces uncertainty in population status and projections, thereby reducing the overall uncertainty under which a population manager must make a decision. In capture-recapture studies, imperfect detection of individuals, unobservable life-history states, local movement outside study areas, and tag loss can cause bias or precision problems with estimates of population parameters. Furthermore, excessive disturbance to individuals during capture?recapture sampling may be of concern because disturbance may have demographic consequences. We address these problems using as an example a monitoring program for Black-footed Albatross (Phoebastria nigripes) and Laysan Albatross (Phoebastria immutabilis) nesting populations in the northwestern Hawaiian Islands. To mitigate these estimation problems, we describe a synergistic combination of sampling design and modeling approaches. Solutions include multiple capture periods per season and multistate, robust design statistical models, dead recoveries and incidental observations, telemetry and data loggers, buffer areas around study plots to neutralize the effect of local movements outside study plots, and double banding and statistical models that account for band loss. We also present a variation on the robust capture?recapture design and a corresponding statistical model that minimizes disturbance to individuals. For the albatross case study, this less invasive robust design was more time efficient and, when used in combination with a traditional robust design, reduced the standard error of detection probability by 14% with only two hours of additional effort in the field. These field techniques and associated modeling approaches are applicable to studies of

A new approach to study of seabird-fishery overlap: Connecting chick feeding with parental foraging and overlap with fishing vessels

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Junichi Sugishita

2015-07-01

Full Text Available Incidental fisheries bycatch is recognised as a major threat to albatross populations worldwide. However, fishery discards and offal produced in large quantities might benefit some scavenging seabirds. Here, we demonstrate an integrated approach to better understand the ecological ramifications of fine-scale overlap between seabirds and fisheries. As a case study, we examined whether foraging in association with a fishing vessel is advantageous for chick provisioning in terms of quantity of food delivered to chicks, in northern royal albatross (Diomedea sanfordi at Taiaroa Head, New Zealand. Fine-scale overlap between albatrosses and vessels was quantified by integrating GPS tracking and Vessel Monitoring Systems (VMS. Meal size delivered to chicks was measured using custom-designed nest balances, and monitoring of attendance of adults fitted with radio transmitters was used in conjunction with time-lapse photography at the nest allowed us to allocate each feeding event to a specific parent. The combination of these techniques enabled comparison of meal sizes delivered to chicks with parental foraging trip durations with or without fishing vessels association. A total of 45 foraging trips and associated chick feeding events were monitored during the chick-rearing period in 2012. Differences in the meal size and foraging trip duration relative to foraging overlap with fisheries were examined using a linear mixed-effect model, adjusted for chick age. Our results, based on three birds, suggest that foraging in association with vessels does not confer an advantage for chick feeding for this population that demonstrated low rates of overlap while foraging. The integrated research design presented can be applied to other seabird species that are susceptible to bycatch, and offers a valuable approach to evaluate habitat quality by linking habitat use and foraging success in terms of total amount of food delivered to offspring.

Technologies in Education and the Dehumanization and Imperialization of Pedagogy: The African Perspective

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

B.U. Nneji

2014-02-01

Full Text Available Information and communications technologies in education remain the toast of the millennium in the sphere of education. The irony however in such situation is that the professionals (the teachers in the sector who marvel and revel at it may not be aware that in one hand they are creating and promoting their own albatross and on the other hand that the younger generation of beneficiaries are at the receiving end as the aims and purposes of education has been unknowingly redefined for them. This paper maintains that education has a normative dimension which is negated or blurred by technologies. It discusses the impact of these technologies on traditional pedagogy and argues on the dangers of replacing the traditional face to face encounter in teaching and learning, limitations these technologies in the philosophy of education. It also argues strongly that these technologies in education are an imperialist economic agenda in the current trend of globalisation. This imperialist agenda is the latent albatross hanging on the neck of the teaching profession.

How Well Does Carbon Handle Stress? - A Brief Overview of Carbons in Structural Applications

Science.gov (United States)

2004-06-09

strong-- PAN fibers… or weak-- aerogel be stiff—pitch carbon fibers...or flexible--Grafoil 4 A2705V2004. Approved for public release; distribution...distribution unlimited Carbon Fiber Reinforcement Aeronautics • Carbon-epoxy and carbon-phenolic are used in military aircraft . 39 A2705V2004. Approved...performance aircraft Gossamer Albatross Gossamer Penguin Voyager 40 A2705V2004. Approved for public release; distribution unlimited Carbon Fiber

The Images in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

XING; Fang-fang; HUA; Yan

2017-01-01

The paper mainly talks about the background of S. T. Coleridge and the images of The Rime of the AncientMariner. As for the images, the wind, the albatross and the snake will be thoroughly discussed. There are manydifferent images which also have different meanings and connotations in the context. What＇s more, the poemexpresses the theme of the metabolic relationships between men and nature： harmony, conflict or compromise.

A Physics-Inspired Mechanistic Model of Migratory Movement Patterns in Birds.

Science.gov (United States)

Revell, Christopher; Somveille, Marius

2017-08-29

In this paper, we introduce a mechanistic model of migratory movement patterns in birds, inspired by ideas and methods from physics. Previous studies have shed light on the factors influencing bird migration but have mainly relied on statistical correlative analysis of tracking data. Our novel method offers a bottom up explanation of population-level migratory movement patterns. It differs from previous mechanistic models of animal migration and enables predictions of pathways and destinations from a given starting location. We define an environmental potential landscape from environmental data and simulate bird movement within this landscape based on simple decision rules drawn from statistical mechanics. We explore the capacity of the model by qualitatively comparing simulation results to the non-breeding migration patterns of a seabird species, the Black-browed Albatross (Thalassarche melanophris). This minimal, two-parameter model was able to capture remarkably well the previously documented migration patterns of the Black-browed Albatross, with the best combination of parameter values conserved across multiple geographically separate populations. Our physics-inspired mechanistic model could be applied to other bird and highly-mobile species, improving our understanding of the relative importance of various factors driving migration and making predictions that could be useful for conservation.

Managing Marine Litter: Exploring the Evolving Role of International and European Law in Confronting a Persistent Environmental Problem

OpenAIRE

Arie Trouwborst

2011-01-01

 The contamination of the world's oceans by human garbage, especially plastics, ranks among those environmental problems whose resolution appears remote, despite the considerable public attention paid to the 'Great Garbage Patch' in the Pacific, 'plastic soup', and the like. This 'marine litter' (or 'marine debris') problem is characterized by diffuse sources and an array of adverse environmental impacts, including entanglement of and ingestion by albatrosses, fulmars, turtles, seals and a va...

The wandering albatross Diomedea exulans is classified as ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

spamer

maximum ENSO (Niño 3) index, whereas from 1984–2000 the annual survival rates of breeding adults were negatively correlated with Japanese pelagic longline fishing effort in the southern Indian Ocean. Adult survival rates were significantly correlated with those on neighbouring Possession Island, Crozet Islands, but ...

Assassinating political opposition: An "Albatross" and aberration-the ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Logicians, though they are not mathematicians, do challenge mathematicians to prove that one plus one is equal to two; so also it appeals to governance and especially the democratic system, where the judiciary and legislature act as watch dogs to the executive; so is the opposition party to the ruling party. This is what the ...

Birds and Aircraft on Midway Islands, 1956-57 Investigations

Science.gov (United States)

Kenyon, K.W.; Rice, D.W.; Robbins, C.S.; Aldrich, J.W.

1958-01-01

The purpose of this study is to determine the extent to which certain species of birds contribute to the hazard to aircraft at Midway; to learn more about the population dynamics and habits of these species to determine what type of control measures might be possible without endangering the species; and to test methods of control which are suggested. Most of the study has been devoted to the two species of albatrosses and the sooty terns nesting at Midway because of the current belief that these species offered the greatest danger to aircraft safety.

Design of a bio-inspired controller for dynamic soaring in a simulated unmanned aerial vehicle.

Science.gov (United States)

Barate, Renaud; Doncieux, Stéphane; Meyer, Jean-Arcady

2006-09-01

This paper is inspired by the way birds such as albatrosses are able to exploit wind gradients at the surface of the ocean for staying aloft for very long periods while minimizing their energy expenditure. The corresponding behaviour has been partially reproduced here via a set of Takagi-Sugeno-Kang fuzzy rules controlling a simulated glider. First, the rules were hand-designed. Then, they were optimized with an evolutionary algorithm that improved their efficiency at coping with challenging conditions. Finally, the robustness properties of the controller generated were assessed with a view to its applicability to a real platform.

Modeling of aviation telecommunications

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

В. Харченко

2012-04-01

Full Text Available The aim of this article consists in construction of communication channel "aircraft - satellite - ground station" model using MATLAB Simulink software. The new model allowed to receive graphic dependences of Bit Error Rate (BER on type of signal modulation, rate of information transfer, signal power, diameter of antennas and nonlinearity of the high power amplifier. These dependences have been compared for the first time with the similar dependences received by means of a program complex "Albatross-budget" for the geostationary satellite. Comparison has shown not only qualitative, but, in some cases, and quite good numerical coincidence of results.

Classification of Animal Movement Behavior through Residence in Space and Time.

Science.gov (United States)

Torres, Leigh G; Orben, Rachael A; Tolkova, Irina; Thompson, David R

2017-01-01

Identification and classification of behavior states in animal movement data can be complex, temporally biased, time-intensive, scale-dependent, and unstandardized across studies and taxa. Large movement datasets are increasingly common and there is a need for efficient methods of data exploration that adjust to the individual variability of each track. We present the Residence in Space and Time (RST) method to classify behavior patterns in movement data based on the concept that behavior states can be partitioned by the amount of space and time occupied in an area of constant scale. Using normalized values of Residence Time and Residence Distance within a constant search radius, RST is able to differentiate behavior patterns that are time-intensive (e.g., rest), time & distance-intensive (e.g., area restricted search), and transit (short time and distance). We use grey-headed albatross (Thalassarche chrysostoma) GPS tracks to demonstrate RST's ability to classify behavior patterns and adjust to the inherent scale and individuality of each track. Next, we evaluate RST's ability to discriminate between behavior states relative to other classical movement metrics. We then temporally sub-sample albatross track data to illustrate RST's response to less resolved data. Finally, we evaluate RST's performance using datasets from four taxa with diverse ecology, functional scales, ecosystems, and data-types. We conclude that RST is a robust, rapid, and flexible method for detailed exploratory analysis and meta-analyses of behavioral states in animal movement data based on its ability to integrate distance and time measurements into one descriptive metric of behavior groupings. Given the increasing amount of animal movement data collected, it is timely and useful to implement a consistent metric of behavior classification to enable efficient and comparative analyses. Overall, the application of RST to objectively explore and compare behavior patterns in movement data can

An experimental investigation of the low Reynolds number performance of the Lissaman 7769 airfoil

Science.gov (United States)

Conigliaro, P. E.

1983-01-01

A Lissaman 7769 airfoil, used on the Gossamer Condor and Gossamer Albatross human-powered aircraft, was tested in a low turbulence subsonic wind tunnel. Lift and drag data were collected at chord Reynolds numbers of 100,000, 150,000, 200,000, 250,000, and 300,000; at angles of attack from -10 to +20 deg by using an external strain gage force balance. Lift curves, drag curves, and drag polars were generated from both uncorrected data and data corrected for wind tunnel blockage effects. A flow visualization study was performed to correlate with the force data. The results of the investigation have shown that the airfoil exhibits a significant degradation in performance for chord Reynolds numbers below 150,000.

A preliminary checklist of butterflies (Lepidoptera: Rhophalocera of Mendrelgang, Tsirang District, Bhutan

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

I.J. Singh

2014-05-01

Full Text Available The survey was conducted to prepare a preliminary checklist of butterflies of Mendrelgang, Bhutan. Butterflies were sampled from February 2012 to February 2013 to assess the species richness in a degraded forest patch of a sub-tropical broadleaf forest. This short-term study recorded 125 species of butterflies in 78 genera from five families. Of these, Sordid Emperor Apatura sordida Moore, Black-veined Sergeant Athyma ranga ranga Moore, Sullied Sailor Neptis soma soma Linnaeus, Blue Duke Euthalia durga durga Moore, Pea Blue Lampides boeticus Linnaeus and Chocolate Albatross Appias lyncida Cramer are listed in Schedule II of the Indian Wildlife (Protection Act (IWPA 1972. This study provides the baseline data of butterfly species richness of Mendrelgang.

A traditional and a less-invasive robust design: choices in optimizing effort allocation for seabird population studies

Science.gov (United States)

Converse, S.J.; Kendall, W.L.; Doherty, P.F.; Naughton, M.B.; Hines, J.E.; Thomson, David L.; Cooch, Evan G.; Conroy, Michael J.

2009-01-01

For many animal populations, one or more life stages are not accessible to sampling, and therefore an unobservable state is created. For colonially-breeding populations, this unobservable state could represent the subset of adult breeders that have foregone breeding in a given year. This situation applies to many seabird populations, notably albatrosses, where skipped breeders are either absent from the colony, or are present but difficult to capture or correctly assign to breeding state. Kendall et al. have proposed design strategies for investigations of seabird demography where such temporary emigration occurs, suggesting the use of the robust design to permit the estimation of time-dependent parameters and to increase the precision of estimates from multi-state models. A traditional robust design, where animals are subject to capture multiple times in a sampling season, is feasible in many cases. However, due to concerns that multiple captures per season could cause undue disturbance to animals, Kendall et al. developed a less-invasive robust design (LIRD), where initial captures are followed by an assessment of the ratio of marked-to-unmarked birds in the population or sampled plot. This approach has recently been applied in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands to populations of Laysan (Phoebastria immutabilis) and black-footed (P. nigripes) albatrosses. In this paper, we outline the LIRD and its application to seabird population studies. We then describe an approach to determining optimal allocation of sampling effort in which we consider a non-robust design option (nRD), and variations of both the traditional robust design (RD), and the LIRD. Variations we considered included the number of secondary sampling occasions for the RD and the amount of total effort allocated to the marked-to-unmarked ratio assessment for the LIRD. We used simulations, informed by early data from the Hawaiian study, to address optimal study design for our example cases. We found that

Beyond Cycles of Hegemony: Economic, Social, and Military Factors

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Walter L. Goldfrank

1995-08-01

Full Text Available As we survey the changing world on the eve of the 21st century, scholars confront empirical puzzles and interpretive uncertainties. Those of us who identify with worldwide social and political movements seeking more democracy, more equality, more justice, and more rationality find ourselves at once free and daunted. We are free, finally, from the albatross of repressive party-states calling themselves "socialist," from the illusion that social-democratic welfare states are trending toward perfection, from the myth that national development in the Third World is closing the gap. And we are daunted by the double task of (1 reconstructing a strategy of global transformation and (2 making a viable movement out of the multiple oppositional fragments scattered about the global landscape.

