Conservation ecology of the European Roller

Among temperate birds, two traits in particular are associated with current population declines; an association with farmed habitats, and the strategy of long-distance migration. The European Roller Coracias garrulus enjoys both of these characteristics, and has declined substantially over the last few decades. Here, I investigate intra-specific variation in Roller breeding ecology and migration in an attempt to work towards conservation solutions. I first compare the breeding ecology of Rollers from two populations; one in Latvia at the northern range limit, and one in France in the core Mediterranean range. I show that the French population is limited principally by nest-site availability, whilst foraging habitat is more important in Latvia. I also highlight the lower productivity of Latvian birds, which also varies substantially from year to year. Comparison of insect and chick feather δ13C and δ15N in France provides little support for specific foraging habitat preferences, providing further evidence that foraging habitat is not limiting for the French population. Next, I provide the most comprehensive analysis of Roller migration to date, showing that Rollers from seven European countries generally occupy overlapping winter quarters. I also show that Rollers from Latvia migrate up to twice as far as their southern European counterparts. Ring recoveries provide the first chance to study the migration of juvenile Rollers, as well as non-breeding season mortality. In particular, I highlight the shooting of Rollers from eastern populations in Arabia during spring migration. Finally, I describe patterns of connectivity among 98 populations of 45 migrant land-bird species from two trans-continental flyways. As with the Roller, connectivity is generally weak, such that any non-breeding season drivers of population decline will have widespread but diffuse impacts on breeding populations. My research highlights the utility (at least in the short-term) of nest-boxes for Roller conservation, but also demonstrates that, in more marginal parts of the range, the provisioning of nest-boxes alone is probably insufficient

England’s green and pleasant land: comparing land sparing and sharing in the UK

Globally, agriculture is the leading threat to biodiversity. For many regions of the world, empirical evidence suggests that most species would fare least badly if food demand was met through high-yield production linked to the sparing of non-farmed habitats (‘land sparing’), rather than producing both food and wildlife in a larger area of wildlife-friendly farmland (‘land sharing’). The UK, however, may be different: several priority species are associated with sympathetically managed farmland, whilst many sensitive, land-sparing preferring species may already have been lost. We therefore explored the trade-offs and synergies between food production and wildlife conservation for two regions of lowland England. We quantified the relationship between agricultural production and abundance of individual bird species, in order to evaluate various landscape-level food production strategies, including land sparing and land sharing

Towards a generic research data management infrastructure

Until recent years, a focused and centralized strategy for the annotation, storage and curation of research data is something that has not been widely considered within academic communities. The majority of research data sits, fragmented, on a variety of disk structures (Desktops, network & external hard drives) and is usually managed locally, with little interest paid to policies governing how it is backed up, disseminated and organized for short or long term reuse. Recognition of how current practices and infrastructure present a barrier to research, has resulted in several recent academic programmes which have focused on developing comprehensive frameworks for the management and curation of research data1-3. Many of these frameworks (such as the Archer suite of e- Research tools1), however, are large and complex, and have an overreliance on new and novel technologies making them unwieldy and difficult to support. The paper discusses the development of a simpler framework for the management of research data through its full lifecycle, allowing users to annotate and structure their research in a secure and backed up environment. The infrastructure is being developed as a pilot system and is expected to work with data from approximately a dozen researchers and manage several Terabytes of data. The technical work is a strand of the MaDAM (Manchester Data Management) project at The University of Manchester which is funded by the JISC Managing Research Data Programme.

Utility of routine screening for alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency in patients with bronchiectasis

Alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency (AATD) is a cause of bronchiectasis. Guidelines for bronchiectasis from the British Thoracic Society do not recommend to routinely test patients for AATD. In contrast, guidelines for AATD recommend routine screening. This contradiction, in part, results from the lack of data from large studies performing comprehensive screening. We screened 1600 patients with bronchiectasis at two centres in the UK from 2012 to 2016. In total, only eight individuals with AATD were identified representing 0.5% of the overall population. We conclude that routine screening for AATD in bronchiectasis in the UK has a low rate of detection. Further studies are required in different geographical regions, which may have a higher prevalence of AATD.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Development of a pilot data management infrastructure for biomedical researchers at University of Manchester – approach, findings, challenges and outlook of the MaDAM Project

