Birds as indicators of change in the freshwater ecosystems of Botswana

Freshwater ecosystems support highly biodiverse plant and animal populations and provide crucial ecosystem services to human communities. Despite this importance, these systems are being degraded faster than terrestrial or marine environments, resulting in large global declines in freshwater biodiversity. To track such environmental change, birds are often used as indicator species. I focused on tracking changes in significant waterbird breeding colonies, rivers and internationally listed wetlands in Botswana facing a wide range of threats. I identified that riparian bird communities along the Chobe River were more biodiverse in sites with the presence of large herbivores, highlighting the direct and indirect relationships between these seemingly unconnected taxa. Using a drone, I explored the relationships between waterbird breeding and river levels and inundation. Drone imagery on the Chobe River provided comprehensive data on the reproductive success, size and composition of the Kasane waterbird breeding colony, which were linked to river levels and inundation, while citizen science collected abundance data helped identify a threshold river level to support large waterbird breeding colonies. This underlined the importance of river flows for waterbird populations and the potential for the breeding of waterbirds to inform river management. Similarly in the Okavango Delta, citizen science data highlighted positive relationships between waterbird abundance and river flows, but there were indications of long-term declines in waterbird abundances. River flows were again important for waterbird breeding, with key waterbird breeding colonies located in areas experiencing moderate to high flood frequencies. I also developed a semi-automated counting technique for investigating colony sizes with a drone, negating the need to physically enter a colony or manually count imagery, saving time in image processing and ensuring researcher safety. Finally, I investigated the potential effects of foraging at landfill on the marabou stork. Plastics formed a significant proportion of marabou regurgitant while trace metal concentrations in feathers were higher than in naturally foraging populations, indicating potential deleterious impacts. My work highlighted the value of riparian bird communities, predominantly waterbirds, as indicators of change, reflecting herbivore population structures, land use alterations and changes in freshwater flows and inundation

Improving the detection and estimation of birds’ collision risk with energy infrastructure using new and emerging tracking technologies

The dual crises of biodiversity loss and climate change require swift action to protect ecosystems and transition away from fossil fuels. Halting climate change will require global wind energy generation capacity to more than quadruple compared to 2021. Expanding renewable energy will also require significant investment in transmission power lines. European bird populations have declined by approximately 600 million individuals since 1980, it is vital that the clean energy expansion does not further exacerbate this. Migratory soaring birds are among the most susceptible to collision mortality associated with renewable energy infrastructure. Conservation of these species in the context of the expansion of renewable energy requires assessment of collision risks across the whole flyway. This thesis focuses on how data from new and emerging satellite tracking technologies can help better understand where and when birds are most at risk of collision. Analysing tracking data sets representing over 1,400 individual birds, identified collision risk hotspots within Europe and North Africa. Many of the hotspots identified were within migratory bottleneck regions where mitigation to reduce collision risks could have conservation benefits across the flyway. For both soaring and flapping species environmental variables such as thermal uplift were found to accurately predict how likely birds were to fly at heights where they risk collision with energy infrastructure. This research showed tracking data can inform estimates of sensitivity to collision risks for areas which are not, at present, well represented in the tracking data. Through testing a new low cost, light weight GPS-LoRa tracking technology my research helped fill data gaps and improve our understanding of the movement behaviour of birds in relation to energy infrastructure. The devices were found to be able to collect and transmit accurate, high frequency GNSS/GPS location information over long distances (up to 53km). Lab tests revealed their potential to help validate collision risk maps by remotely detecting when and where bird collisions occur. This thesis generated important information to support development of renewables while minimizing impacts on biodiversity

Environmental impact statement Space Shuttle advanced solid rocket motor program

The proposed action is design, development, testing, and evaluation of Advanced Solid Rocket Motors (ASRM) to replace the motors currently used to launch the Space Shuttle. The proposed action includes design, construction, and operation of new government-owned, contractor-operated facilities for manufacturing and testing the ASRM's. The proposed action also includes transport of propellant-filled rocket motor segments from the manufacturing facility to the testing and launch sites and the return of used and/or refurbished segments to the manufacturing site. Sites being considered for the new facilities include John C. Stennis Space Center, Hancock County, Mississippi; the Yellow Creek site in Tishomingo County, Mississippi, which is currently in the custody and control of the Tennessee Valley Authority; and John F. Kennedy Space Center, Brevard County, Florida. TVA proposes to transfer its site to the custody and control of NASA if it is the selected site. All facilities need not be located at the same site. Existing facilities which may provide support for the program include Michoud Assembly Facility, New Orleans Parish, Louisiana; and Slidell Computer Center, St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana. NASA's preferred production location is the Yellow Creek site, and the preferred test location is the Stennis Space Center

River Report. State of the Lower St. Johns River Basin, Florida: Water Quality, Fisheries, Aquatic Life, Contaminants, 2017

https://digitalcommons.unf.edu/sotr/1008/thumbnail.jp

Draft environmental impact statement: Space Shuttle Advanced Solid Rocket Motor Program

The proposed action is design, development, testing, and evaluation of Advanced Solid Rocket Motors (ASRM) to replace the motors currently used to launch the Space Shuttle. The proposed action includes design, construction, and operation of new government-owned, contractor-operated facilities for manufacturing and testing the ASRM's. The proposed action also includes transport of propellant-filled rocket motor segments from the manufacturing facility to the testing and launch sites and the return of used and/or refurbished segments to the manufacturing site