Soaring migrants flexibly respond to sea-breeze in a migratory bottleneck: using first derivatives to identify behavioural adjustments over time.

Millions of birds travel every year between Europe and Africa detouring ecological barriers and funnelling through migratory corridors where they face variable weather conditions. Little is known regarding the response of migrating birds to mesoscale meteorological processes during flight. Specifically, sea-breeze has a daily cycle that may directly influence the flight of diurnal migrants. We collected radar tracks of soaring migrants using modified weather radar in Latrun, central Israel, in 7 autumns between 2005 and 2016. We investigated how migrating soaring birds adjusted their flight speed and direction under the effects of daily sea-breeze circulation. We analysed the effects of wind on bird groundspeed, airspeed and the lateral component of the airspeed as a function of time of day using Generalized Additive Mixed Models. To identify when birds adjusted their response to the wind over time, we estimated first derivatives. Using data collected during a total of 148 days, we characterised the diel dynamics of horizontal wind flow relative to the migration goal, finding a consistent rotational movement of the wind blowing towards the East (morning) and to the South-East (late afternoon), with highest crosswind speed around mid-day and increasing tailwinds towards late afternoon. Airspeed of radar detected birds decreased consistently with increasing tailwind and decreasing crosswinds from early afternoon, resulting in rather stable groundspeed of 16-17 m/s. In addition, birds fully compensated for lateral drift when crosswinds were at their maximum and slightly drifted with the wind when crosswinds decreased and tailwinds became more intense. Using a simple and broadly applicable statistical method, we studied how wind influences bird flight through speed adjustments over time, providing new insights regarding the flexible behavioural responses of soaring birds to wind conditions. These adjustments allowed the birds to compensate for lateral drift under crosswind and reduced their airspeed under tailwind. Our work enhances our understanding of how migrating birds respond to changing wind conditions during their long-distance journeys through migratory corridors

Risk-sensitive response of soaring birds to crosswind over dangerous sea highlights age-specific differences in migratory performance.

Challenges imposed by geographical barriers during migration are selective agents for animals. Juvenile soaring landbirds often cross large water bodies along their migratory path, where they lack updraft support and are vulnerable to harsh weather. However, the consequences of inexperience in accomplishing these water crossings remain largely unquantified. To address this knowledge gap, we tracked the movements of juvenile and adult black kites Milvus migrans over the Strait of Gibraltar using high-frequency tracking devices in variable crosswind conditions. We found that juveniles crossed under higher crosswind speeds and at wider sections of the strait compared with adults during easterly winds, which represent a high risk owing to their high speed and steady direction towards the Atlantic Ocean. Juveniles also drifted extensively with easterly winds, contrasting with adults who strongly compensated for lateral displacement through flapping. Age differences were inconspicuous during winds with a west crosswind speed component, as well as for airspeed modulation in all wind conditions. We suggest that the suboptimal sea-crossing behaviour of juvenile black kites may impact their survival rates, either by increasing chances of drowning owing to exhaustion or by depleting critical energy reserves needed to accomplish their first migration

Prospecting movements link phenotypic traits to female annual potential fitness in a nocturnal predator.

Recent biologging technology reveals hidden life and breeding strategies of nocturnal animals. Combining animal movement patterns with individual characteristics and landscape features can uncover meaningful behaviours that directly influence fitness. Consequently, defining the proximate mechanisms and adaptive value of the identified behaviours is of paramount importance. Breeding female barn owls (Tyto alba), a colour-polymorphic species, recurrently visit other nest boxes at night. We described and quantified this behaviour for the first time, linking it with possible drivers, and individual fitness. We GPS-equipped 178 female barn owls and 122 male partners from 2016 to 2020 in western Switzerland during the chick rearing phase. We observed that 111 (65%) of the tracked breeding females were (re)visiting nest boxes while still carrying out their first brood. We modelled their prospecting parameters as a function of brood-, individual- and partner-related variables and found that female feather eumelanism predicted the emergence of prospecting behaviour (less melanic females are usually prospecting). More importantly we found that increasing male parental investment (e.g., feeding rate) increased female prospecting efforts. Ultimately, females would (re)visit a nest more often if they had used it in the past and were more likely to lay a second clutch afterwards, consequently having higher annual fecundity than non-prospecting females. Despite these apparent immediate benefits, they did not fledge more chicks. Through biologging and long-term field monitoring, we highlight how phenotypic traits (melanism and parental investment) can be related to movement patterns and the annual potential reproductive output (fecundity) of female barn owls