Management and curation of digital data has been becoming ever more important in a higher education and research environment characterised by large and complex data, demand for more interdisciplinary and collaborative work, extended funder requirements and use of e-infrastructures to facilitate new research methods and paradigms. This paper presents the approach, technical infrastructure, findings, challenges and outlook (including future development within the successor project, MiSS) of the ‘MaDAM: Pilot data management infrastructure for biomedical researchers at University of Manchester’ project funded under the infrastructure strand of the JISC Managing Research Data (JISCMRD) programme. MaDAM developed a pilot research data management solution at the University of Manchester based on biomedical researchers’ requirements, which includes technical and governance components with the flexibility to meet future needs across multiple research groups and disciplines

Population consequences of migratory variability differ between flyways

Long-distance migratory bird populations are likely to be declining because of climate change shifting habitats or anthropogenic habitat loss [1], but this may be mediated by the size of the non-breeding area over which a population spreads (migratory spread), and migration distance (or number of stop-over sites). High migratory spread may make populations more resilient to climate change because they already encompass shifting habitats, but less resilient to uneven habitat loss that may not affect populations with low migratory spread [2] (Figure 1C). As migration distance increases so the probability of encountering a stop-over site with negative environmental change increases [3] (Figure 1D). Consequently, if habitat shift through climate change is the main driver of declines we predict more positive population trends for high spread migrants, but the reverse for outright habitat loss (Figure 1E); we also predict negative population trends for longer distance migrants (Figure 1F). But these relationships may vary between flyways, which differ profoundly in their climate variation, human population change and geography. Here we show that climate change may be more important in Neotropic migrant population declines whereas habitat loss may be more important in the Afro-Palearctic.PostprintPeer reviewe

Spatially targeted nature-based solutions can mitigate climate change and nature loss but require a systems approach

Funding Information: This study was funded by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) and Natural England (project code ECM 58632). The Breeding Bird Survey is a Partnership between the BTO, RSPB, and Joint Nature Conservation Committee (on behalf of Natural Resources Wales, Natural England, Council for Nature Conservation and Countryside, and NatureScot) and relies on volunteer surveyors. Simon Gillings provided tetrad-level predictions of relative abundance for wading birds. We are grateful to members of the RSPB steering group, who contributed to the development of our scenarios, and Profs. Tim Benton and Andrew Balmford who commented on an earlier version of this manuscript. Conceptualization, T.F. R.B.B. T.B.-L. G.M.B. W.J.P. and R.H.F.; methodology, T.F. T.B.-L. J.P.C. D.M. P.S. and R.H.F.; software, T.F.; formal analysis, T.F.; resources, D.M.; data curation, T.F.; writing – original draft, T.F.; writing – review & editing, R.B.B. T.B.-L. G.M.B. J.P.C. D.M. P.S. W.J.P. and R.H.F.; visualization, T.F.; supervision, W.J.P. The authors declare no competing interests. Publisher Copyright: © 2023 The AuthorsPeer reviewedPublisher PD

Living with multimorbidity: medical and lay healthcare approaches

Multimorbidity is rapidly becoming the norm rather than the exception in healthcare. Research on this issue is increasing and this review discusses a selection of clinical and social science literature. The focus is on understanding the complexity of the lived experience of multimorbidity and how this is presented in clinical encounters, drawing on examples of arthritis within a multimorbidity context. Taking into account the biophysical, psychological, social and cultural factors that shape multimorbidity this paper calls for a re-conceptualization of the concept, allowing a more dynamic and holistic approach

The Grizzly, March 1, 1994

Up \u27Til Noone to Play at The Trappe • Last Semester\u27s Blood Drive a Success • Kane Encourages Support for Blood Drive • CIA Officer and his Wife Accused of Spying • Professor Profile: Keith Brand • Broughton Exhibit to Open in Berman • Senior Profile: Alan McCabe • The Snow Closing Debates, Continued • Letter to the Editor • To All Administrators, Faculty, Staff, and Other Interested Parties • Women\u27s Hoops Have Best Season Everhttps://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/grizzlynews/1332/thumbnail.jp