Managing Marine Litter: Exploring the Evolving Role of International and European Law in Confronting a Persistent Environmental Problem

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Arie Trouwborst

2011-06-01

Full Text Available The contamination of the world's oceans by human garbage, especially plastics, ranks among those environmental problems whose resolution appears remote, despite the considerable public attention paid to the 'Great Garbage Patch' in the Pacific, 'plastic soup', and the like. This 'marine litter' (or 'marine debris' problem is characterized by diffuse sources and an array of adverse environmental impacts, including entanglement of and ingestion by albatrosses, fulmars, turtles, seals and a variety of other marine wildlife. This article explores the evolving role of international law in the efforts to manage marine litter, including recent developments involving the Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic (OSPAR Convention and the European Union's Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD.

Managing Marine Litter: Exploring the Evolving Role of International and European Law in Confronting a Persistent Environmental Problem

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Arie Trouwborst

2011-06-01

Full Text Available  The contamination of the world's oceans by human garbage, especially plastics, ranks among those environmental problems whose resolution appears remote, despite the considerable public attention paid to the 'Great Garbage Patch' in the Pacific, 'plastic soup', and the like. This 'marine litter' (or 'marine debris' problem is characterized by diffuse sources and an array of adverse environmental impacts, including entanglement of and ingestion by albatrosses, fulmars, turtles, seals and a variety of other marine wildlife. This article explores the evolving role of international law in the efforts to manage marine litter, including recent developments involving the Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic (OSPAR Convention and the European Union's Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD.

Mercury exposure in a large subantarctic avian community.

Science.gov (United States)

Carravieri, Alice; Cherel, Yves; Blévin, Pierre; Brault-Favrou, Maud; Chastel, Olivier; Bustamante, Paco

2014-07-01

Mercury (Hg) contamination poses potential threats to ecosystems worldwide. In order to study Hg bioavailability in the poorly documented southern Indian Ocean, Hg exposure was investigated in the large avian community of Kerguelen Islands. Adults of 27 species (480 individuals) showed a wide range of feather Hg concentrations, from 0.4 ± 0.1 to 16.6 ± 3.8 μg g(-1) dry weight in Wilson's storm petrels and wandering albatrosses, respectively. Hg concentrations increased roughly in the order crustacean- feeding habits' differences of the two age-classes in this species. High Hg concentrations were reported for three species of the poorly known gadfly petrels, which merit further investigation. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The screw propeller

Science.gov (United States)

Larrabee, E. E.

1980-07-01

Marine and air screw propellers are considered in terms of theoretical hydrodynamics as developed by Joukowsky, Prandtl, and Betz. Attention is given to the flow around wings of finite span where spanwise flow exists and where lift and the bound vorticity must all go smoothly to zero at the wing tips. The concept of a trailing vortex sheet made up of infinitesimal line vortexes roughly aligned with the direction of flight is discussed in this regard. Also considered is induced velocity, which tends to convect the sheet downward at every stage in the roll-up process, the vortex theory of propellers and the Betz-Prandtl circulation distribution. The performance of the Gossamer Albatross and of a pedal-driven biplane called the Chrysalis are also discussed.

Lessons from the Tōhoku tsunami: A model for island avifauna conservation prioritization

Science.gov (United States)

Reynolds, Michelle H.; Berkowitz, Paul; Klavitter, John; Courtot, Karen

2017-01-01

Earthquake-generated tsunamis threaten coastal areas and low-lying islands with sudden flooding. Although human hazards and infrastructure damage have been well documented for tsunamis in recent decades, the effects on wildlife communities rarely have been quantified. We describe a tsunami that hit the world's largest remaining tropical seabird rookery and estimate the effects of sudden flooding on 23 bird species nesting on Pacific islands more than 3,800 km from the epicenter. We used global positioning systems, tide gauge data, and satellite imagery to quantify characteristics of the Tōhoku earthquake-generated tsunami (11 March 2011) and its inundation extent across four Hawaiian Islands. We estimated short-term effects of sudden flooding to bird communities using spatially explicit data from Midway Atoll and Laysan Island, Hawai'i. We describe variation in species vulnerability based on breeding phenology, nesting habitat, and life history traits. The tsunami inundated 21%–100% of each island's area at Midway Atoll and Laysan Island. Procellariformes (albatrosses and petrels) chick and egg losses exceeded 258,500 at Midway Atoll while albatross chick losses at Laysan Island exceeded 21,400. The tsunami struck at night and during the peak of nesting for 14 colonial seabird species. Strongly philopatric Procellariformes were vulnerable to the tsunami. Nonmigratory, endemic, endangered Laysan Teal (Anas laysanensis) were sensitive to ecosystem effects such as habitat changes and carcass-initiated epizootics of avian botulism, and its populations declined approximately 40% on both atolls post-tsunami. Catastrophic flooding of Pacific islands occurs periodically not only from tsunamis, but also from storm surge and rainfall; with sea-level rise, the frequency of sudden flooding events will likely increase. As invasive predators occupy habitat on higher elevation Hawaiian Islands and globally important avian populations are concentrated on low-lying islands

Õnnistus : [luuletused] / Charles Baudelaire ; tlk. Johannes Semper, Ants Oras, August Sang, Ilmar Laaban, Ain Kaalep, Indrek Hirv, Jaan Kross

Index Scriptorium Estoniae

Baudelaire, Charles, 1821-1867

2006-01-01

Sisu: Õnnistus ; Albatross ; Ülenemine ; Vastavusi ; Kutse teekonnale ; Muusika ; Elav tungal ; Vaenlane ; Ebaõnn ; Mees ja meri ; Ilu ; Hiigelnaine ; Hümn ilule ; Kalliskivid ; Eksootiline lõhn ; Raibe ; Vampiir ; Pihtimus ; Kass ; Mis ütled, vaene hing ; Lõhnapudel ; Sume laotus ; Kutse teele ; Sügissonett ; Öökullid ; Olematuse maitse ; Spliin : "Mu mälestuste last on nii painajalik..." ; Spliin : "Ma olen nii kui vürst, vürst sajulisel maal..." ; Mõrane kell ; "Nagu põhjatu taevas, öös tummuv ja mustav..." ; Kell ; Maastik ; Päike ; Punajuukselisele kerjustüdrukule ; Luik ; Hämarus ; Mäng ; Somp ja udud ; Pariisi unenägu ; Hommikuhämarik ; Üksildaste vein ; Üks märtritar ; Beatrice ; Aabel ja Kain ; Armastajate surm ; Vaeste surm ; Matk ; Lunahind ; Ühe pilgu lubadused. Eluloolisi andmeid autori kohta lk. 703

An assessment of oceanic seabird abundance and distribution off the southern Brazilian coast using observations obtained during deep-water fishing operations.

Science.gov (United States)

Branco, J O; Fracasso, H A A; Pérez, J A A; Rodrigues-Filho, J L

2014-08-01

The use of discarded fish over baited hooks used in longline fishery, and fish caught in gillnets, as a food source for gulls, albatrosses and petrels has been intensively studied in northern and southern oceans. This study describes the occurrence and abundance of seabirds observed from 20 foreign vessels which operated during the period between July 2001 and May 2005, off the southeastern and southern Brazilian coast. A total of 353,557 seabirds were observed; comprising eight families and 28 species. The most abundant species was Procellaria conspicillata followed by Daption capense, Puffinus gravis, Thalassarche melanophrys and Oceanites oceanicus. Ten species of seabirds (392 individual birds) were incidentally captured in gillnets; and 122 birds (9 species) by longline hooks, with P. gravis, D. capense and Procellaria aequinoctialis having the largest capture rates.

Weights, hematology and serum chemistry of seven species of free-ranging tropical pelagic seabirds

Science.gov (United States)

Work, Thierry M.

1996-01-01

I established reference values for weight, hematology, and serum chemistry for seven species of free-ranging Hawaiian tropical pelagic seabirds comprising three orders (Procellariiformes, Pelecaniformes, Charadriiformes) and six families (Procellariidae, Phaethontidae, Diomedeidae, Sulidae, Fregatidae, and Laridae). Species examined included 84 Hawaiian dark-rumped petrels (Pterodoma phaeopygia), 90 wedge-tailed shearwaters (Puffinus pacificus), 151 Laysan albatrosses (Diomedea immutabilis), 69 red-footed boobies (Sula sula), 154 red-tailed tropicbirds (Phaeton rubricauda), 90 great frigatebirds (Fregata minor), and 72 sooty terns (Sterna fuscata). Hematocrit, total plasma solids, total and differential white cell counts, serum glucose, calcium, phosphorus, uric acid, total protein, albumin, globulin, aspartate aminotransferase and creatinine phosphokinase were analyzed. Among and within species, hematology and chemistry values varied with age, sex, season, and island of collection. Despite this variation, order-wide trends were observed.

Critical properties of unlimited gliding: Unexpected flocking behavior driven by the exchange of information

Science.gov (United States)

Bigus-Kwiatkowska, Marta; Fronczak, Agata; Fronczak, Piotr

2018-03-01

Inspired by albatrosses that use thermal lifts to fly across oceans we develop a simple model of gliders that serves us to study theoretical limitations of unlimited exploration of the Earth. Our studies, grounded in physical theory of continuous percolation and biased random walks, allow us to identify a variety of percolation transitions, which are understood as providing potentially unlimited movement through a space in a specified direction. We discover an unexpected phenomenon of self-organization of gliders in clusters, which resembles the flock organization of birds. This self-organization is intriguing, as it occurs thanks to exchange of information only and without any particular rules that could favor the clustering of the gliders (in contrast to the causes well known in literature, like, for example, attractive forces used in the Vicsek-type models or fitness functions used in evolutionary computation).

Evidence for an age-dependent influence of environmental variations on a long-lived seabird's life-history traits.

Science.gov (United States)

Pardo, Deborah; Barbraud, Christophe; Authier, Matthieu; Weimerskirch, Henri

2013-01-01

Theoretical and empirical studies have highlighted the effects of age on several life-history traits in wild populations. There is also increasing evidence for environmental effects on their demographic traits. However, quantifying how individuals differentially respond to environmental variations according to their age remains a challenge in ecology. In a population of Black-browed Albatrosses monitored during 43 years, we analyzed how life-history traits varied according to age, and whether individuals of different ages responded in different ways to environmental conditions. To do so, we: (1) examined how age affected seven life-history traits, (2) investigated differences in temporal variance of demographic traits between age classes, and (3) tested for age-dependent effects of climate and fisheries covariates on demographic traits. Overall, there was a tendency for traits to improve during the first years of life (5-10 years), to peak and remain stable at middle age (10-30 years), and decline at old ages. At young ages, survival and reproductive parameters increased, except offspring body condition at fledging, suggesting that younger parents had already acquired good foraging capacities. However, they suffered from inexperience in breeding as suggested by their higher breeding failures during incubation. There was evidence for reproductive and actuarial senescence. In particular, breeding success and offspring body condition declined abruptly, suggesting altered foraging capacities of old individuals. Middle-aged individuals had the lowest temporal variance of demographic traits. Although this is predicted by the theory of environmental canalization, it could also results from a higher susceptibility of young and old birds due to their respective inexperience and senescence. The highest temporal variances were found in old individuals. Survival was significantly influenced by sea surface temperatures in the foraging zone of this albatross population during

Boldness predicts an individual's position along an exploration-exploitation foraging trade-off.

Science.gov (United States)

Patrick, Samantha C; Pinaud, David; Weimerskirch, Henri

2017-09-01

Individuals do not have complete information about the environment and therefore they face a trade-off between gathering information (exploration) and gathering resources (exploitation). Studies have shown individual differences in components of this trade-off but how stable these strategies are in a population and the intrinsic drivers of these differences is not well understood. Top marine predators are expected to experience a particularly strong trade-off as many species have large foraging ranges and their prey often have a patchy distribution. This environment leads these species to exhibit pronounced exploration and exploitation phases but differences between individuals are poorly resolved. Personality differences are known to be important in foraging behaviour but also in the trade-off between exploration and exploitation. Here we test whether personality predicts an individual exploration-exploitation strategy using wide ranging wandering albatrosses (Diomedea exulans) as a model system. Using GPS tracking data from 276 wandering albatrosses, we extract foraging parameters indicative of exploration (searching) and exploitation (foraging) and show that foraging effort, time in patch and size of patch are strongly correlated, demonstrating these are indicative of an exploration-exploitation (EE) strategy. Furthermore, we show these are consistent within individuals and appear stable in the population, with no reproductive advantage. The searching and foraging behaviour of bolder birds placed them towards the exploration end of the trade-off, whereas shy birds showed greater exploitation. This result provides a mechanism through which individual foraging strategies may emerge. Age and sex affected components of the trade-off, but not the trade-off itself, suggesting these factors may drive behavioural compensation to maintain resource acquisition and this was supported by the evidence that there were no fitness consequence of any EE trait nor the trade

When the Mockingbird becomes an Albatross: Reading and Resistance in the Language Arts Classroom.

Science.gov (United States)

Ricker-Wilson, Carol

1998-01-01

Describes the discomfort experienced by students and teacher as they explored how blackness is portrayed and understood in "To Kill a Mockingbird." Grapples with fundamental pedagogical questions: how to talk about race with a diverse group of students and how to examine victimization and oppression. Suggests tandem teaching with M.…

Avian pox in Magellanic Penguins (Spheniscus magellanicus).

