405 research outputs found

    Towards understanding the interactions between Ospreys and human-made structures in the Tennessee River Valley

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    Raptor nests on human-built structures represent a significant source of conflict as they can result in bird mortality, fires, structure damage, service distribution, or power outages when falling nest materials or animals connect with energized conductors. Power companies, such as the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), wish to mitigate these conflicts to avoid service disruptions. In this dissertation, I present my work towards understanding and mitigating the interactions between Ospreys (Pandion haliaetus) and human-made structures. To achieve this, I explored multiple elements of conflict identification, monitoring, and basic ecology of the target species to better inform conflict mitigation. In Chapter I, I modelled the influence of suitable habitat and transmission infrastructure distribution on the potential risk of nest-infrastructure conflict within the TVA power service area. My integrative model would be most useful to utilities when adjacent (i.e., within 10 km) areas to ‘risky’ zones are also considered when looking at mitigation efforts and pre-development planning. Going forward, similar models for other species and for distribution structures may benefit utilities such as TVA. In Chapter II, I aimed to identify the most suitable nest monitoring technique for Ospreys, as nest information is required to make informed decisions for conflict mitigation (e.g., nest removal). I found that unoccupied aircraft systems, or drones, are less disturbing and more time-efficient than other methods tested. In the last two chapters, I focused on obtaining detailed information on the basic ecology of Ospreys in the southeastern United States, which represent an understudied population. My findings in Chapter III contribute to general migration ecology theory, identify key stopover areas for Ospreys in Florida, provide valuable comparisons for further investigations, highlight areas for future research, and identify possible metrics relevant to conservation and management action. Lastly, I quantified the genetic diversity and structure of southeastern Ospreys to generate hypotheses for future testing and provide valuable comparisons for further investigations. While gene flow appears to be high and sampled regions show little genetic differentiation, more research is required to elucidate patterns of cryptic population structure and provide concrete implications for management decisions (e.g., source population for translocation programs)

    Effects of anthropogenic infrastructures on the spatial ecology of raptors and bustards

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    Anthropogenic infrastructures are major drivers of human-related effects in the Anthropocene, and several important negative impacts on different taxa and habitats have been described. In the case of birds these impacts include, for example, habitat loss, mortality and changes in behaviour, which can have major consequences on the viability of populations. The main objective of this thesis was to study how anthropogenic infrastructures influence the distribution and movements of several bird species, in order to identify management actions and support conservation strategies. The thesis focuses on bustards and raptors species in the Iberian Peninsula, which are known to be vulnerable to human infrastructures such as roads, power lines and wind farms. Census data, mortality events in power lines and GPS tracking databases were used to study the interactions between infrastructures and the little bustard (Tetrax tetrax), great bustard (Otis tarda), black kite (Milvus migrans) and Iberian imperial eagle (Aquila adalberti). In general, this thesis shows that infrastructures, such as roads, power lines and wind turbines, can play an important role in species’ distribution (little bustard) and use of space (black kite and little bustard), and may even contribute to accentuate negative population trends (little bustard). Additionally, species features (e.g. morphology or behaviour) and ecology are essential to understand how they are affected and vulnerable to infrastructures. Guidelines for the management of infrastructures and conservation measures targeting vulnerable species are proposed

    Shift in proximate causes of mortality for six large migratory raptors over a century

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    Delayed maturity and low reproductive rate make raptors naturally sensitive to high mortality rates, yet a wide variety of human-related threats negatively affect their population dynamics and persistence over time. We modelled the variability in the proximate causes of mortality associated with six species of large migratory raptors characterized by different ecological traits. We tested the hypothesis that species-specific mortality signals occur owing to differential exposure to threats in space and time. We relied on an unprecedently large dataset of ring (band) recovery (31269 records) over a period of > 100 years. Our findings suggested that mortality of these birds has declined dramatically since the late 1970s. We found species-specific seasonal patterns of mortality, with higher mortality rates during early life-stages. For Black Kite, Common Buzzard, and Osprey, mortality increased with distance travelled and decreased with distance from migratory bottlenecks. Human-related mortality was higher than natural mortality (47% vs 5.6%), but after 1979 indirect anthropogenic factors increased, while direct ones decreased. Raptors showed differential specific exposure to mortality causes (direct human: Honey Buzzard, Marsh Harrier; indirect human: Common Buzzard, Black Kite; direct and indirect human: Osprey; natural: Montagu\u2019s Harrier). Conservation efforts and international laws have helped lower mortality caused directly by humans, but new emerging human-related threats are impacting migratory raptors and call for advanced conservation efforts. In a fast-changing world, anticipating future threats is key to stemming losses and boosting future preservation

    Stopover biology of migratory landbirds in a heavily urbanized landscape, the New York metropolitan area

