Experimental nest cooling reveals dramatic effects of heatwaves on reproduction in a Mediterranean bird of prey

Future climatic scenarios forecast increases in average temperatures as well as in the frequency, duration, and intensity of extreme events, such as heatwaves. Whereas behavioral adjustments can buffer direct physiological and fitness costs of exposure to excessive temperature in wild animals, these may prove more difficult during specific life stages when vagility is reduced (e.g., early developmental stages). By means of a nest cooling experiment, we tested the effects of extreme temperatures on different stages of reproduction in a cavity-nesting Mediterranean bird of prey, the lesser kestrel (Falco naumanni), facing a recent increase in the frequency of heatwaves during its breeding season. Nest temperature in a group of nest boxes placed on roof terraces was reduced by shading them from direct sunlight in 2 consecutive years (2021 and 2022). We then compared hatching failure, mortality, and nestling morphology between shaded and non-shaded (control) nest boxes. Nest temperature in control nest boxes was on average 3.9 degrees C higher than in shaded ones during heatwaves, that is, spells of extreme air temperature (>37 degrees C for =2 consecutive days) which hit the study area during the nestling-rearing phase in both years. Hatching failure markedly increased with increasing nest temperature, rising above 50% when maximum nest temperatures exceeded 44 degrees C. Nestlings from control nest boxes showed higher mortality during heatwaves (55% vs. 10% in shaded nest boxes) and those that survived further showed impaired morphological growth (body mass and skeletal size). Hence, heatwaves occurring during the breeding period can have both strong lethal and sublethal impacts on different components of avian reproduction, from egg hatching to nestling growth. More broadly, these findings suggest that the projected future increases of summer temperatures and heatwave frequency in the Mediterranean basin and elsewhere in temperate areas may threaten the local persistence of even relatively warm-adapted species

An Analysis of One Learning Styles Instrument for Language Students

Research on learning styles focuses on how students prefer to learn. This study tested the reliability and validity of the authors' newly developed Learning Styles Indicator and explored whether reliability and validity hold true across a population of native speakers (NS) and non-native speakers (NNS) of English. This new Learning Styles Indicator was used to investigate the learning style preferences of three groups of language learners: English as a second language (ESL) students, freshman English composition students, and foreign language (FL) students. The data reveal clear learning style preferences for each of the three groups of learners. The results have classroom implications for ESL teachers, foreign language teachers, and freshman composition teachers.La recherche portant sur les styles d'apprentissage se penche sur les diverses fa~ons dont les etudiants preftrent apprendre. Cette etude a mis al'epreuve la fiabilite et la validite de l'outil nouvellement developpe par les auteures: Ie "Learning Styles Indicator" (Indicateur de styles d'apprentissage) et a evalue la constance de ces deux criteres chez des etudiants dont l'anglais etait la langue maternelle et d'autres pour qui l'anglais etait une langue etrangere. Les auteures se sont servi de l'indicateur de styles d'apprentissage pour etudier les preferences de styles d'apprentissage de trois groupes d'etudiants: des etudiants ALS, des etudiants de premiere annee universitaire dans un cours de redaction anglaise et des etudiants ALE. Les resultats indiquent que chaque groupe d'etudiants affichent des preferences nettes pour certains styles d'apprentissage. Les incidences de cette etude pour l'enseignement en salle de classe touchent les enseignants ALS, les enseignants ALE et ceux qui enseignent la redaction en premiere annee d'universite

Constructing the identity of an advice-giver in an American internet advice column.

This paper is a contribution to research on the expression of expert advice-giving (e.g., Heritage and Sefi 1992; Silverman et al. 1992). We present a linguistic analysis of the ways in which the identity of the fictional expert advisor Lucy emerges in an Internet advice column run by professional health educators as part of a university health service. In discourse-analytical close readings of 280 question–answer records, we identify and discuss seven recurring strategies (the advisor's name, self-reference and use of address terms; expert information-giving; giving options and making readers think; the choice of vocabulary; offering opinions; the use of empathy; the display of humor), which together contribute to Lucy's voice as an expert advice-giver if the readers repeatedly access the question–answer exchanges. This emerging identity is in line with the site's mission to provide information designed to facilitate independent and responsible decision processes and corresponds to an ideal of nondirectiveness, as also identified in the literature on other advisory settings (He 1994; Sarangi and Clarke 2002; Vehviläinen 2003). The constructed identity of Lucy thus makes ‘Lucy Answers’ an attractive site to (re)turn to for advice and complements the other services provided by the health educators