Science.gov (United States)

Kane, Olivia J; Uhart, Marcela M; Rago, Virginia; Pereda, Ariel J; Smith, Jeffrey R; Van Buren, Amy; Clark, J Alan; Boersma, P Dee

2012-07-01

Avian pox is an enveloped double-stranded DNA virus that is mechanically transmitted via arthropod vectors or mucosal membrane contact with infectious particles or birds. Magellanic Penguins (Spheniscus magellanicus) from two colonies (Punta Tombo and Cabo Dos Bahías) in Argentina showed sporadic, nonepidemic signs of avian pox during five and two of 29 breeding seasons (1982-2010), respectively. In Magellanic Penguins, avian pox expresses externally as wart-like lesions around the beak, flippers, cloaca, feet, and eyes. Fleas (Parapsyllus longicornis) are the most likely arthropod vectors at these colonies. Three chicks with cutaneous pox-like lesions were positive for Avipoxvirus and revealed phylogenetic proximity with an Avipoxvirus found in Black-browed Albatross (Thalassarche melanophrys) from the Falkland Islands in 1987. This proximity suggests a long-term circulation of seabird Avipoxviruses in the southwest Atlantic. Avian pox outbreaks in these colonies primarily affected chicks, often resulted in death, and were not associated with handling, rainfall, or temperature.

Measured neutron beam line shielding effectiveness of several iron/polyethylene configurations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Legate, G.L.; Howe, M.L.; Mundis, R.L.

1988-01-01

Neutron and gamma-ray leakage measurements were taken at various stages of shield construction of neutron flight path 5 (the Lash-up flight path) at LANSCE, to compare the relative effectiveness of several configurations. Dose equivalent rates were determined for three categories: ''low-energy neutrons'', below 20 MeV; ''high- energy neutrons'', above 20 MeV; and gamma rays, as measured by hand-held survey instruments. The low energy neutrons were measured by activation of an indium foil in a paraffin-filled cadmium canister, sized to be generally insensitive above 20 MeV. High-energy neutrons were measured by (n,2n) production of Carbon 11 in a plastic scintillator with a 20-MeV threshold. Thermal neutrons were not measured at the shield-leakage test points. Room-scattered neutrons were observed by Albatross IV detector readings, which were taken beside the shield as a measure of variation of room background as the shield configuration changed. 1 fig., 1 tab

Thermal impact of migrating birds' wing color on their flight performance: Possibility of new generation of biologically inspired drones.

Science.gov (United States)

Hassanalian, M; Abdelmoula, H; Ben Ayed, S; Abdelkefi, A

2017-05-01

The thermal impact of the birds' color on their flight performance are investigated. In most of the large migrating birds, the top of their wings is black. Considering this natural phenomenon in the migrating birds, such as albatross, a thermal analysis of the boundary layer of their wings is performed during the year depending on the solar insulation. It is shown that the temperature difference between the bright and dark colored top wing surface is around 10°C. The dark color on the top of the wing increases the temperature of the boundary layer over the wing which consequently reduces the skin drag force over the wing. This reduction in the drag force can be considered as one of the effective factors for long endurance of these migrating birds. This research should lead to improved designs of the drones by applying the inspired colors which can help drones increase their endurance. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Element patterns in albatrosses and petrels: Influence of trophic position, foraging range, and prey type

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anderson, O.R.J.; Phillips, R.A.; Shore, R.F.; McGill, R.A.R.; McDonald, R.A.; Bearhop, S.

2010-01-01

We investigated the concentrations of 22 essential and non-essential elements among a community of Procellariiformes (and their prey) to identify the extent to which trophic position and foraging range governed element accumulation. Stable isotope analysis (SIA) was used to characterise trophic (δ 15 N) and spatial patterns (δ 13 C) among species. Few consistent patterns were observed in element distributions among species and diet appeared to be highly influential in some instances. Arsenic levels in seabird red blood cells correlated with δ 15 N and δ 13 C, demonstrating the importance of trophic position and foraging range for arsenic distribution. Arsenic concentrations in prey varied significantly across taxa, and in the strength of association with δ 15 N values (trophic level). In most instances, element patterns in Procellariiformes showed the clearest separation among species, indicating that a combination of prey selection and other complex species-specific characteristics (e.g. moult patterns) were generally more important determining factors than trophic level per se. - Trophic position, foraging range, and prey type were found to influence element compositions and concentrations in Procellariiformes from South Georgia.

Proposed design for a fast (parallel) preprocessor for the spin spectrometer and other eventful albatrosses

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hensley, D.C.

1981-01-01

Because devices like the Spin Spectrometer described in a previous paper to this conference can produce an extremely fast but fairly simple-to-process data stream, it seems reasonable to consider front-end preprocessors having special characteristics. In general, the kinds of transformations being considered do not require floating point calculations or extensive calculations. In order to be somewhat specific, the particular data acquisition/processing problems posed by the Spin Spectrometer at the Holifield Heavy Ion Facility will be discussed

BP-Broker use-cases in the UncertWeb framework

Science.gov (United States)

Roncella, Roberto; Bigagli, Lorenzo; Schulz, Michael; Stasch, Christoph; Proß, Benjamin; Jones, Richard; Santoro, Mattia

2013-04-01

The UncertWeb framework is a distributed, Web-based Information and Communication Technology (ICT) system to support scientific data modeling in presence of uncertainty. We designed and prototyped a core component of the UncertWeb framework: the Business Process Broker. The BP-Broker implements several functionalities, such as: discovery of available processes/BPs, preprocessing of a BP into its executable form (EBP), publication of EBPs and their execution through a workflow-engine. According to the Composition-as-a-Service (CaaS) approach, the BP-Broker supports discovery and chaining of modeling resources (and processing resources in general), providing the necessary interoperability services for creating, validating, editing, storing, publishing, and executing scientific workflows. The UncertWeb project targeted several scenarios, which were used to evaluate and test the BP-Broker. The scenarios cover the following environmental application domains: biodiversity and habitat change, land use and policy modeling, local air quality forecasting, and individual activity in the environment. This work reports on the study of a number of use-cases, by means of the BP-Broker, namely: - eHabitat use-case: implements a Monte Carlo simulation performed on a deterministic ecological model; an extended use-case supports inter-comparison of model outputs; - FERA use-case: is composed of a set of models for predicting land-use and crop yield response to climatic and economic change; - NILU use-case: is composed of a Probabilistic Air Quality Forecasting model for predicting concentrations of air pollutants; - Albatross use-case: includes two model services for simulating activity-travel patterns of individuals in time and space; - Overlay use-case: integrates the NILU scenario with the Albatross scenario to calculate the exposure to air pollutants of individuals. Our aim was to prove the feasibility of describing composite modeling processes with a high-level, abstract

Solar-powered Gossamer Penguin in flight

Science.gov (United States)

1979-01-01

Gossamer Penguin in flight above Rogers Dry Lakebed at Edwards, California, showing the solar panel perpendicular to the wing and facing the sun. Background The first flight of a solar-powered aircraft took place on November 4, 1974, when the remotely controlled Sunrise II, designed by Robert J. Boucher of AstroFlight, Inc., flew following a launch from a catapult. Following this event, AeroVironment, Inc. (founded in 1971 by the ultra-light airplane innovator--Dr. Paul MacCready) took on a more ambitious project to design a human-piloted, solar-powered aircraft. The firm initially took the human-powered Gossamer Albatross II and scaled it down to three-quarters of its previous size for solar-powered flight with a human pilot controlling it. This was more easily done because in early 1980 the Gossamer Albatross had participated in a flight research program at NASA Dryden in a program conducted jointly by the Langley and Dryden research centers. Some of the flights were conducted using a small electric motor for power. Gossamer Penguin The scaled-down aircraft was designated the Gossamer Penguin. It had a 71-foot wingspan compared with the 96-foot span of the Gossamer Albatross. Weighing only 68 pounds without a pilot, it had a low power requirement and thus was an excellent test bed for solar power. AstroFlight, Inc., of Venice, Calif., provided the power plant for the Gossamer Penguin, an Astro-40 electric motor. Robert Boucher, designer of the Sunrise II, served as a key consultant for both this aircraft and the Solar Challenger. The power source for the initial flights of the Gossamer Penguin consisted of 28 nickel-cadmium batteries, replaced for the solar-powered flights by a panel of 3,920 solar cells capable of producing 541 Watts of power. The battery-powered flights took place at Shafter Airport near Bakersfield, Calif. Dr. Paul MacCready's son Marshall, who was 13 years old and weighed roughly 80 pounds, served as the initial pilot for these flights to

Contaminação do ar por Aspergillus em ambiente de reabilitação de animais marinhos

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Melissa Orzechowski Xavier

2008-06-01

Full Text Available Aspergillosis in captivity seabirds is often associated with elevated rates of mortality. The infection is usually acquired by inhalation of airborne fungal conidia. The aim of this study was to evaluate the presence of Aspergillus species in the indoor environment of a rehabilitation centre for marine animals in Southern Brazil. This centre continuously receives injured penguins, seagulls, albatrosses and petrels. Petri dishes plates with Agar Sabouraud dextrose and chloramphenicol were left open for 15 minutes in 3 distinct points in the rehabilitation centre and then incubated at 25ºC. During a period of two years the indoor air was sampled in 81 occasions. A total of 43 isolates belonging to 7 different Aspergillus species were recovered. Aspegillus fumigatus was the predominant species (27.9%, followed by A. niger (25.6%, and A. flavus (16.3%. Four other Aspergillus species were isolated. This study demonstrates that seabirds were exposed to pathogenic Aspergillus species in our rehabilitation centre, reinforcing the need for a strict microbiology control of the indoor air in the captivity environment.

Is arsenobetaine the major arsenic compound in the liver of birds marine mammals, and sea turtles?

Science.gov (United States)

Kubota, R.; Kunito, T.; Tanabe, S.

2003-05-01

Concentrations of total arsenic and individual arsenic compounds were determined in the livers of birds, marine mammals, and sea turtles by using hydride generation-atomic absorption spectrometry (HG-AAS) and high performance liquid chromatography/inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (HPLC/ICP-MS). Marine mammals feeding on cephalopods and crustaceans accumulated higher arsenic concentrations than the species feeding on fishes. No significant age and gender differences in arsenic concentrations were observed for most of the species of marine mammals. Elevated total arsenic concentrations were found in livers of black-footed albatross and loggerhead turtles and these values were comparable to those of lower trophic marine animals. Arsenobetaine was the major arsenical in the livers of most of the species examined. Particularly, in seabirds, mean proportions of arsenobetaine was more than90% of total extractable arsenic In contast, arsenobetaine was a minor constituent in dugong. The compositions of arsenic compounds were different among the species examined. These results might be due to the differences in the metabolic capacity among species and/or the different compositions of arsenic compounds in their preys.

Distribution of marine birds on Georges Bank and Adjacent waters. Progress report No. 2, April--June 1978

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Powers, K.D.

1978-07-01

From 27 March to 20 June 1978, 7 cruises aboard U.S. Coast Guard cutters DECISIVE, VIGILANT, and VIGOROUS and the National Marine Fisheries Service research vessel ALBATROSS IV were made on outer continental shelf waters in regions from the mid-Atlantic to the Gulf of Maine and Scotian Shelf. A total of 13916 marine birds of at least 27 species were counted in 711.16 km/sup 2/ sampled from 730 fixed-area transects (300m wide by 10 minutes cruising time). An equal number of 10-minute total bird counts (no fixed area) were conducted at the same time. All of MBO cruises conducted in 1978 have been transcribed onto computer data sheets and were proofed and verified. Seven of 24 MBO cruises made in 1977 have been transcribed. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Migratory Bird and Habitat Research Laboratory will keypunch the data. From a review of over 100 scientific papers and books, food habits of fulmars, shearwaters, storm-petrels, gannets, gulls, and alcids were referenced by bird species and author.

Golf Club

CERN Multimedia

Golf Club

2011-01-01

Golf Initiation CERN Golf Club invites you to a golf initiation session in collaboration with the Albatross Golf Academy. Where: Les Serves Golf, St Genis (situated behind the CERN football and rugby pitches) When: 30-July 2011 at 16:00 On offer: An experienced golf professional will take you through the basics of hitting golf balls on the practice area. As part of a group of 3 players and accompanied by an experienced CERN golf club member you will play a round of golf on the small 5 hole practice course enabling you to get a true experience of the sport. You will finish with the a drink in the 19th hole and share your day’s experience with other participants and CERN golf club members. Inscriptions by email are now open and should be sent to Mats.Wilhelmsson@cern.ch. There are a limited number of places and participants will be welcomed on a first come first served basis. The cost of the session will be Euro15 and equipment and golf balls will be provided. Training or jogging shoes...

Predicting sea-level rise vulnerability of terrestrial habitat and wildlife of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands

Science.gov (United States)

Reynolds, Michelle H.; Berkowitz, Paul; Courtot, Karen N.; Krause, Crystal M.; Reynolds, Michelle H.; Berkowitz, Paul; Courtot, Karen N.; Krause, Crystal M.