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    Migration routes of many Nearctic-Neotropical landbirds pass through the most urbanized regions of North America. Migrants use urban habitat fragments as stopover sites and commonly occur in cities at exceptional density. Yet, knowledge of migrant stopover biology and refueling opportunities in such places is severely limited. This dissertation examined several aspects of migrant stopover biology in the New York metropolitan area to gain a more holistic understanding of how migratory landbirds utilize urban stopover sites, and ultimately to assess the quality of urban habitats as stopover sites. I first generated morphometric predictive models using salvaged bird specimens to allow me in subsequent studies to noninvasively measure the energetic condition (fat mass) of migrants in New York City (NYC). Next I compared the refueling performance of migrants in NYC to that of conspecifics in less-disturbed forests outside of the city. Blood plasma metabolite profiles indicated that refueling conditions for migrants were no poorer in NYC than in the non-urban habitats. Further, migrant refueling rates were comparable to, and in some cases higher than, those reported in the literature for birds at various non-urban stopover sites. Measures of arthropod biomass suggested food abundance for insectivorous migrants was also similar within and outside NYC. I then showed that stopover refueling in NYC often involved substantial increases in lean mass. This finding carries implications for stopover habitat management practices, as migrants using these sites will require high-protein foods in addition to the lipid- and carbohydrate-rich foods that maximize fattening rates. Next, radio-telemetry data from a small pilot study provided one of the first descriptions of migrant stopover durations within a city. Stopover durations ranged 1-14 days and were negatively related to fat mass, but not lean body mass, upon arrival. A larger-scale telemetry study revealed that migrant spatial behaviour in NYC was in many ways similar to what has been observed in passerine migrants in non-urban areas. Movement patterns were indicative of an ability to search for, locate, and occupy suitable microhabitat, and temporary home ranges suggested forest size was more than sufficient to meet their area requirements. Collectively, these studies provide a comprehensive assessment of the quality of urban habitats as migratory bird stopover sites. Findings indicated that the sites examined are functioning in the same fashion as less-disturbed, larger forest tracts elsewhere. No evidence was found to suggest that stopover refueling conditions within one of the world’s most urbanized landscapes are inadequate for migrating landbirds

    Sandhill crane population monitoring, modeling, and harvest decision making

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    Includes bibliographical references.2015 Fall.To view the abstract, please see the full text of the document

    Report on blue economic potential, sectors strategies and development trends

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    The Blue economy concept and the Blue Growth agenda as a set of strategic objectives, offer principles and guidance to identify blue economy potential for the cross-border Maritime Spatial Planning (MSP) processes. Coastal regions and areas are recognised as having economic growth potential that exceeds the levels of inland regions, which indicates that the sea basin withholds valuable strategic resources in aiming for sustainable growth in the Plan4Blue (P4B) project area in Finland and Estonia.This report outlines the current status of the selected blue economic businesses in the Plan4Blue (P4B) project area in Finland and Estonia and depicts some possible development trends, based on their nine-years past development. This analysis of the blue industry development is primarily based on Orbis Europe database and national statistics databases. The sectoral development is illustrated with graphs presenting turnover and employment figures development and some future trends in the P4B project area in Finland and Estonia separately. All key sectors show positive long-term development, tourism industry showing the strongest future growth potential in terms of expected number of employees. In terms of productivity, the energy sector and marine construction sector are the highest performers out of the selected blue industry sectors in the P4B project area.This report builds on the current state analysis to outline and summarise some key strategic visions, aims and objectives for the future, communicated by a wide range of blue economy stakeholders in the Baltic Sea Region (BSR) and globally, that is the EU, OECD, UN and focal blue industries that have all published visions and guidelines or strategic objectives and policy papers to pursue future growth in a sustainable manner. The strategies for the key blue industries call for cross-border and crosssectoral development in the Baltic Sea region to achieve blue growth effectively. In order to maintain and improve the health of the Baltic Sea and wellbeing in the coastal areas requires strategic goal setting for short, medium and long-term. The blue economy industries are interconnected and interdependent, which should be seen as an advantage in the strategy formation and differentiation in the markets to achieve economic growth in the future.</p

    Beyond Algorithms: Toward a Normative Theory of Automated Regulation

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    The proliferation of artificial intelligence in our daily lives has spawned a burgeoning literature on the dawn of dehumanized, algorithmic governance. Remarkably, the scholarly discourse overwhelmingly fails to acknowledge that automated, non-human governance has long been a reality. For more than a century, policy-makers have relied on regulations that automatically adjust to changing circumstances, without the need for human intervention. This Article surveys the track record of self-adjusting governance mechanisms to propose a normative theory of automated regulation. Effective policy-making frequently requires anticipation of future developments, from technology innovation to geopolitical change. Self-adjusting regulation offers an insurance policy against the well-documented inaccuracies of even the most expert forecasts, reducing the need for costly and time-consuming administrative proceedings. Careful analysis of empirical evidence, existing literature, and precedent reveals that the benefits of regulatory automation extend well beyond mitigating regulatory inertia. From a political economy perspective, automated regulation can accommodate a wide range of competing beliefs and assumptions about the future to serve as a catalyst for more consensual policy-making. Public choice theory suggests that the same innate diversity of potential outcomes makes regulatory automation a natural antidote to the domination of special interests in the policy-making process. Today’s automated regulations rely on relatively simplistic algebra, a far cry from the multivariate calculus behind smart algorithms. Harnessing the advanced mathematics and greater predictive powers of artificial intelligence could provide a significant upgrade for the next generation of automated regulation. Any gains in mathematical sophistication, however, will likely come at a cost if the widespread scholarly skepticism toward algorithmic governance is any indication of future backlash and litigation. Policy-makers should consider carefully whether their objectives may be served as well, if not better, through more simplistic, but well-established methods of regulatory automation

    Understanding the Bigger Energy Picture: DESERTEC and Beyond

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    This book focuses on the global cycles of energy, water and carbon, which are not only the essentials of our main energy carriers, the fossil fuels, but are also the building blocks of life. The book offers an overview of the basic scientific facts and relationships that are needed to understand today’s energy generation and use, how they relate to global climate, the water cycle and other resources, and the complexities of energy policy. Building on the work of the Desertec project, it presents the main technological options that we will have in a world after the “Energiewende” and presents the possible future solutions for a sustainable world. The book is written in an engaging, descriptive style that can be understood by those without specific knowledge of science or economics and allows readers to form their own conclusions. Controversy rages over energy problems, climate change and their possible solutions. Expressions like “climate deniers”, “renaissance of nuclear energy”, “stop the war on coal”, and “Energiewende now” represent a diversity of opinions that divide our society and political leaders. This book shows the reader the whole energy picture and how it is part of the wider global problems of overpopulation and uncontrolled economies in a world of limited resources
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