Positive demographic effects of nest surveillance campaigns to counter illegal harvest of the Bonelli's eagle in Sicily (Italy)

Illegal trade in wildlife has been identified as one of the main challenges to wildlife conservation. In 2010, an illegal trade-ring trafficking in birds of prey was uncovered in Sicily (southern Italy). This illegal trade targeted the three most endangered species in Italy: Bonelli's eagle Aquila fasciata, Lanner falcon Falco biarmicus and Egyptian vulture Neophron percnopterus, all of them long-lived territorial raptors threatened with extinction across their European distribution. Illegal harvest primarily involved young birds and eggs taken from nests. After the discovery of these activities, surveillance camps and camera traps connected to the mobile Global System for Mobile communications network were established in nine Bonelli's eagle breeding sites in which illegal harvest was reported. Surveillance activities resulted in a sharp reduction in illegal harvest that has contributed to the recent increase in population size and number of breeding pairs of Bonelli's eagle in the island. This population represents 95% of the entire Italian population and is catalogued as Critically Endangered in this country. Importantly, our results highlight the impact of illegal harvest on the population dynamics of endangered species as demonstrated by a population viability analysis. This is particularly important in the case of insular species for which demographic recovery due to immigration from other geographic areas is unlikely. Systematic patrols by forestry police authorities, a resolute application of Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species legislation via legal punishment, and the requirement of including all live captive specimens used for falconry in an obligatory DNA data bank would contribute to reducing the risk of extinction for small populations of endangered species of birds of prey

Living on the Edge: Assessing the Extinction Risk of Critically Endangered Bonelli’s Eagle in Italy

Background: The population of Bonelli’s eagle (Aquila fasciata) has declined drastically throughout its European range due to habitat degradation and unnatural elevated mortality. There are less than 1500 breeding pairs accounted for in Europe, and the species is currently catalogued as Critically Endangered in Italy, where the 22 territories of Sicily, represent nearly 95% of the entire Italian population. However, despite national and European conservation concerns, the species currently lacks a specific conservation plan, and no previous attempts to estimate the risk of extinction have been made. Methodology/Principal Findings: We incorporated the most updated demographic information available to assess the extinction risk of endangered Bonelli’s eagle in Italy through a Population Viability Analysis. Using perturbation analyses (sensitivity and elasticity), and a combination of demographic data obtained from an assortment of independent methods, we evaluated which demographic parameters have more influence on the population’s fate. We also simulated different scenarios to explore the effects of possible management actions. Our results showed that under the current conditions, Bonelli’s eagle is expected to become extinct in Italy in less than 50 years. Stand-alone juvenile mortality was the most critical demographic parameter with the strongest influence on population persistence with respect to other demographic parameters. Measures aimed at either decreasing juvenile mortality, adult mortality or decreasing both juvenile and adult mortality resulted in equivalent net positive effects on population persistence (population growth rate l.1). In contrast, changes aimed at increasing breeding success had limited positive effects on demographic trends. Conclusions/Significance: Our PVA provides essential information to direct the decision-making process and exposes gaps in our previous knowledge. To ensure the long-term persistence of the species in Italy, measures are urgently needed to decrease both adult mortality due to poaching and juvenile mortality due to nest plundering, the top ranking mortality causes.PLL is supported by a “Juan de la Cierva” postdoctoral grant of the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (reference JCI-2011–09588)

Vaginitis gonorrhoica beifehlendem Uterus

Abstracts. Review of Obstetric and Gynecological literature: German.A. Doderlein. Vaginitis gonorrhoica beifehlendem Uterus . (Monatsschrift fur Geburtshilfe u. Gynaekol. Heft I 1897). Gonorrhoid vaginitis in the absence of the uterus. The question of whether the vagina of adults could have been infected by the time of the gonorrhea. open. All research in this direction ended in failure, due to the fact that the heat and the cervix were constantly found infected with gonorrhoid poison, and the vagina, thanks to the flowing secretion, was also infected.</jats:p

One Step Cloning of Defined DNA Fragments from Large Genomic Clones

Recently, the nucleotide sequences of entire genomes became available. This information combined with older sequencing data discloses the exact chromosomal location of millions of nucleotide markers stored in the databases at NCBI, EMBO or DDBJ. Despite having resolved the intron/exon structures of all described genes within these genomes with a stroke of a pen, the sequencing data opens up other interesting possibilities. For example, the genomic mapping of the end sequences of the human, murine and rat BAC libraries generated at The Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR), reveals now the entire encompassed sequence of the inserts for more than a million of these clones. Since these clones are individually stored, they are now an invaluable source for experiments which depend on genomic DNA. Isolation of smaller fragments from such clones with standard methods is a time consuming process. We describe here a reliable one-step cloning technique to obtain a DNA fragment with a defined size and sequence from larger genomic clones in less than 48 hours using a standard vector with a multiple cloning site, and common restriction enzymes and equipment. The only prerequisites are the sequences of ends of the insert and of the underlying genome