2012-01-01

emphasize the need for early climate change adaptation and mitigation planning, especially for species with limited breeding distributions and/or ranges restricted primarily to the low-lying NWHI: Cyperus pennatiformis var. bryanii, Black-footed Albatross (Phoebastria nigripes), Laysan Albatross (P. immutabilis), Bonin Petrel (Pterodroma hypoleuca), Gray-backed Tern (Onychoprion lunatus), Laysan Teal (Anas laysanensis), Laysan Finch (Telespiza cantans), and Hawaiian monk seal (Monachus schauinslandi). Furthermore, SLR scenarios that include the effects of wave dynamics and groundwater rise may indicate amplified vulnerability to climate change driven habitat loss on low-lying islands. In chapter 2, we incorporated the combined effects of SLR, dynamic wave-driven inundation, and rising groundwater in a quantitative study specifically for the Laysan Island ecosystem. This is the first hydrodynamic model to simulate the combined impacts of SLR and wave-driven inundation in the NWHI. We developed a high-resolution digital elevation model (mean vertical accuracy of 0.32 m) for the island. Then using recent satellite imagery, geospatial models, and historical oceanographic, storm, and biological data we estimated potential inundation extent, habitat loss, and wildlife population impacts for a range of potential SLR scenarios (0.00, +0.50, +1.00, +1.50, and +2.00 m) that may occur over the next century. Additionally, we estimated the carrying capacity of Laysan Island for five species based on the available population monitoring data and described how potential losses in nesting habitat could influence population dynamics for Black-footed Albatross, Laysan Albatross, Red-footed Booby (Sula sula), Laysan Teal, and Laysan Finch. For some other seabird populations (Masked Booby, S. dactylatra; Brown Booby, S. leucogaster; Great Frigatebird, Fregata minor; and Sooty Tern, Onychoprion fuscata), we used recent colony distribution data, land cover maps, and nesting behavior to estimate

After Action Report: Black Sea Initiative Table Top Exercise Albatross 2007 Batumi, Georgia, 12-15 February 2007

Science.gov (United States)

2007-08-01

important for response efforts. Issue Oil Hazardous Materials Number of Substances - Few (crude, gasoline, diesel , butane, etc.) - Several...cleanup possible. Type 2: Light Oils ( Diesel , No. 2 Fuel Oil, Light Crudes) Moderately volatile; will leave residue (up to one-third of spill...response, and dispersant spraying, as well as bioremediation and other offshore and onshore hydrocarbon pollution combat methods. The handbook

Maneuvering control and configuration adaptation of a biologically inspired morphing aircraft

Science.gov (United States)

Abdulrahim, Mujahid

Natural flight as a source of inspiration for aircraft design was prominent with early aircraft but became marginalized as aircraft became larger and faster. With recent interest in small unmanned air vehicles, biological inspiration is a possible technology to enhance mission performance of aircraft that are dimensionally similar to gliding birds. Serial wing joints, loosely modeling the avian skeletal structure, are used in the current study to allow significant reconfiguration of the wing shape. The wings are reconfigured to optimize aerodynamic performance and maneuvering metrics related to specific mission tasks. Wing shapes for each mission are determined and related to the seagulls, falcons, albatrosses, and non-migratory African swallows on which the aircraft are based. Variable wing geometry changes the vehicle dynamics, affording versatility in flight behavior but also requiring appropriate compensation to maintain stability and controllability. Time-varying compensation is in the form of a baseline controller which adapts to both the variable vehicle dynamics and to the changing mission requirements. Wing shape is adapted in flight to minimize a cost function which represents energy, temporal, and spatial efficiency. An optimal control architecture unifies the control and adaptation tasks.

Similarity of trajectories taking into account geographic context

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Maike Buchin

2014-12-01

Full Text Available The movements of animals, people, and vehicles are embedded in a geographic context. This context influences the movement and may cause the formation of certain behavioral responses. Thus, it is essential to include context parameters in the study of movement and the development of movement pattern analytics. Advances in sensor technologies and positioning devices provide valuable data not only of moving agents but also of the circumstances embedding the movement in space and time. Developing knowledge discovery methods to investigate the relation between movement and its surrounding context is a major challenge in movement analysis today. In this paper we show how to integrate geographic context into the similarity analysis of movement data. For this, we discuss models for geographic context of movement data. Based on this we develop simple but efficient context-aware similarity measures for movement trajectories, which combine a spatial and a contextual distance. These are based on well-known similarity measures for trajectories, such as the Hausdorff, Fréchet, or equal time distance. We validate our approach by applying these measures to movement data of hurricanes and albatross.

High-Prevalence and Low-Intensity Ichthyophonus Infections in Pacific Halibut.

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Hershberger, Paul K; Gregg, Jacob L; Dykstra, Claude L

2018-03-01

Ichthyophonus occurred at high prevalence but low intensity in Pacific Halibut Hippoglossus stenolepis throughout the West Coast of North America, ranging from coastal Oregon to the Bering Sea. Infection prevalence in adults was variable on spatial and temporal scales, with the lowest prevalence typically occurring on the edges of the geographic range and highest prevalence consistently occurring inside Prince William Sound, Alaska (58-77%). Additionally, intra-annual differences occurred at Albatross-Portlock, Alaska (71% versus 32% within 2012), and interannual differences occurred along coastal Oregon (50% in 2012 versus 12% in 2015). The infection prevalence was influenced by host age, increasing from 3% or less among the youngest cohorts (age ≤ 6) to 39-54% among age-9-17 cohorts, then decreasing to 27% among the oldest (age-18+) cohorts. There was little indication of significant disease impacts to Pacific Halibut, as the intensity of infection was uniformly low and length at age was similar between infected and uninfected cohorts. These results suggest that Ichthyophonus in Pacific Halibut currently represents a stable parasite-host paradigm in the North Pacific. © 2018 American Fisheries Society.

High prevalence and low intensity Ichthyophonus infections in Pacific Halibut (Hippoglossus stenolepis).

Science.gov (United States)

Hershberger, Paul K; Gregg, Jacob L; Dykstra, Claude L

2017-10-13

Ichthyophonus occurred at high prevalence but low intensity in Pacific Halibut (Hippoglossus stenolepis) throughout the west coast of North America, ranging from coastal Oregon to the Bering Sea. Infection prevalence in adults was variable on spatial and temporal scales, with the lowest prevalence typically occurring on the edges of the geographic range and highest prevalence consistently occurring inside Prince William Sound, AK (58-77%). Additionally, intra-annual differences occurred at Albatross - Portlock, AK (71% versus 32% within 2012) and inter-annual differences occurred along coastal Oregon (50% versus 12% from 2012 to 2015). The infection prevalence was influenced by host age, increasing from ≤ 3% among the youngest cohorts (≤age 6) to 39-54% among age 9-17 cohorts, then decreasing to 27% among the oldest (age 18+) cohorts. There was little indication of significant disease impacts to Pacific Halibut, as the intensity of infection was uniformly low and length-at-age was similar between infected and uninfected cohorts. These results suggest that Ichthyophonus in Pacific Halibut currently represents a stable parasite-host paradigm in the North Pacific. Received 04 May 2017 accepted 09 Oct 2017 revised 21 Sep 2017.

How cheap is soaring flight in raptors? A preliminary investigation in freely-flying vultures.

Science.gov (United States)

Duriez, Olivier; Kato, Akiko; Tromp, Clara; Dell'Omo, Giacomo; Vyssotski, Alexei L; Sarrazin, François; Ropert-Coudert, Yan

2014-01-01

Measuring the costs of soaring, gliding and flapping flight in raptors is challenging, but essential for understanding their ecology. Among raptors, vultures are scavengers that have evolved highly efficient soaring-gliding flight techniques to minimize energy costs to find unpredictable food resources. Using electrocardiogram, GPS and accelerometer bio-loggers, we report the heart rate (HR) of captive griffon vultures (Gyps fulvus and G. himalayensis) trained for freely-flying. HR increased three-fold at take-off (characterized by prolonged flapping flight) and landing (>300 beats-per-minute, (bpm)) compared to baseline levels (80-100 bpm). However, within 10 minutes after the initial flapping phase, HR in soaring/gliding flight dropped to values similar to baseline levels, i.e. slightly lower than theoretically expected. However, the extremely rapid decrease in HR was unexpected, when compared with other marine gliders, such as albatrosses. Weather conditions influenced flight performance and HR was noticeably higher during cloudy compared to sunny conditions when prolonged soaring flight is made easier by thermal ascending air currents. Soaring as a cheap locomotory mode is a crucial adaptation for vultures who spend so long on the wing for wide-ranging movements to find food.

Intrinsic Lévy behaviour in organisms - searching for a mechanism. Comment on "Liberating Lévy walk research from the shackles of optimal foraging" by A.M. Reynolds

Science.gov (United States)

Sims, David W.

2015-09-01

The seminal papers by Viswanathan and colleagues in the late 1990s [1,2] proposed not only that scale-free, superdiffusive Lévy walks can describe the free-ranging movement patterns observed in animals such as the albatross [1], but that the Lévy walk was optimal for searching for sparsely and randomly distributed resource targets [2]. This distinct advantage, now shown to be present over a much broader set of conditions than originally theorised [3], implied that the Lévy walk is a search strategy that should be found very widely in organisms [4]. In the years since there have been several influential empirical studies showing that Lévy walks can indeed be detected in the movement patterns of a very broad range of taxa, from jellyfish, insects, fish, reptiles, seabirds, humans [5-10], and even in the fossilised trails of extinct invertebrates [11]. The broad optimality and apparent deep evolutionary origin of movement (search) patterns that are well approximated by Lévy walks led to the development of the Lévy flight foraging (LFF) hypothesis [12], which states that "since Lévy flights and walks can optimize search efficiencies, therefore natural selection should have led to adaptations for Lévy flight foraging".

Prevalence of blood parasites in seabirds - a review

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Quillfeldt Petra

2011-10-01

Full Text Available Abstract Introduction While blood parasites are common in many birds in the wild, some groups seem to be much less affected. Seabirds, in particular, have often been reported free from blood parasites, even in the presence of potential vectors. Results From a literature review of hemosporidian prevalence in seabirds, we collated a dataset of 60 species, in which at least 15 individuals had been examined. These data were included in phylogenetically controlled statistical analyses of hemosporidian prevalence in relation to ecological and life-history parameters. Haemoproteus parasites were common in frigatebirds and gulls, while Hepatozoon occurred in albatrosses and storm petrels, and Plasmodium mainly in penguins. The prevalence of Haemoproteus showed a geographical signal, being lower in species with distribution towards polar environments. Interspecific differences in Plasmodium prevalence were explained by variables that relate to the exposure to parasites, suggesting that prevalence is higher in burrow nesters with long fledgling periods. Measures of Plasmodium, but not Haemoproteus prevalences were influenced by the method, with PCR-based data resulting in higher prevalence estimates. Conclusions Our analyses suggest that, as in other avian taxa, phylogenetic, ecological and life-history parameters determine the prevalence of hemosporidian parasites in seabirds. We discuss how these relationships should be further explored in future studies.

Pre Cold War British Spy Fiction, the “albatross of self” and lines of flight in Gravity’s Rainbow.

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Kyle Wishart Smith

2015-08-01

Full Text Available In his introduction to 'Slow Learner' Thomas Pynchon suggests that an influence in his short story ‘Under the Rose’ was the spy fiction he had read as a child.  What he takes from the form, he says, is an enjoyment of  “lurking, spying, false identities, psychological games.” I hope to show that this youthful reading has interesting things to tell us about Pynchon’s writing beyond ‘Under the Rose’ and in more complex ways than his quote suggests. To do this I want to focus on that perennial issue of spy fiction - the maintenance and manipulation of identity. Negotiating ideas of subjectivity is a core concern in Pynchon’s work and to consider it I want to use the four spy novelists he mentions in the 'Slow Learner' introduction - John Buchan, E. Phillips Oppenheim, Helen MacInnes and Geoffrey Household. This is a more disparate quartet of authors than Pynchon’s grouping suggests and I want to employ them to consider a variety of strategies used to ‘build character’ and the way Pynchon’s work approaches these strategies.  This allows a reflection on questions of disguise, doubles, animals and the nomad within the context of a variety of postcolonial theories and aspects of Deleuze and Guattari’s “nomadology”. 'V 'would appear an obvious place to see connections to spy fiction, but, though I touch on some aspects of this novel, my focus will be very much on 'Gravity’s Rainbow' because it has a much more concerted focus on the subject of Empire. Some intriguing echoes are to be found in the work of Pynchon in these authors and I hope to show how Pynchon’s attempts to formulate US “superimperialism” (Aijaz Ahmad are reflected in the imperial concerns of what I would term the pre-Cold War British Spy fiction that engaged Pynchon in his youth.

Stochastic resonance and the evolution of Daphnia foraging strategy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dees, Nathan D; Bahar, Sonya; Moss, Frank

2008-01-01

Search strategies are currently of great interest, with reports on foraging ranging from albatrosses and spider monkeys to microzooplankton. Here, we investigate the role of noise in optimizing search strategies. We focus on the zooplankton Daphnia, which move in successive sequences consisting of a hop, a pause and a turn through an angle. Recent experiments have shown that their turning angle distributions (TADs) and underlying noise intensities are similar across species and age groups, suggesting an evolutionary origin of this internal noise. We explore this hypothesis further with a digital simulation (EVO) based solely on the three central Darwinian themes: inheritability, variability and survivability. Separate simulations utilizing stochastic resonance (SR) indicate that foraging success, and hence fitness, is maximized at an optimum TAD noise intensity, which is represented by the distribution's characteristic width, σ. In both the EVO and SR simulations, foraging success is the criterion, and the results are the predicted characteristic widths of the TADs that maximize success. Our results are twofold: (1) the evolving characteristic widths achieve stasis after many generations; (2) as a hop length parameter is changed, variations in the evolved widths generated by EVO parallel those predicted by SR. These findings provide support for the hypotheses that (1) σ is an evolved quantity and that (2) SR plays a role in evolution. (communication)

Mercury exposure in a large subantarctic avian community

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Carravieri, Alice; Cherel, Yves; Blévin, Pierre; Brault-Favrou, Maud; Chastel, Olivier; Bustamante, Paco

2014-01-01

Mercury (Hg) contamination poses potential threats to ecosystems worldwide. In order to study Hg bioavailability in the poorly documented southern Indian Ocean, Hg exposure was investigated in the large avian community of Kerguelen Islands. Adults of 27 species (480 individuals) showed a wide range of feather Hg concentrations, from 0.4 ± 0.1 to 16.6 ± 3.8 μg g −1 dry weight in Wilson's storm petrels and wandering albatrosses, respectively. Hg concentrations increased roughly in the order crustacean- < fish- ≤ squid- ≤ carrion-consumers, confirming that diet, rather than taxonomy, is an important driver of avian Hg exposure. Adults presented higher Hg concentrations than chicks, due to a longer duration of exposure, with the only exception being the subantarctic skua, likely because of feeding habits' differences of the two age-classes in this species. High Hg concentrations were reported for three species of the poorly known gadfly petrels, which merit further investigation. - Highlights: • Feather Hg concentrations were measured in 27 sympatric subantarctic bird species. • Inter-specific variation in Hg exposure depends on feeding habits, not taxonomy. • Hg concentrations were higher in adults than chicks due to longer exposure duration. • Hg is highly bioavailable in the Southern Ocean, which merits further investigation. - Mercury concentrations in feathers of sympatric subantarctic birds (27 species) are driven mainly by feeding habits and exposure duration

Variation in extinction risk among birds: chance or evolutionary predisposition?

