Ephebagogy and Clinical Legal Education

This article will seek to examine whether if one of the reasons why Clinical Legal Education (CLE) is so effective as a teaching methodology is the age of the students participating with it. The perceived norm would be those students who are engaged in CLE will be predominantly aged between 18-25 years. The central thread of this article will examine ephebagogy as a teaching philosophy for educating this age group; discuss the main objectives of ephebagogy and explain how these align with CLE. This article will then explore whether ephebagogy can further enhance CLE as a teaching methodology and contribute to its ascendance to the fore front of legal education by drawing upon the accepted benefits of CLE and expand on the objectives and principles of ephebagogy as advocated by Sara Flowers

Fine-scale habitat use during the non-breeding season suggests that winter habitat does not limit breeding populations of a declining long-distance Palearctic migrant

Date of Acceptance: 23/05/2015For migrant birds, what habitats are suitable during the non-breeding season influences habitat availability, population resilience to habitat loss, and ultimately survival. Consequently, habitat preferences during winter and whether habitat segregation according to age and sex occurs directly influences migration ecology, survival and breeding success. We tested the fine-scale habitat preferences of a declining Palearctic migrant, the Whinchat Saxicola rubetra, on its wintering grounds in West Africa. We explored the influence of habitat at the territory-scale and whether dominance-based habitat occupancy occurs by describing the variation in habitat characteristics across wintering territories, the degree of habitat change within territories held throughout winter, and whether habitat characteristics influenced territory size and space-use within territories or differed with age and sex. Habitat characteristics varied substantially across territories and birds maintained the same territories even though habitat changed significantly throughout winter. We found no evidence of dominance-based habitat occupancy; instead, territories were smaller if they contained more perching shrubs or maize crops, and areas with more perching shrubs were used more often within territories, likely because perches are important for foraging and territory defence. Our findings suggest that Whinchats have non-specialised habitat requirements within their wintering habitat of open savannah and farmland, and respond to habitat variation by adjusting territory size and space-use within territories instead of competing with conspecifics. Whinchats show a tolerance for human-modified habitats and results support previous findings that some crop types may provide high-quality wintering habitat by increasing perch density and foraging opportunities. By having non-specialised requirements within broad winter habitat types, migrants are likely to be flexible to changing wintering conditions in Africa, both within and across winters, so possibly engendering some resilience to the rapid anthropogenic habitat degradation occurring throughout their wintering range.PostprintPeer reviewe

High winter site fidelity in a long-distance migrant : implications for wintering ecology and survival estimates

This research was funded by the Leventis Conservation Foundation.The decision for a migratory animal to be site faithful in its non-breeding season has profound implications for migratory connectivity, resilience to winter habitat loss and population dynamics through carry-over effects on future breeding success and fitness. Knowledge of the temporal and spatial scale of site fidelity and dispersal is also central to accurate survival estimates. We established the observed spatial and temporal scale of site fidelity and the ability to detect small-scale dispersal within and between years for a wintering long-distance Palearctic migrant, the Whinchat Saxicola rubetra, by comparing predicted and observed detection rates within the study site. Across two years, 54% of birds returned to the study site and all returning birds reoccupied the territories they used in the previous winter. Observed dispersal was very low despite the high probability of detecting any local dispersal, suggesting that return rates are indicative of true between-winter survival rates for this population. In any winter, 50% of returning individuals had a previously occupied but now empty territory that was less than one territory-span away from the centre of their current territory; high site fidelity was therefore very unlikely to be because of limited territory availability. Over-winter residency time (defined by departure month) differed significantly across sites and with age, but did not determine the probability of whether a bird returned in the following year. This suggests the use of more than one wintering site for some individuals, rather than reduced over-winter survival. This study is one of the first to comprehensively document site fidelity at the territory scale in a Palearctic system, although less comprehensive studies or anecdotal evidence suggest that high winter site fidelity may be relatively common. Here we provide evidence for the serial residency hypothesis, where selection acts for individual migrants to have generalist habitat requirements, allowing them to survive in and remain site faithful to even relatively low quality, but sufficient and familiar sites. Lower dispersal and higher site fidelity compared to that during breeding suggest that annual survival estimates are more accurate when measured on the wintering grounds. This study supports previous findings that wintering conditions do not limit Whinchat populations.PostprintPeer reviewe

Cyprus wheatears Oenanthe cypriaca likely reach sub-Saharan African wintering grounds in a single migratory flight