Evolutionary optimization for water losses recognition in water supply networks

A methodology to localise the losses in the water supply networks has been developed, which requires the installation of a number of flowmeters and pressure transducers on the network and the building of a numerical model. The calibration of the model to match the recorded network parameters (pressures and discharges) is done by searching an optimal set of water demands at network nodes. The comparison between the optimal set and the standard one allows the identification of the areas where the leakages are most likely to be present. The optimal set of water demands is identified by the minimisation of an objective function. In the paper, the coupling of this objective function with three evolutionary optimisation methods based on simulated annealing (SA), genetic algorithms (GA) and modified particle swarm optimization (MPSO) have been discussed and tested on a case study. The simulations show SA risks to be trapped in unfeasible zones in its search, while the methods based on GA and MPSO perform very well because in these latter methods, the individuals constituting a population work mainly in groups. Moreover, the solution obtained by GA and MPSO can be further improved by means of a simple hill climbing procedure. Considerations on the possibility of having more than one maximum of the objective function and how they can be detected are presented

Dealing with uncertainties in losses assessment in water supply networks: preliminary results

In many countries water losses can be much larger than 50%, with great economic losses because of the energy required for pumping and for the primary treatments that very often are required. Methodologies have been developed in order to identify the areas where losses are most expected, limiting the excavations as far as possible. To this end, the authors developed a methodology which requires the installation of a number of instruments on the network, in order to measure pressures and discharges; then, the demands at the nodes are changed by means of optimization methods and the network is simulated with a computer program, in order to match the readings of the instruments; losses are higher where the demands have been most increased. In previous papers, the authors tested different evolutionary methods to identify the areas where losses are most expected, comparing results from theoretical networks that were, from all the other aspects, exactly identical. In the real world, unfortunately, differences from the simulated the real networks are not limited to the discharge demands, but other uncertainties are present. The most evident uncertainty is related to pipe roughness, which can be considered a parameter of the model; sometimes even the diameters are listed wrong. In the paper, the robustness of the proposed method is tested using networks where roughness parameters and diameters are different, changing the roughness parameter in order to determine the influence of the errors in the evaluation of the areas where losses are most expected. © 2014 WIT Press.139139148 International Journal of Sustainable Development and Planning,WIT Transactions on the Built EnvironmentAlvisi, S., Grata, S., Franchini, M., Leakage detection planning in water distribution systems", in "Management of Water Networks (2006) Proceedings of the Conference Efficient Management of Water Networks. Design and Rehabilitaion Techniques, , Bertola and Franchini (Eds), Ferrara 2006, De Angeli Editore, Milano, ItalyHalhal, D., Walters, G.A., Savic, D.A., Ouazar, D., Scheduling of water distribution system rehabilitation using structured messy genetic algorithms (1999) Evolutionary Computation, 7 (3). , MIT PressGiustolisi, O., Laucelli, D., Savic, D.A., Development of rehabilitation plans for water mains replacement considering risk and costbenefit assessment (2006) J. of Civil Engineering and Environmental Systems, 23 (3), pp. 175-190. , Taylor & Francis, UKEngelhardt, M.O., Skipworth, P.J., Savic, D.A., Saul, A.J., Walters, G.A., Rehabilitation strategies for water distribution networks: A literature review with a UK perspective (2000) Urban Water, 2, pp. 153-170Male, J.W., Walski, T.M., Slutsky, A.H., Analyzing water main replacement policies (1990) J. Water Resour. Plan. Manage, 116 (3), pp. 362-374Sundahl, A., Using break data on water pipe systems for renewal planning (1996) COST Action C3 Workshop, , 18 and 19 June 1996, BrusselsMambretti, S., (2012) Orsi E. Genetic Algorithms For Leak Detection In Water Supply Networks. 1st International Conference On Urban Water, , 25-27 April, New Forest, UKMambretti, S., Martins, P.S., Moraes, R.L., (2013) Evolutionary Computation Techniques to Assess Losses In Water Supply Networks 7th International Conference On Sustainable Water Resources Management, , 21 - 23 May, New Forest, UKBack, T., Fogel, D., Michalewicz, Z., (1997), Handbook of evolutionary computation IOP Publishing Ltd. and Oxford University Press, New York and OxfordHolland, J.H., Outline for a logical theory of adaptive systems (1962) Journal of the ACM, 9 (3). , ACMHolland, J.H., (1975) Adaptation In Natural and Artificial Systems, , University of Michigan PressGoldberg, D.E., Genetic algorithms in search, optimization and machine learning (1989) Massachusetts, , Addison-Wesley, ReadingKennedy, J., Eberhart, R., Particle Swarm Optimization (1995) Proc. IEEE Int. Conf. On Neural Networks (Perth, Australia), IEEE Service Center, pp. 1942-1948. , Piscataway, NJ, IVRossman, L.A., (2000) Epanet 2. Users Manual, , EPA Office of Research and Development U.S., Environmental Protection Agency, Cincinnat

Prevalence and risk factors for chronic obstructive lung disease in HIV-infected patients in the HAART era

Our results suggest a role for HIV infection itself and for current cigarette smoking in the development of respiratory symptoms and COPD in HIV-infected patients. HAART did not seem to reduce the risk of respiratory symptoms and COPD, in our cases. Thus, our results suggest that HIV-infected patients should be screened for chronic respiratory disease in order to early identify those at risk or those who need specific treatment

The interplay of wind and uplift facilitates over-water flight in facultative soaring birds.