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Bennett, P. M.; Owens, I. P. F.

1997-01-01

Collar et al. (1994) estimate that of the 9,672 extant species of bird, 1,111 are threatened by extinction. Here, we test whether these threatened species are simply a random sample of birds, or whether there is something about their biology that predisposes them to extinction. We ask three specific questions. First, is extinction risk randomly distributed among families? Second, which families, if any, contain more, or less, threatened species than would be expected by chance? Third, is variation between taxa in extinction risk associated with variation in either body size or fecundity? Extinction risk is not randomly distributed among families. The families which contain significantly more threatened species than expected are the parrots (Psittacidae), pheasants and allies (Phasianidae), albatrosses and allies (Procellariidae), rails (Rallidae), cranes (Gruidae), cracids (Cracidae), megapodes (Megapodidae) and pigeons (Columbidae). The only family which contains significantly fewer threatened species than expected is the woodpeckers (Picidae). Extinction risk is also not distributed randomly with respect to fecundity or body size. Once phylogeny has been controlled for, increases in extinction risk are independently associated with increases in body size and decreases in fecundity. We suggest that this is because low rates of fecundity, which evolved many tens of millions of years ago, predisposed certain lineages to extinction. Low-fecundity populations take longer to recover if they are reduced to small sizes and are, therefore, more likely to go extinct if an external force causes an increase in the rate of mortality, thereby perturbing the natural balance between fecundity and mortality.

Apparent survival of adult Leach's Storm-petrels (Oceanodroma leucorhoa breeding on Bon Portage Island, Nova Scotia

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Danielle T. Fife

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Populations of Leach's Storm-petrel (Oceanodroma leucorhoa; hereafter storm-petrel, one of the most widespread procellariiform seabirds in the world, appear to be declining in many parts of their breeding range. As part of a regional effort to assess status of storm-petrel colonies in eastern North America, we estimated apparent survival and recapture probabilities from 2009 to 2014 for adults on Bon Portage Island (43° 28' N, 65° 44' W, located off the southwestern coast of Nova Scotia, Canada. Mean annual survival estimated for this colony was low (0.78 ± 0.04 compared with other procellariiforms, e.g., > 0.90 for many albatrosses and petrels. Storm-petrels that were fitted with very high frequency (VHF radio tags had an average of 0.11 ± 0.05 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.01 to 0.21 higher survival probabilities than those that were not, possibly because VHF tags were attached to known, established breeders. There was weak evidence that survival was reduced by an average of 0.07 ± 0.04 for storm-petrels in study plots that were occupied by Herring Gulls (Larus argentatus and their chicks; however, this result was not statistically significant (95% CI: -0.15 to 0.02. Low adult survival is an early indication that this important colony may be under stress. However, further work is needed to determine if the colony is indeed declining and, if so, to determine the cause(s of the decline so that they may be addressed.

ENTREPRENEURIAL INTENTION AMONG SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS IN THE SUNYANI MUNICIPALITY

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George Lord Opoku-Antwi

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Most policymakers and academics agree that entrepreneurship is critical to the development and well-being of society. Entrepreneurs create jobs. They drive and shape innovation, speeding up structural changes in the economy. By introducing new competition, they contribute indirectly to productivity. Entrepreneurship is thus a catalyst for economic growth and national competitiveness. While there has been significant research on the causes of entrepreneurial propensity, only a limited number of studies have focused on the entrepreneurial intent among students (especially Senior High School students. Currently, in Ghana graduate unemployment has become an albatross around the necks of the average school leaver in particular and the society in general. Graduate unemployment has increased the already high dependency syndrome and many believe entrepreneurship is the number one medicine to this unfortunate situation. 42-item questions were used to assess the entrepreneurial intention. Two mixed and two single-sex institutions in the Sunyani municipality were studied. The sample size for the study was 499 for the four (4 institutions. Data was analyzed via SPSS-17.0. The study seeks: to identify the impact of family business on entrepreneurial intention; to assess the students’ perception on the impact of education on entrepreneurial intention; to identify the risk-taking propensity of senior high school (SHS students in the Sunyani Municipality; to compare males’ entrepreneurial intentions with females; to examine SHS students’ orientation towards entrepreneurship. It is believed that the ideal stage to acquire basic knowledge about entrepreneurship and to foster a positive attitude towards entrepreneurship is during childhood and adolescence years. Generally, entrepreneurial intention among SHS students in the Sunyani municipality is high according to this study.

Bet-hedging response to environmental variability, an intraspecific comparison.

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Nevoux, Marie; Forcada, Jaume; Barbraud, Christophe; Croxall, John; Weimerskirchi, Henri

2010-08-01

A major challenge in ecology is to understand the impact of increased environmental variability on populations and ecosystems. To maximize their fitness in a variable environment, life history theory states that individuals should favor a bet-hedging strategy, involving a reduction of annual breeding performance and an increase in adult survival so that reproduction can be attempted over more years. As a result, evolution toward longer life span is expected to reduce the deleterious effects of extra variability on population growth, and consequently on the trait contributing the most to it (e.g., adult survival in long-lived species). To investigate this, we compared the life histories of two Black-browed Albatross (Thalassarche melanophrys) populations breeding at South Georgia (Atlantic Ocean) and Kerguelen (Indian Ocean), the former in an environment nearly three times more variable climatically (e.g., in sea surface temperature) than the latter. As predicted, individuals from South Georgia (in the more variable environment) showed significantly higher annual adult survival (0.959, SE = 0.003) but lower annual reproductive success (0.285 chick per pair, SE = 0.039) than birds from Kerguelen (survival = 0.925, SE = 0.004; breeding success = 0.694, SE = 0.027). In both populations, climatic conditions affected the breeding success and the survival of inexperienced breeders, whereas the survival of experienced breeders was unaffected. The strength of the climatic impact on survival of inexperienced breeders was very similar between the two populations, but the effect on breeding success was positively related to environmental variability. These results provide rare and compelling evidence to support bet-hedging underlying changes in life history traits as an adaptive response to environmental variability.

Migratory routes and at-sea threats to Pink-footed Shearwaters

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Adams, Josh; Felis, Jonathan J.; Hodum, Peter; Colodro, Valentina; Carle, Ryan; López, Verónica

2016-01-01

The Pink-footed Shearwater (Ardenna creatopus) is a seabird with a breeding range restricted to three islands in Chile and an estimated world population of approximately 56,000 breeding individuals (Muñoz 2011, Oikonos unpublished data). Due to multiple threats on breeding colonies and at-sea, Pink-footed Shearwaters are listed as Endangered by the government of Chile (Reglamento de Clasificación de Especies, 2011), Threatened by the government of Canada (Environment Canada 2008), and are listed under Appendix 1 of the Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels (ACAP 2013). A principal conservation concern for the species is mortality from fisheries bycatch during the breeding and non-breeding seasons; thus, identification of areas of overlap between at-sea use by Pink-footed Shearwaters and fisheries is a high priority conservation objective (Hinojosa Sáez and Hodum 1997, Mangel et al. 2013, ACAP 2013). During the non-breeding period, Pink-footed Shearwaters range as far north as Canada, although little was known until recently about migration routes and important wintering areas where fisheries bycatch could be a risk. Additionally, Pink-footed Shearwaters face at-sea threats during the non-breeding season off the west coast of North America. Recently, areas used by wintering Pink-footed Shearwaters have been identified as areas of interest for developing alternative energy offshore in North America (e.g., floating wind generators; Trident Winds 2016). The goal of our study was to track Pink-footed Shearwater post-breeding movements with satellite tags to identify timing and routes of migration, locate important non-breeding foraging habitats, and determine population distribution among different wintering regions.

Online Learning Software – Why Pay for It?

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Jim FLOOD

2007-01-01

Full Text Available Numbers with pound signs in front and four noughts following them are quite usual for the basic price of e-learning software. In spite of the high cost of software and criticism of it, many organizations are still locking themselves into expensive contracts when there are freely available alternatives that can deliver most of the attributes of commercially available Learning Management Systems (LMS. Learning Management Systems were developed amid the dot com boom of the 90s and are typical of the simplistic software approach to managing human endeavors that were characteristic of that era. By buying and installing an LMS, it was claimed, an organization could provide online learning to its members, electronically track their progress though online testing and save a huge amount of money on face-to-face training. This claim proved to be somewhat extravagant with experience showing that the software was difficult to install and run, prone to faults and was not at all efficient at facilitating learning. With the benefit of hindsight the problems are easy to identify. For example, many of the learning materials were crudely adapted from paper-based courses and there was little understanding of how learners behave in an online environment. However the main problem was that the development was designer-led and that the learning architecture was ‘locked down’ in the sense that the learning administrators within an organization had no control over it. LMS of this era (and they still exist have been described as an ‘albatross around the neck of a company that stifles learning’ (http://parkinslot.blogspot.com/2004/11/e-learning-adventures-beyond-lms.html .

Free-flight odor tracking in Drosophila is consistent with an optimal intermittent scale-free search.

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Andy M Reynolds

2007-04-01

Full Text Available During their trajectories in still air, fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster explore their landscape using a series of straight flight paths punctuated by rapid 90 degrees body-saccades [1]. Some saccades are triggered by visual expansion associated with collision avoidance. Yet many saccades are not triggered by visual cues, but rather appear spontaneously. Our analysis reveals that the control of these visually independent saccades and the flight intervals between them constitute an optimal scale-free active searching strategy. Two characteristics of mathematical optimality that are apparent during free-flight in Drosophila are inter-saccade interval lengths distributed according to an inverse square law, which does not vary across landscape scale, and 90 degrees saccade angles, which increase the likelihood that territory will be revisited and thereby reduce the likelihood that near-by targets will be missed. We also show that searching is intermittent, such that active searching phases randomly alternate with relocation phases. Behaviorally, this intermittency is reflected in frequently occurring short, slow speed inter-saccade intervals randomly alternating with rarer, longer, faster inter-saccade intervals. Searching patterns that scale similarly across orders of magnitude of length (i.e., scale-free have been revealed in animals as diverse as microzooplankton, bumblebees, albatrosses, and spider monkeys, but these do not appear to be optimised with respect to turning angle, whereas Drosophila free-flight search does. Also, intermittent searching patterns, such as those reported here for Drosophila, have been observed in foragers such as planktivorous fish and ground foraging birds. Our results with freely flying Drosophila may constitute the first reported example of searching behaviour that is both scale-free and intermittent.

Seabird tissue archival and monitoring project: Protocol for collecting and banking seabird eggs

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Weston-York, Geoff; Porter, Barbara J.; Pugh, Rebecca S.; Roseneau, David G.; Simac, Kristin S.; Becker, Paul R.; Thorsteinson, Lyman K.; Wise, Stephen A.

2001-01-01

Archiving biological and environmental samples for retrospective analysis is a major component of systematic environmental monitoring. The long-term storage of carefully selected, representative samples in an environmental specimen bank is an important complement to the real-time monitoring of the environment. These archived samples permit:The use of subsequently developed innovative analytical technology that was not available at the time the samples were archived, for clear state-of-art identification an~ quantification of analytes of interest,The identification and quantification of analytes that are of subsequent interest but that were not of interest at the time the samples were archived, andThe comparison of present and past analytical techniques and values, providing continued credibility of past analytical values, and allowing flexibility in environmental monitoring programs.Seabirds, including albatrosses, pelicans, cormorants, terns, kittiwakes, murres, guillemots, and puffins spend most of their lives at sea and have special adaptations for feeding in the marine environment, including the ability to excrete the excess salt obtained from ingesting seawater. Many species nest in dense groups (colonies) on steep, precipitous sea-cliffs and headlands.Seabirds are long-lived and slow to mature. They occupy high positions in the marine food web and are considered sensitive indicators for the marine environment (prey includes krill, small fish, and squid). Breeding success, timing of nesting, diets, and survival rates may provide early indications of changing environmental conditions (e.g., see Hatch et aI., 1993). Chemical analysis of seabird tissues, including egg contents, can be particularly useful in determining whether contaminants (and potential biological effects) associated with human industrial activities, such as offshore petroleum and mineral exploration and development, are accumulating in marine environments. The collection and archival of seabird

Environmental contamination in Antarctic ecosystems.

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Bargagli, R

2008-08-01

Although the remote continent of Antarctica is perceived as the symbol of the last great wilderness, the human presence in the Southern Ocean and the continent began in the early 1900s for hunting, fishing and exploration, and many invasive plant and animal species have been deliberately introduced in several sub-Antarctic islands. Over the last 50 years, the development of research and tourism have locally affected terrestrial and marine coastal ecosystems through fuel combustion (for transportation and energy production), accidental oil spills, waste incineration and sewage. Although natural "barriers" such as oceanic and atmospheric circulation protect Antarctica from lower latitude water and air masses, available data on concentrations of metals, pesticides and other persistent pollutants in air, snow, mosses, lichens and marine organisms show that most persistent contaminants in the Antarctic environment are transported from other continents in the Southern Hemisphere. At present, levels of most contaminants in Antarctic organisms are lower than those in related species from other remote regions, except for the natural accumulation of Cd and Hg in several marine organisms and especially in albatrosses and petrels. The concentrations of organic pollutants in the eggs of an opportunistic top predator such as the south polar skua are close to those that may cause adverse health effects. Population growth and industrial development in several countries of the Southern Hemisphere are changing the global pattern of persistent anthropogenic contaminants and new classes of chemicals have already been detected in the Antarctic environment. Although the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty provides strict guidelines for the protection of the Antarctic environment and establishes obligations for all human activity in the continent and the Southern Ocean, global warming, population growth and industrial development in countries of the Southern

When celibacy matters: incorporating non-breeders improves demographic parameter estimates.