Long-distance migratory flights with multiple stop-overs, multiple wintering sites, and small-scale connectivity in Afro-Palearctic migrants are likely to increase their vulnerability to environmental change and lead to declining populations. Here we present the migration tracks and wintering locations of the first six Cyprus Wheatears to be tracked with geolocators: a species with high survival and a stable population. We therefore predicted a non-stop flight from Cyprus to sub-Saharan wintering grounds, a single wintering area for each individual and a wide spread of wintering locations representing low migratory connectivity at the population level. The sub-Saharan wintering grounds in South Sudan, Sudan and Ethiopia were likely reached by a single flight of an average straight-line distance of 2,538 km in ca. 60 hours, with an average minimum speed of 43.1 km h-1. The high speed of migration probably ruled out stop-overs greater than a few hours. Cyprus Wheatears migrated from Cyprus in mid-late October and most probably remained at a single location throughout winter; three out of five birds with available data may have used a second site <100 km away during February; all returned between the 7 – 22nd March when accurate geolocation data are not possible due to the equinox. Wintering locations were spread over at least 950 km. There were no tag effects on survival. Cyprus Wheatears showed a migratory strategy in accordance with their observed high survival rate and demonstrated a routine flight range that allows much of the Mediterranean and the Sahara to be crossed in a rapid two and a half-day flight.PostprintPeer reviewe

High site fidelity in Northern Wheatears Oenanthe oenanthe wintering in Africa revealed through colour marking

Wintering Northern Wheatears Oenanthe oenanthe in the Sahel region of Northern Nigeria held small (c. 70 m diameter) distinct territories during the study period, and territory size did not differ between adult and first winter birds. Evidence suggests that Wheatears may maintain small territories for a significant duration of the winter, similar to many other migrants.PostprintPeer reviewe

The wintering and migration ecology of the whinchat Saxicola rubetra, a declining Palearctic migrant

For migrant birds, the non-breeding season can greatly influence survival and future reproductive success. Knowledge of annual and overwinter survival, the degree of site fidelity and habitat use in the non-breeding season, migration ecology, routes and stopovers, and whether these differ with age or sex is fundamental to understanding population dynamics, vulnerability to anthropogenic habitat degradation, and consequently for understanding the severe widespread declines of migrant bird species. The degree to which a migrant is a winter specialist or generalist is likely to be central to understanding population dynamics. I studied survival rates and the wintering and migration ecology of a declining Palearctic migrant, the whinchat Saxicola rubetra, wintering in West Africa, to establish how the non-breeding season may influence migrant population dynamics. Whinchats were extremely site faithful to both within and between years, holding distinct winter territories and returning to those territories in subsequent winters, despite the opportunity to relocate. Overwinter survival was very high and annual survival was comparable to or higher than that reported on the breeding grounds. Because our power to detect resident and dispersing birds was high, survival rates likely estimated true survival well. Habitat characteristics varied widely across territories and territories were smaller if more perching shrubs and maize were present. Most individuals showed a tolerance or even preference for human modified habitats. Some individuals may have multiple wintering sites. There was no evidence of dominance-based habitat occupancy or any differences in winter ecology, site fidelity, survival and most aspects of migratory behaviour between age and sex classes. Migratory connectivity occurred only on a large-scale and individual migratory behaviour was also varied. Fundamentally, the results suggest a generalist strategy in the non-breeding season within their wintering habitat of open savannah, most likely as an adaption to stochastic site selection within the wintering range for juveniles undertaking their first migration plus changing and unpredictable conditions both within and between years. Consequently, wintering conditions may not significantly limit whinchat populations and mortality is probably highest during active migration. Notably, non-specialist migrants such as whinchats may have some resilience at the population-level to the increasing anthropogenic habitat modification occurring in Africa, suggesting that conditions during migration and in Europe may be driving declines; yet establishing the currently unknown thresholds of any resilience is likely to be fundamental for the future conservation migrants

Subsets of free groups with distinct differences

Let $F_n$ be a free group of rank $n$, with free generating set $X$. A subset $D$ of $F_n$ is a \emph{Distinct Difference Configuration} if the differences $g^{-1}h$ are distinct, where $g$ and $h$ range over all (ordered) pairs of distinct elements of $D$. The subset $D$ has diameter at most $d$ if these differences all have length at most $d$. When $n$ is fixed and $d$ is large, the paper shows that the largest distinct difference configuration in $F_n$ of diameter at most $d$ has size approximately $(2n-1)^{d/3}$.Comment: 14 page

Qualifying Work Experience Guidance for University Law Clinics

In order to help law clinics navigate the new regulations, a small working group from CLEO have put together this draft guide to the QWE. In developing this guide, we recognise that the new routes to qualification are controversial and we are not endorsing or expressing approval for these routes to qualification. As an organisation, CLEO is committed to developing clinical legal education as a rich and innovative method for teaching law. Legal education, in particular for undergraduates, is about much more than qualifying as a solicitor and indeed many law graduates do not go onto qualify as legal professionals. However, we are aware that many of our members will be offering qualifying work experience, or may be asked by senior management to offer qualifying work experience and we therefore want to develop guidance for our members to assist with navigating the new regulations. This guidance is to assist university law clinics only, when encountering a student’s claim for QWE