Flying over the open sea is energetically costly for terrestrial birds. Despite this, over-water journeys of many birds, sometimes hundreds of kilometres long, are uncovered by bio-logging technology. To understand how these birds afford their flights over the open sea, we investigated the role of atmospheric conditions, specifically wind and uplift, in subsidizing over-water flight at a global scale. We first established that ΔT, the temperature difference between sea surface and air, is a meaningful proxy for uplift over water. Using this proxy, we showed that the spatio-temporal patterns of sea-crossing in terrestrial migratory birds are associated with favourable uplift conditions. We then analysed route selection over the open sea for five facultative soaring species, representative of all major migratory flyways. The birds maximized wind support when selecting their sea-crossing routes and selected greater uplift when suitable wind support was available. They also preferred routes with low long-term uncertainty in wind conditions. Our findings suggest that, in addition to wind, uplift may play a key role in the energy seascape for bird migration that in turn determines strategies and associated costs for birds crossing ecological barriers such as the open sea

Association of kidney disease measures with risk of renal function worsening in patients with type 1 diabetes

Background: Albuminuria has been classically considered a marker of kidney damage progression in diabetic patients and it is routinely assessed to monitor kidney function. However, the role of a mild GFR reduction on the development of stage 653 CKD has been less explored in type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) patients. Aim of the present study was to evaluate the prognostic role of kidney disease measures, namely albuminuria and reduced GFR, on the development of stage 653 CKD in a large cohort of patients affected by T1DM. Methods: A total of 4284 patients affected by T1DM followed-up at 76 diabetes centers participating to the Italian Association of Clinical Diabetologists (Associazione Medici Diabetologi, AMD) initiative constitutes the study population. Urinary albumin excretion (ACR) and estimated GFR (eGFR) were retrieved and analyzed. The incidence of stage 653 CKD (eGFR < 60 mL/min/1.73 m2) or eGFR reduction > 30% from baseline was evaluated. Results: The mean estimated GFR was 98 \ub1 17 mL/min/1.73m2 and the proportion of patients with albuminuria was 15.3% (n = 654) at baseline. About 8% (n = 337) of patients developed one of the two renal endpoints during the 4-year follow-up period. Age, albuminuria (micro or macro) and baseline eGFR < 90 ml/min/m2 were independent risk factors for stage 653 CKD and renal function worsening. When compared to patients with eGFR > 90 ml/min/1.73m2 and normoalbuminuria, those with albuminuria at baseline had a 1.69 greater risk of reaching stage 3 CKD, while patients with mild eGFR reduction (i.e. eGFR between 90 and 60 mL/min/1.73 m2) show a 3.81 greater risk that rose to 8.24 for those patients with albuminuria and mild eGFR reduction at baseline. Conclusions: Albuminuria and eGFR reduction represent independent risk factors for incident stage 653 CKD in T1DM patients. The simultaneous occurrence of reduced eGFR and albuminuria have a synergistic effect on renal function worsening

Perspectives and challenges for the use of radar in biological conservation

Radar is at the forefront for the study of broad-scale aerial movements of birds, bats and insects and related issues in biological conservation. Radar techniques are especially useful for investigating species which fly at high altitudes, in darkness, or which are too small for applying electronic tags. Here, we present an overview of radar applications in biological conservation and highlight its future possibilities. Depending on the type of radar, information can be gathered on local- to continental-scale movements of airborne organisms and their behaviour. Such data can quantify flyway usage, biomass and nutrient transport (bioflow), population sizes, dynamics and distributions, times and dimensions of movements, areas and times of mass emergence and swarming, habitat use and activity ranges. Radar also captures behavioural responses to anthropogenic disturbances, artificial light and man-made structures. Weather surveillance and other long-range radar networks allow spatially broad overviews of important stopover areas, songbird mass roosts and emergences from bat caves. Mobile radars, including repurposed marine radars and commercially dedicated ‘bird radars’, offer the ability to track and monitor the local movements of individuals or groups of flying animals. Harmonic radar techniques have been used for tracking short-range movements of insects and other small animals of conservation interest. However, a major challenge in aeroecology is determining the taxonomic identity of the targets, which often requires ancillary data obtained from other methods. Radar data have become a global source of information on ecosystem structure, composition, services and function and will play an increasing role in the monitoring and conservation of flying animals and threatened habitats worldwide