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Pardo, Deborah; Weimerskirch, Henri; Barbraud, Christophe

2013-01-01

In long-lived species only a fraction of a population breeds at a given time. Non-breeders can represent more than half of adult individuals, calling in doubt the relevance of estimating demographic parameters from the sole breeders. Here we demonstrate the importance of considering observable non-breeders to estimate reliable demographic traits: survival, return, breeding, hatching and fledging probabilities. We study the long-lived quasi-biennial breeding wandering albatross (Diomedea exulans). In this species, the breeding cycle lasts almost a year and birds that succeed a given year tend to skip the next breeding occasion while birds that fail tend to breed again the following year. Most non-breeders remain unobservable at sea, but still a substantial number of observable non-breeders (ONB) was identified on breeding sites. Using multi-state capture-mark-recapture analyses, we used several measures to compare the performance of demographic estimates between models incorporating or ignoring ONB: bias (difference in mean), precision (difference is standard deviation) and accuracy (both differences in mean and standard deviation). Our results highlight that ignoring ONB leads to bias and loss of accuracy on breeding probability and survival estimates. These effects are even stronger when studied in an age-dependent framework. Biases on breeding probabilities and survival increased with age leading to overestimation of survival at old age and thus actuarial senescence and underestimation of reproductive senescence. We believe our study sheds new light on the difficulties of estimating demographic parameters in species/taxa where a significant part of the population does not breed every year. Taking into account ONB appeared important to improve demographic parameter estimates, models of population dynamics and evolutionary conclusions regarding senescence within and across taxa.

Measuring global trends in the status of biodiversity: red list indices for birds.

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Stuart H M Butchart

2004-12-01

Full Text Available The rapid destruction of the planet's biodiversity has prompted the nations of the world to set a target of achieving a significant reduction in the rate of loss of biodiversity by 2010. However, we do not yet have an adequate way of monitoring progress towards achieving this target. Here we present a method for producing indices based on the IUCN Red List to chart the overall threat status (projected relative extinction risk of all the world's bird species from 1988 to 2004. Red List Indices (RLIs are based on the number of species in each Red List category, and on the number changing categories between assessments as a result of genuine improvement or deterioration in status. The RLI for all bird species shows that their overall threat status has continued to deteriorate since 1988. Disaggregated indices show that deteriorations have occurred worldwide and in all major ecosystems, but with particularly steep declines in the indices for Indo-Malayan birds (driven by intensifying deforestation of the Sundaic lowlands and for albatrosses and petrels (driven by incidental mortality in commercial longline fisheries. RLIs complement indicators based on species population trends and habitat extent for quantifying global trends in the status of biodiversity. Their main weaknesses are that the resolution of status changes is fairly coarse and that delays may occur before some status changes are detected. Their greatest strength is that they are based on information from nearly all species in a taxonomic group worldwide, rather than a potentially biased subset. At present, suitable data are only available for birds, but indices for other taxonomic groups are in development, as is a sampled index based on a stratified sample from all major taxonomic groups.

Characterization and expression analysis of AH receptors in aquatic mammals and birds

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Kim, Eun-Young [Ehime Prefectural Institute of Public Health and Environmental Science, Matsuyama (Japan); Yasui, Tomoko; Hisato, Iwata; Shinsuke, Tanabe [Ehime Univ., Matsuyama (Japan)

2004-09-15

The magnitude of the risk that 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) and related planar halogenated aromatic hydrocarbons (PHAHs) pose to the health of aquatic birds and mammals is uncertain, because of the lack of direct information on the sensitivity and toxicity to these chemicals. Exposure to PHAHs is speculated to produce toxicity through changes in the expression of genes involved in the control of cell growth and differentiation. These changes are initiated by the binding to the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR), a ligand-dependent transcription factor. The AHR and its dimerization partner ARNT belong to the basic-helix-loop-helix/Per-ARNT-Sim (bHLH-PAS) family of transcriptional regulation proteins. The bHLH domain was involved in protein-DNA and protein-protein interactions, and the PAS domain forms a secondary dimerization surface for heteromeric interactions between AHR and ARNT. Although the presence and basic function of AHR are known to be conserved in most vertebrates, only a limited number of studies on the structure and functional diversity of AHR in aquatic mammals and birds have been reported, in spite of their high exposure to dioxins and other related chemicals. To understand the molecular mechanism of susceptibility to dioxin exposure and toxic effects that PHAHs pose in wild animals, we investigated the molecular and functional characterization of AHRs from aquatic mammals and birds. Initially, the AHR cDNAs from the livers of Baikal seal (Pusa sibirica), black-footed albatross (Diomedea nigripes) and common cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo) were cloned and sequenced. We also clarified the tissue-specific expression pattern of AHR mRNA and the relationships among PHAHs, AHR and CYP expression levels in the liver of Baikal seals and common cormorants.

Loopy, Floppy and Fragmented: Debris Characteristics Matter

Science.gov (United States)

Parrish, J.; Burgess, H. K.

2016-02-01

Marine debris is a world-wide problem threatening the health and safety of marine organisms, ecosystems, and humans. Recent and ongoing research shows that risk of harm is not associated with identity, but rather with a set of specific character states, where the character state space intersection is defined by the organism of interest. For example, intersections of material, color, rigidity and size predict the likelihood of an object being ingested: plastic, clear-white, floppy objects risks to sea turtles whereas yellow-red, rigid objects risks to albatrosses. A character state space approach allows prioritization of prevention and removal of marine debris informed by risk assessments for species of interest by comparing species ranges with spatio-temporal hotspots of all debris with characteristics known to be associated with increased risk of harm, regardless of identity. With this in mind, the Coastal Observation and Seabird Survey Team (COASST) developed and tested a 20 character data collection approach to quantifying the diversity and abundance of marine debris found on beaches. Development resulted in meta-analysis of the literature and expert opinion eliciting harmful character state space. Testing included data collection on inter-rater reliability and accuracy, where the latter included 75 participants quantifying marine debris characteristics on monthly surveys of 30 beaches along the Washington and Oregon coastlines over the past year. Pilot work indicates that characters must be simply and operationally defined, states must be listed, and examples must be provided for color states. Complex characters (e.g., windage, shape) are not replicable across multiple data collectors. Although data collection takes longer than other marine debris surveys for a given amount of debris and area surveyed, volunteer rapidity and accuracy improved within 3-5 surveys. Initial feedback indicated that volunteers were willing to continue collecting data as long as they

Full mitochondrial genome sequences of two endemic Philippine hornbill species (Aves: Bucerotidae) provide evidence for pervasive mitochondrial DNA recombination.

Science.gov (United States)

Sammler, Svenja; Bleidorn, Christoph; Tiedemann, Ralph

2011-01-14

Although nowaday it is broadly accepted that mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) may undergo recombination, the frequency of such recombination remains controversial. Its estimation is not straightforward, as recombination under homoplasmy (i.e., among identical mt genomes) is likely to be overlooked. In species with tandem duplications of large mtDNA fragments the detection of recombination can be facilitated, as it can lead to gene conversion among duplicates. Although the mechanisms for concerted evolution in mtDNA are not fully understood yet, recombination rates have been estimated from "one per speciation event" down to 850 years or even "during every replication cycle". Here we present the first complete mt genome of the avian family Bucerotidae, i.e., that of two Philippine hornbills, Aceros waldeni and Penelopides panini. The mt genomes are characterized by a tandemly duplicated region encompassing part of cytochrome b, 3 tRNAs, NADH6, and the control region. The duplicated fragments are identical to each other except for a short section in domain I and for the length of repeat motifs in domain III of the control region. Due to the heteroplasmy with regard to the number of these repeat motifs, there is some size variation in both genomes; with around 21,657 bp (A. waldeni) and 22,737 bp (P. panini), they significantly exceed the hitherto longest known avian mt genomes, that of the albatrosses. We discovered concerted evolution between the duplicated fragments within individuals. The existence of differences between individuals in coding genes as well as in the control region, which are maintained between duplicates, indicates that recombination apparently occurs frequently, i.e., in every generation. The homogenised duplicates are interspersed by a short fragment which shows no sign of recombination. We hypothesize that this region corresponds to the so-called Replication Fork Barrier (RFB), which has been described from the chicken mitochondrial genome. As this RFB

Full mitochondrial genome sequences of two endemic Philippine hornbill species (Aves: Bucerotidae provide evidence for pervasive mitochondrial DNA recombination

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bleidorn Christoph

2011-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Although nowaday it is broadly accepted that mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA may undergo recombination, the frequency of such recombination remains controversial. Its estimation is not straightforward, as recombination under homoplasmy (i.e., among identical mt genomes is likely to be overlooked. In species with tandem duplications of large mtDNA fragments the detection of recombination can be facilitated, as it can lead to gene conversion among duplicates. Although the mechanisms for concerted evolution in mtDNA are not fully understood yet, recombination rates have been estimated from "one per speciation event" down to 850 years or even "during every replication cycle". Results Here we present the first complete mt genome of the avian family Bucerotidae, i.e., that of two Philippine hornbills, Aceros waldeni and Penelopides panini. The mt genomes are characterized by a tandemly duplicated region encompassing part of cytochrome b, 3 tRNAs, NADH6, and the control region. The duplicated fragments are identical to each other except for a short section in domain I and for the length of repeat motifs in domain III of the control region. Due to the heteroplasmy with regard to the number of these repeat motifs, there is some size variation in both genomes; with around 21,657 bp (A. waldeni and 22,737 bp (P. panini, they significantly exceed the hitherto longest known avian mt genomes, that of the albatrosses. We discovered concerted evolution between the duplicated fragments within individuals. The existence of differences between individuals in coding genes as well as in the control region, which are maintained between duplicates, indicates that recombination apparently occurs frequently, i.e., in every generation. Conclusions The homogenised duplicates are interspersed by a short fragment which shows no sign of recombination. We hypothesize that this region corresponds to the so-called Replication Fork Barrier (RFB, which has been

Pelagic ecology of the South West Indian Ocean Ridge seamounts: Introduction and overview

Science.gov (United States)

Rogers, A. D.

2017-02-01

The Indian Ocean was described by Behrman (1981) as the "Forlorn Ocean", a region neglected by science up to the late-1950s. For example, the Challenger Expedition from 1872 to 1876 largely avoided the Indian Ocean, sailing from Cape Town into Antarctic waters sampling around the Prince Edward Islands, Kerguelen Island and Crozet Islands before heading to Melbourne. From 1876 to the 1950s there were expeditions on several vessels including the Valdivia, Gauss and Planet (Germany), the Snellius (Netherlands), Discovery II, MahaBiss (United Kingdom), Albatross (Sweden), Dana and Galathea (Denmark; Behrman, 1981). There was no coordination between these efforts and overall the Indian Ocean, especially the deep sea remained perhaps the most poorly explored of the world's oceans. This situation was largely behind the multilateral effort represented by the International Indian Ocean Expedition (IIEO), which was coordinated by the Scientific Committee for Ocean Research (SCOR), and which ran from 1959-1965. Work during this expedition focused on the Arabian Sea, the area to the northwest of Australia and the waters over the continental shelves and slopes of coastal states in the region. Subsequently several large-scale international oceanographic programmes have included significant components in the Indian Ocean, including the Joint Global Ocean Flux Study (JGOFS) and the World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE). These studies were focused on physical oceanographic measurements and biogeochemistry and whilst the Indian Ocean is still less understood than other large oceans it is now integrated into the major ocean observation systems (Talley et al., 2011). This cannot be said for many aspects of the biology of the region, despite the fact that the Indian Ocean is one of the places where exploitation of marine living resources is still growing (FAO, 2016). The biology of the deep Indian Ocean outside of the Arabian Sea is particularly poorly understood given the presence

PRESSURE - WATER and Other Data from NOAA Ship ALBATROSS IV and Other Platforms From NW Atlantic (limit-40 W) from 1992-05-22 to 1997-05-21 (NODC Accession 9800002)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Temperature, salinity, light transmission, and fluorescence profiles were collected from CTD casts in the NW Atlantic Ocean (limit-40w) from 22 May 1992 to 21 May...

Flight test results for the Daedalus and Light Eagle human powered aircraft

Science.gov (United States)

Sullivan, R. Bryan; Zerweckh, Siegfried H.

