Fairness and the EC budget: Is Spain tilting at windmills?

The poorer member states of the EC are often disappointed at what they see as a very limited degree of redistribution of resources away from the richer members towards the less well off. In a recent paper to the intergovernmental conference (IGC) on political union, for example, Spain calls for a number of measures, including explicit inter-state budget transfers, in order to increase the rate of convergence of income levels across member states. The purpose of this paper is to review the degree of redistribution entailed by the EC budget system as it works at present and to make some conjectures about the implications of pursuing the Spanish argument

INGLATERRA (Reino Unido). Mapas generales (1754-1763?). 1:460000

Comprende además las costas de la zona más meridional de Escocia, oriental de Irlanda e Irlanda del Norte y noroccidental de FranciaDedicatoria : "To the Right Honourable and Right Reverend Father in God Peter Lord Bishop of Winchester Prelate of the most Noble Order of the Gart. &c. This Map of England Is humbly dedicated and presented"Fecha de publicación deducida teniendo en cuenta el período en el que pudieron colaborar los editoresEscalas gráficas de 50 millas grandes [= 23 cm], 50 millas medianas [= 20'8 cm] y 50 millas pequeñas [= 19,1 cm]. Coordenadas referidas a un meridiano que no se especifica (E 15°17'--E 26°56'/N 55°52'--N 49°58'). Orientado con lis en dos rosas de treinta y dos vientos, presentando una de ellas la mención nominal de los puntos cardinalesOrografía de perfilLíneas divisorias entre los condados diferenciados por colorTabla de signos convencionales para indicar distintos tipos de población y carreteras, haciendo mención de las distancias que aparecen indicadas en el mapa entre ciudadesRelación de las principales ciudades indicando el condado al que pertenecen y sus coordenadas geográficasLeyendas relativas a los reinados de Enrique II y III de Inglaterra y a características geográficas, económicas y de poblaciónAdornado con barcos y monstruos marinosCartelas barrocas, enmarcando todos los datos que figuran en el documento, entre las que destacan la que recoje el título y la de la dedicatoria, al estar coronadas por los escudos de la Casa Real inglesa y del obispo de Winchester, respectivamenteForma parte de la colección Mendoz

What factors influence the rediscovery of lost tetrapod species?

We created a database of lost and rediscovered tetrapod species, identified patterns in their distribution and factors influencing rediscovery. Tetrapod species are being lost at a faster rate than they are being rediscovered, due to slowing rates of rediscovery for amphibians, birds and mammals, and rapid rates of loss for reptiles. Finding lost species and preventing future losses should therefore be a conservation priority. By comparing the taxonomic and spatial distribution of lost and rediscovered tetrapod species, we have identified regions and taxa with many lost species in comparison to those that have been rediscovered—our results may help to prioritise search effort to find them. By identifying factors that influence rediscovery, we have improved our ability to broadly distinguish the types of species that are likely to be found from those that are not (because they are likely to be extinct). Some lost species, particularly those that are small and perceived to be uncharismatic, may have been neglected in terms of conservation effort, and other lost species may be hard to find due to their intrinsic characteristics and the characteristics of the environments they occupy (e.g. nocturnal species, fossorial species and species occupying habitats that are more difficult to survey such as wetlands). These lost species may genuinely await rediscovery. However, other lost species that possess characteristics associated with rediscovery (e.g. large species) and that are also associated with factors that negatively influence rediscovery (e.g. those occupying small islands) are more likely to be extinct. Our results may foster pragmatic search protocols that prioritise lost species likely to still exist

Conservation status and threats for African reptiles

The assimilation of information on taxonomy, distribution, basic ecology and conservation status of Africa's reptiles lags far behind that for most other continents. Many regions of mainland Africa are rarely surveyed, resulting in severe knowledge gaps that currently limit effective conservation of African reptiles. Here, we provide a précis on the knowledge gaps and conservation status of mainland African reptiles, and quantify the main threats based on IUCN Red List of Threatened Species assessments using publicly available distribution data. Our results show that these data are insufficient to confidently identify areas of high biodiversity, with large gaps in knowledge in the Horn of Africa, central Africa and West Africa. There is a strong overall taxonomic bias in extinction risk with 45% of families more threatened than expected by chance. Furthermore, Amphisbaenidae, Chameleonidae, Gerrhosauridae, Testudinidae, Viperidae all have a high percentage of their constituent species at risk. Overall, land transformation for agriculture, particularly subsistence farming, constitutes the primary threat to African reptiles, and our derived Threat Index based on socio-economic traits of African countries show that risk is high in Burundi, Ethiopia, Liberia, Malawi, Rwanda and Sierra Leone. These findings highlight important challenges facing the conservation of African reptiles, and we suggest that conservation priorities in mainland Africa be focussed on areas where the potential for overall loss of biodiversity is high, particularly in regions where knowledge is inadequate