1988-01-01

The results of the flight test program of the Daedalus and Light Eagle human powered aircraft in the winter of 1987/88 are given. The results from experiments exploring the Light Eagle's rigid body and structural dynamics are presented. The interactions of these dynamics with the autopilot design are investigated. Estimates of the power required to fly the Daedalus aircraft are detailed. The system of sensors, signal conditioning boards, and data acquisition equipment used to record the flight data is also described. In order to investigate the dynamics of the aircraft, flight test maneuvers were developed to yield maximum data quality from the point of view of estimating lateral and longitudinal stability derivatives. From this data, structural flexibility and unsteady aerodynamics have been modeled in an ad hoc manner and are used to augment the equations of motion with flexibility effects. Results of maneuvers that were flown are compared with the predictions from the flexibility model. To extend the ad hoc flexibility model, a fully flexible aeroelastic model has been developed. The model is unusual in the approximate equality of many structural natural frequencies and the importance of unsteady aerodynamic effects. the Gossamer Albatross. It is hypothesized that this inverse ground effect is caused by turbulence in the Earth's boundary layer. The diameters of the largest boundary layer eddies (which represent most of the turbulent kinetic energy) are proportional to altitude; thus, closer to the ground, the energy in the boundary layer becomes concentrated in eddies of smaller and smaller diameter. Eventually the eddies become sufficiently small (approximately 0.5 cm) that they trip the laminar boundary layer on the wing. As a result, a greater percentage of the wing area is covered with turbulent flow. Consequently the aircraft's drag and the pow er required both increase as the aircraft flies closer to the ground. The results of the flight test program are

Determinación de los factores que inciden en la captura incidental de aves marinas en la flota palangrera pelágica chilena Determination of factors affecting the bycatch of seabirds in Chilean pelagic longline fleet

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andrés González

2012-09-01

Full Text Available Se analizó la relación entre la variabilidad de la tasa de captura incidental de aves marinas en la pesquería palangrera pelágica de pez espada (Xiphias gladius y diversos factores temporales, ambientales, espaciales y pesqueros, entre 2007 y 2009. Los resultados muestran que las operaciones de pesca de esta flota afectan principalmente a los albatros, grupo que concentra el 83,7% de la captura incidental de aves marinas registrada en el período. Esta captura incidental se debe en primera instancia a la presencia del Frente Subtropical del Pacífico Sur, sistema que provoca la sobreposición entre la actividad de esta flota con la distribución espacial de aves marinas durante la fase residente del período no reproductivo. La variabilidad en esta captura incidental estaría fuertemente relacionada a los estímulos visuales (medido mediante el porcentaje de luces químicas y porcentaje de calamar y las condiciones de luminosidad ambiental existentes en los períodos de forrajeo diurno y nocturno de estas aves marinas durante el calado (medido a través del desfase de la hora del ocaso con respecto a la hora de inicio del calado y fase lunar.We analized the relationship between the variability in the rate of seabird bycatch in pelagic longline fishery for swordfish (Xiphias gladius, and several temporary, environmental, spatial and fisheries factors for the fishing period from 2007 to 2009. The results show that the fishing operations of this fleet mainly affect the albatross, group that accounts for 83.7% of the incidental catch of seabirds recorded in the period. This bycatch is due primarily to the presence of the South Pacific Subtropical Front, a system that causes the overlap between the activities of this fleet with the spatial distribution of these seabird species during the resident phase of the nonbreeding period. By the other hand, the variability in bycatch would be strongly linked to visual stimuli (measured by the percentage of

Perfluorooctanesulfonate and related fluorochemicals in several organisms including humans from Italy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Corsolini, S. [Siena Univ. (Italy); Kannan, K. [New York State Univ., Albany, NY (United States)

2004-09-15

Perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) is a persistent organic pollutant, extremely resistant to environmental degradation and is ubiquitous in the environment. Traditional monitoring studies for persistent chemicals failed to identify this contaminant for a long time because of its unique physicochemical properties and its tendency to bind to proteins instead of accumulating in fatty tissues. PFOS is known to be toxic in laboratory animals (rats, mice, monkeys) at levels close to the range already found in organisms and people. PFOS has been commercially produced by an electrochemical fluorination process for over 40 years. Perfluorooctane sulfonylfluoride (POSF; C{sub 8}F{sub 17}SO{sub 2}F) is used as a building block for further reactions that produce several other sulfonated fluorinated compounds, including perfluorooctane sulfonate (C{sub 8}F{sub 17}SO{sub 3}{sup -}) and other precursor molecules such as n-ethyl or n-methyl perfluorooctanesulfonamidoethanol. POSF-based fluorochemicals have been used in a wide variety of industrial and consumer products, including protective coatings for carpets and apparel, paper coatings, insecticide formulations, and surfactants. These compounds repel water and oil, reduce surface tension, catalyze oligomerization and polymerization, and maintain their properties under extreme conditions. Depending upon the specific functional derivatization or the degree of polymerization, POSF-based chemicals may degrade or metabolize to PFOS, which is known to be the final metabolite of POSF-based fluorochemicals. PFOS is stable, chemically inert, and non-reactive and has the potential to bioaccumulate. It has been found in polar bears from the Arctic, albatross and other fish-eating water birds in the mid-Pacific, and aquatic organisms11 and people world-wide. PFOS and other perfluorinated chemicals such as perfluorooctanesulfonamide (PFOSA), perfluorohexanesulfonate (PFHxS), and perfluorooctanoate (PFOA) have been detected in human blood. In

Climate change and functional traits affect population dynamics of a long-lived seabird.

Science.gov (United States)

Jenouvrier, Stéphanie; Desprez, Marine; Fay, Remi; Barbraud, Christophe; Weimerskirch, Henri; Delord, Karine; Caswell, Hal

2018-07-01

Recent studies unravelled the effect of climate changes on populations through their impact on functional traits and demographic rates in terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems, but such understanding in marine ecosystems remains incomplete. Here, we evaluate the impact of the combined effects of climate and functional traits on population dynamics of a long-lived migratory seabird breeding in the southern ocean: the black-browed albatross (Thalassarche melanophris, BBA). We address the following prospective question: "Of all the changes in the climate and functional traits, which would produce the biggest impact on the BBA population growth rate?" We develop a structured matrix population model that includes the effect of climate and functional traits on the complete BBA life cycle. A detailed sensitivity analysis is conducted to understand the main pathway by which climate and functional trait changes affect the population growth rate. The population growth rate of BBA is driven by the combined effects of climate over various seasons and multiple functional traits with carry-over effects across seasons on demographic processes. Changes in sea surface temperature (SST) during late winter cause the biggest changes in the population growth rate, through their effect on juvenile survival. Adults appeared to respond to changes in winter climate conditions by adapting their migratory schedule rather than by modifying their at-sea foraging activity. However, the sensitivity of the population growth rate to SST affecting BBA migratory schedule is small. BBA foraging activity during the pre-breeding period has the biggest impact on population growth rate among functional traits. Finally, changes in SST during the breeding season have little effect on the population growth rate. These results highlight the importance of early life histories and carry-over effects of climate and functional traits on demographic rates across multiple seasons in population response to climate

Occurrence of plastic particles in procellariiforms, south of São Paulo state (Brazil

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Edison Barbieri

2009-04-01

Full Text Available Seabirds ingest plastic particles floating on the surface of the world's oceans. The birds can ingest plastic particles that they mistakenly identify as prey items. Alternatively, plastics can be taken up in the stomach contents of prey species. Plastic is often passed from parents to chicks in regurgitated food. In this study, individual petrels and albatrosses brought in by the tide onto Ilha Comprida beach between January 2000 and December 2002 were collected. Ilha Comprida, a barrier island in southern São Paulo, Brazil, was traversed by car along a transect of 70 kilometers. A total of 110 birds of 10 species were collected and 64.54% had plastic particles in their stomach. Frequencies of occurrence were Macronectes giganteus (64.28%, Thalassarche melanophrys (73.07%, Thalassarche chlororhinchos (44.44%, Puffinus puffinus (85.71%, Puffinus gravis (7.41%, Puffinus griseus (63.63%, Fumarus glacialoides (33.33%, Daption capensis (75%, Pachyptila belcheri (33.33%, Procellaria aequinoctialis (25%. These results demonstrated the extent of contamination with plastic and the possible harmful effects on seabirds.As aves marinhas ingerem partículas plásticas que ficam flutuando na superfície dos oceanos. Estes animais podem ingerir as partículas plásticas confundindo com as presas. Alternativamente os plásticos podem vir de presas, as quais os contêm em seus estômagos. Os plásticos podem ainda, serem passados dos pais para os ninhegos, quando regurgitam o alimento. Neste trabalho foram coletados indivíduos de petréis e albatrozes ao longo da praia da Ilha Comprida entre janeiro de 2000 a dezembro de 2002. Para tanto a Ilha Comprida, uma ilha de barreira situada no litoral sul do Estado de São Paulo, foi percorrida de carro ao longo de um transecção de 70 quilômetros.Foram coletados 110 indivíduos de aves de 10 espécies, das quais 64.54% continham partículas plásticas em seus estômagos. As Freqüências de ocorrências foram

Cloud amount/frequency, NITRATE and other data from NOAA Ship DELAWARE II, NOAA Ship ALBATROSS IV and other platforms in the NW Atlantic from 1986-06-19 to 1989-12-15 (NODC Accession 9000100)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The Conductivity, Temperature and Depth (CTD); and other data were collected from eleven cruises conducted using four different ships from NW Atlantic (limit-40 W)....

Associations between chewing lice (Insecta, Phthiraptera and albatrosses and petrels (Aves, Procellariiformes collected in Brazil Associações entre malófagos (Insecta, Phthiraptera e albatrozes e petréis (Aves, Procellariiformes capturados no Brasil

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Michel P. Valim

2006-12-01

Full Text Available Chewing lice were searched on 197 skins of 28 species of procellariiform birds collected in Brazil. A total of 38 species of lice were found on 112 skins belonging to 22 bird species. The lice were slide-mounted and identified. A list of lice species found and their host species is given and some host-louse associations are discussed under an evolutionary perspective.Malófagos foram procurados em 197 peles de 28 espécies de aves Procellariiformes capturadas no Brasil. Um total de 38 espécies de piolhos foram encontradas em 112 peles pertencentes a 22 espécies de aves. Os piolhos foram montados em lâminas e identificados. Uma lista com as espécies de piolhos encontradas e seus hospedeiros é dada, além de algumas associações entre os piolhos e as aves serem discutidas sob uma perspectiva evolutiva.

Pathfinder-Plus on flight over Hawaiian Islands, with N'ihau and Lehua in the background

Science.gov (United States)

1998-01-01

Pathfinder-Plus on flight over Hawaiian Islands, with N'ihau and Lehua in the background. Pathfinder was a remotely controlled, solar-powered flying wing, designed and built as a proof-of-concept vehicle for a much larger aircraft capable of flying at extremely high altitudes for weeks at a time. It was built by AeroVironment, Inc., a California company that developed the human-powered Gossamer Condor and Gossamer Albatross lightweight aircraft during the 1970s, and later made the solar-electric powered Gossamer Penguin and Solar Challenger. The basic configuration and concepts for Pathfinder were first realized with the HALSOL (High Altitude Solar) aircraft, built in 1983 by AeroVironment and the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory. Pathfinder was constructed of advanced composites, plastics, and foam, and despite a wingspan of nearly 100 feet, it weighed only about 600 pounds. Pathfinder was one of several unpiloted prototypes under study by NASA's ERAST (Environmental Research Aircraft and Sensor Technology) program, a NASA-industry alliance which is helping develop advanced technologies that will enable aircraft to study the earth's environment during extremely long flights at altitudes in excess of 100,000 feet. (See project description below for Pathfinder's conversion to Pathfinder Plus.) In 1998, the Pathfinder solar-powered flying wing (see its photographs and project description) was modified into the longer-winged Pathfinder Plus configuration and on Aug. 6, 1998, Pathfinder Plus set an altitude record (for propeller-driven aircraft) of approximately 80,285 feet at the Pacific Missile Range Facility. The goal of the Pathfinder Plus flights was to validate new solar, aerodynamic, propulsion, and systems technology developed for its successor, the Centurion, which was designed to reach and sustain altitudes in the 100,000-foot range. The Centurion was succeeded by the Helios Prototype with a goal of reaching and sustaining flight at an altitude of 100,000 feet

Pathfinder-Plus on flight in Hawaii

Science.gov (United States)

1998-01-01

Pathfinder-Plus on a flight over Hawaii in 1998. Pathfinder was a remotely controlled, solar-powered flying wing, designed and built as a proof-of-concept vehicle for a much larger aircraft capable of flying at extremely high altitudes for weeks at a time. It was built by AeroVironment, Inc., a California company that developed the human-powered Gossamer Condor and Gossamer Albatross lightweight aircraft during the 1970s, and later made the solar-electric powered Gossamer Penguin and Solar Challenger. The basic configuration and concepts for Pathfinder were first realized with the HALSOL (High Altitude Solar) aircraft, built in 1983 by AeroVironment and the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory. Pathfinder was constructed of advanced composites, plastics, and foam, and despite a wingspan of nearly 100 feet, it weighed only about 600 pounds. Pathfinder was one of several unpiloted prototypes under study by NASA's ERAST (Environmental Research Aircraft and Sensor Technology) program, a NASA-industry alliance which is helping develop advanced technologies that will enable aircraft to study the earth's environment during extremely long flights at altitudes in excess of 100,000 feet. (See project description below for Pathfinder's conversion to Pathfinder Plus.) In 1998, the Pathfinder solar-powered flying wing (see its photographs and project description) was modified into the longer-winged Pathfinder Plus configuration and on Aug. 6, 1998, Pathfinder Plus set an altitude record (for propeller-driven aircraft) of approximately 80,285 feet at the Pacific Missile Range Facility. The goal of the Pathfinder Plus flights was to validate new solar, aerodynamic, propulsion, and systems technology developed for its successor, the Centurion, which was designed to reach and sustain altitudes in the 100,000-foot range. The Centurion was succeeded by the Helios Prototype with a goal of reaching and sustaining flight at an altitude of 100,000 feet and flying non-stop for at least 4 days

Pathfinder-Plus on a flight over Hawaiian island N'ihau

Science.gov (United States)

1998-01-01

Pathfinder-Plus on a flight over the Hawaiian island of N'ihau in 1998. Pathfinder was a remotely controlled, solar-powered flying wing, designed and built as a proof-of-concept vehicle for a much larger aircraft capable of flying at extremely high altitudes for weeks at a time. It was built by AeroVironment, Inc., a California company that developed the human-powered Gossamer Condor and Gossamer Albatross lightweight aircraft during the 1970s, and later made the solar-electric powered Gossamer Penguin and Solar Challenger. The basic configuration and concepts for Pathfinder were first realized with the HALSOL (High Altitude Solar) aircraft, built in 1983 by AeroVironment and the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory. Pathfinder was constructed of advanced composites, plastics, and foam, and despite a wingspan of nearly 100 feet, it weighed only about 600 pounds. Pathfinder was one of several unpiloted prototypes under study by NASA's ERAST (Environmental Research Aircraft and Sensor Technology) program, a NASA-industry alliance which is helping develop advanced technologies that will enable aircraft to study the earth's environment during extremely long flights at altitudes in excess of 100,000 feet. (See project description below for Pathfinder's conversion to Pathfinder Plus.) In 1998, the Pathfinder solar-powered flying wing (see its photographs and project description) was modified into the longer-winged Pathfinder Plus configuration and on Aug. 6, 1998, Pathfinder Plus set an altitude record (for propeller-driven aircraft) of approximately 80,285 feet at the Pacific Missile Range Facility. The goal of the Pathfinder Plus flights was to validate new solar, aerodynamic, propulsion, and systems technology developed for its successor, the Centurion, which was designed to reach and sustain altitudes in the 100,000-foot range. The Centurion was succeeded by the Helios Prototype with a goal of reaching and sustaining flight at an altitude of 100,000 feet and flying non

Pathfinder-Plus on flight over Hawaiian island N'ihau

Science.gov (United States)

1998-01-01

Pathfinder-Plus on a flight over the Hawaiian island of N'ihau in 1998. Pathfinder was a remotely controlled, solar-powered flying wing, designed and built as a proof-of-concept vehicle for a much larger aircraft capable of flying at extremely high altitudes for weeks at a time. It was built by AeroVironment, Inc., a California company that developed the human-powered Gossamer Condor and Gossamer Albatross lightweight aircraft during the 1970s, and later made the solar-electric powered Gossamer Penguin and Solar Challenger. The basic configuration and concepts for Pathfinder were first realized with the HALSOL (High Altitude Solar) aircraft, built in 1983 by AeroVironment and the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory. Pathfinder was constructed of advanced composites, plastics, and foam, and despite a wingspan of nearly 100 feet, it weighed only about 600 pounds. Pathfinder was one of several unpiloted prototypes under study by NASA's ERAST (Environmental Research Aircraft and Sensor Technology) program, a NASA-industry alliance which is helping develop advanced technologies that will enable aircraft to study the earth's environment during extremely long flights at altitudes in excess of 100,000 feet. (See project description below for Pathfinder's conversion to Pathfinder Plus.) In 1998, the Pathfinder solar-powered flying wing (see its photographs and project description) was modified into the longer-winged Pathfinder Plus configuration and on Aug. 6, 1998, Pathfinder Plus set an altitude record (for propeller-driven aircraft) of approximately 80,285 feet at the Pacific Missile Range Facility. The goal of the Pathfinder Plus flights was to validate new solar, aerodynamic, propulsion, and systems technology developed for its successor, the Centurion, which was designed to reach and sustain altitudes in the 100,000-foot range. The Centurion was succeeded by the Helios Prototype with a goal of reaching and sustaining flight at an altitude of 100,000 feet and flying non

Pathfinder-Plus on flight over Hawaii

Science.gov (United States)

1998-01-01

Pathfinder-Plus on flight over Hawaii. Pathfinder was a remotely controlled, solar-powered flying wing, designed and built as a proof-of-concept vehicle for a much larger aircraft capable of flying at extremely high altitudes for weeks at a time. It was built by AeroVironment, Inc., a California company that developed the human-powered Gossamer Condor and Gossamer Albatross lightweight aircraft during the 1970s, and later made the solar-electric powered Gossamer Penguin and Solar Challenger. The basic configuration and concepts for Pathfinder were first realized with the HALSOL (High Altitude Solar) aircraft, built in 1983 by AeroVironment and the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory. Pathfinder was constructed of advanced composites, plastics, and foam, and despite a wingspan of nearly 100 feet, it weighed only about 600 pounds. Pathfinder was one of several unpiloted prototypes under study by NASA's ERAST (Environmental Research Aircraft and Sensor Technology) program, a NASA-industry alliance which is helping develop advanced technologies that will enable aircraft to study the earth's environment during extremely long flights at altitudes in excess of 100,000 feet. (See project description below for Pathfinder's conversion to Pathfinder Plus.) In 1998, the Pathfinder solar-powered flying wing (see its photographs and project description) was modified into the longer-winged Pathfinder Plus configuration and on Aug. 6, 1998, Pathfinder Plus set an altitude record (for propeller-driven aircraft) of approximately 80,285 feet at the Pacific Missile Range Facility. The goal of the Pathfinder Plus flights was to validate new solar, aerodynamic, propulsion, and systems technology developed for its successor, the Centurion, which was designed to reach and sustain altitudes in the 100,000-foot range. The Centurion was succeeded by the Helios Prototype with a goal of reaching and sustaining flight at an altitude of 100,000 feet and flying non-stop for at least 4 days above 50

Pathfinder-Plus on a flight in Hawaii

Science.gov (United States)

1998-01-01

Pathfinder-Plus on a flight in 1998 over Hawaiian waters. Pathfinder was a remotely controlled, solar-powered flying wing, designed and built as a proof-of-concept vehicle for a much larger aircraft capable of flying at extremely high altitudes for weeks at a time. It was built by AeroVironment, Inc., a California company that developed the human-powered Gossamer Condor and Gossamer Albatross lightweight aircraft during the 1970s, and later made the solar-electric powered Gossamer Penguin and Solar Challenger. The basic configuration and concepts for Pathfinder were first realized with the HALSOL (High Altitude Solar) aircraft, built in 1983 by AeroVironment and the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory. Pathfinder was constructed of advanced composites, plastics, and foam, and despite a wingspan of nearly 100 feet, it weighed only about 600 pounds. Pathfinder was one of several unpiloted prototypes under study by NASA's ERAST (Environmental Research Aircraft and Sensor Technology) program, a NASA-industry alliance which is helping develop advanced technologies that will enable aircraft to study the earth's environment during extremely long flights at altitudes in excess of 100,000 feet. (See project description below for Pathfinder's conversion to Pathfinder Plus.) In 1998, the Pathfinder solar-powered flying wing (see its photographs and project description) was modified into the longer-winged Pathfinder Plus configuration and on Aug. 6, 1998, Pathfinder Plus set an altitude record (for propeller-driven aircraft) of approximately 80,285 feet at the Pacific Missile Range Facility. The goal of the Pathfinder Plus flights was to validate new solar, aerodynamic, propulsion, and systems technology developed for its successor, the Centurion, which was designed to reach and sustain altitudes in the 100,000-foot range. The Centurion was succeeded by the Helios Prototype with a goal of reaching and sustaining flight at an altitude of 100,000 feet and flying non-stop for at least

Pathfinder-Plus on flight near Hawaiian island N'ihau

Science.gov (United States)

1998-01-01

Pathfinder-Plus on a flight with the Hawaiian island of N'ihau in the background. Pathfinder was a remotely controlled, solar-powered flying wing, designed and built as a proof-of-concept vehicle for a much larger aircraft capable of flying at extremely high altitudes for weeks at a time. It was built by AeroVironment, Inc., a California company that developed the human-powered Gossamer Condor and Gossamer Albatross lightweight aircraft during the 1970s, and later made the solar-electric powered Gossamer Penguin and Solar Challenger. The basic configuration and concepts for Pathfinder were first realized with the HALSOL (High Altitude Solar) aircraft, built in 1983 by AeroVironment and the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory. Pathfinder was constructed of advanced composites, plastics, and foam, and despite a wingspan of nearly 100 feet, it weighed only about 600 pounds. Pathfinder was one of several unpiloted prototypes under study by NASA's ERAST (Environmental Research Aircraft and Sensor Technology) program, a NASA-industry alliance which is helping develop advanced technologies that will enable aircraft to study the earth's environment during extremely long flights at altitudes in excess of 100,000 feet. (See project description below for Pathfinder's conversion to Pathfinder Plus.) In 1998, the Pathfinder solar-powered flying wing (see its photographs and project description) was modified into the longer-winged Pathfinder Plus configuration and on Aug. 6, 1998, Pathfinder Plus set an altitude record (for propeller-driven aircraft) of approximately 80,285 feet at the Pacific Missile Range Facility. The goal of the Pathfinder Plus flights was to validate new solar, aerodynamic, propulsion, and systems technology developed for its successor, the Centurion, which was designed to reach and sustain altitudes in the 100,000-foot range. The Centurion was succeeded by the Helios Prototype with a goal of reaching and sustaining flight at an altitude of 100,000 feet and

Pathfinder-Plus on flight over Hawaiian Islands

Science.gov (United States)

1998-01-01

Pathfinder-Plus on flight over Hawaiian Islands in 1998. Pathfinder was a remotely controlled, solar-powered flying wing, designed and built as a proof-of-concept vehicle for a much larger aircraft capable of flying at extremely high altitudes for weeks at a time. It was built by AeroVironment, Inc., a California company that developed the human-powered Gossamer Condor and Gossamer Albatross lightweight aircraft during the 1970s, and later made the solar-electric powered Gossamer Penguin and Solar Challenger. The basic configuration and concepts for Pathfinder were first realized with the HALSOL (High Altitude Solar) aircraft, built in 1983 by AeroVironment and the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory. Pathfinder was constructed of advanced composites, plastics, and foam, and despite a wingspan of nearly 100 feet, it weighed only about 600 pounds. Pathfinder was one of several unpiloted prototypes under study by NASA's ERAST (Environmental Research Aircraft and Sensor Technology) program, a NASA-industry alliance which is helping develop advanced technologies that will enable aircraft to study the earth's environment during extremely long flights at altitudes in excess of 100,000 feet. (See project description below for Pathfinder's conversion to Pathfinder Plus.) In 1998, the Pathfinder solar-powered flying wing (see its photographs and project description) was modified into the longer-winged Pathfinder Plus configuration and on Aug. 6, 1998, Pathfinder Plus set an altitude record (for propeller-driven aircraft) of approximately 80,285 feet at the Pacific Missile Range Facility. The goal of the Pathfinder Plus flights was to validate new solar, aerodynamic, propulsion, and systems technology developed for its successor, the Centurion, which was designed to reach and sustain altitudes in the 100,000-foot range. The Centurion was succeeded by the Helios Prototype with a goal of reaching and sustaining flight at an altitude of 100,000 feet and flying non-stop for at least 4

Pathfinder-Plus takes off on flight in Hawaii

Science.gov (United States)

1998-01-01

Pathfinder-Plus on a flight over Hawaii in 1998. Pathfinder was a remotely controlled, solar-powered flying wing, designed and built as a proof-of-concept vehicle for a much larger aircraft capable of flying at extremely high altitudes for weeks at a time. It was built by AeroVironment, Inc., a California company that developed the human-powered Gossamer Condor and Gossamer Albatross lightweight aircraft during the 1970s, and later made the solar-electric powered Gossamer Penguin and Solar Challenger. The basic configuration and concepts for Pathfinder were first realized with the HALSOL (High Altitude Solar) aircraft, built in 1983 by AeroVironment and the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory. Pathfinder was constructed of advanced composites, plastics, and foam, and despite a wingspan of nearly 100 feet, it weighed only about 600 pounds. Pathfinder was one of several unpiloted prototypes under study by NASA's ERAST (Environmental Research Aircraft and Sensor Technology) program, a NASA-industry alliance which is helping develop advanced technologies that will enable aircraft to study the earth's environment during extremely long flights at altitudes in excess of 100,000 feet. (See project description below for Pathfinder's conversion to Pathfinder Plus.) In 1998, the Pathfinder solar-powered flying wing (see its photographs and project description) was modified into the longer-winged Pathfinder Plus configuration and on Aug. 6, 1998, Pathfinder Plus set an altitude record (for propeller-driven aircraft) of approximately 80,285 feet at the Pacific Missile Range Facility. The goal of the Pathfinder Plus flights was to validate new solar, aerodynamic, propulsion, and systems technology developed for its successor, the Centurion, which was designed to reach and sustain altitudes in the 100,000-foot range. The Centurion was succeeded by the Helios Prototype with a goal of reaching and sustaining flight at an altitude of 100,000 feet and flying non-stop for at least 4 days

Water masses, ocean fronts, and the structure of Antarctic seabird communities: putting the eastern Bellingshausen Sea in perspective

Science.gov (United States)

Ribic, Christine A.; Ainley, David G.; Ford, R. Glenn; Fraser, William R.; Tynan, Cynthia T.; Woehler, Eric J.

2015-01-01

dominated by Adélie penguins, a Low Antarctic group dominated by petrels, and a Subantarctic group dominated by albatross were evident. In eastern Bellingshausen waters during summer, groups were inconsistent. With regard to frontal features, Antarctic-wide in winter, distance to the ice edge was an important explanatory factor for nine of 14 species, distance to the Antarctic Polar Front for six species and distance to the Shelf Break Front for six species; however, these Antarctic-wide models could not successfully predict spatial relationships of winter seabird density (individual species or total) and biomass in the eastern Bellingshausen. Antarctic-wide in summer, distance to land/Antarctic continent was important for 10 of 18 species, not a surprising result for these summer-time Antarctic breeders, as colonies are associated with ice-free areas of coastal land. Distance to the Shelf Break Front was important for 8 and distance to the southern boundary of the ACC was important for 7 species. These summer models were more successful in predicting eastern Bellingshausen species density and species diversity but failed to predict total seabird density or biomass. Antarctic seabirds appear to respond to fronts in a way similar to that observed along the well-studied upwelling front of the California Current. To understand fully the seabird patterns found in this synthesis, multi-disciplinary at-sea investigations, including a quantified prey field, are needed.

Synthetic polymers in the marine environment: a rapidly increasing, long-term threat.

Science.gov (United States)

Moore, Charles James

2008-10-01

Synthetic polymers, commonly known as plastics, have been entering the marine environment in quantities paralleling their level of production over the last half century. However, in the last two decades of the 20th Century, the deposition rate accelerated past the rate of production, and plastics are now one of the most common and persistent pollutants in ocean waters and beaches worldwide. Thirty years ago the prevailing attitude of the plastic industry was that "plastic litter is a very small proportion of all litter and causes no harm to the environment except as an eyesore" [Derraik, J.G.B., 2002. The pollution of the marine environment by plastic debris: a review. Mar. Pollut. Bull. 44(9), 842-852]. Between 1960 and 2000, the world production of plastic resins increased 25-fold, while recovery of the material remained below 5%. Between 1970 and 2003, plastics became the fastest growing segment of the US municipal waste stream, increasing nine-fold, and marine litter is now 60-80% plastic, reaching 90-95% in some areas. While undoubtedly still an eyesore, plastic debris today is having significant harmful effects on marine biota. Albatross, fulmars, shearwaters and petrels mistake floating plastics for food, and many individuals of these species are affected; in fact, 44% of all seabird species are known to ingest plastic. Sea turtles ingest plastic bags, fishing line and other plastics, as do 26 species of cetaceans. In all, 267 species of marine organisms worldwide are known to have been affected by plastic debris, a number that will increase as smaller organisms are assessed. The number of fish, birds, and mammals that succumb each year to derelict fishing nets and lines in which they become entangled cannot be reliably known; but estimates are in the millions. We divide marine plastic debris into two categories: macro, >5 mm and micro, plastic micro-debris by filter feeders at the base of the food web is known to occur, but has not been quantified