How the decline in India's harrier population hurts its farmers

Harriers are a group of birds that belong to the hawk family that are active during the day and mostly found in vast open plains and grasslands. There are 16 species of harriers distributed worldwide throughout tropical and temperate regions, and six of these species migrate to India from central Asia and neighbouring areas during the winter. They can travel between 3,500 km and 5,000 km during this migration. Studies on tagged harriers in Africa show that they follow different routes during spring and autumn migrations. We do not really know much about the migration of harriers from India – the routes they fly from, or their breeding grounds – but researchers once found that a tagged harrier from Gujarat migrated to Kazakhstan

Owls of the forest’s edge

It looked like just a few random vertical poles stuck in between carefully-planted paddy fields adjoining the Kalakad-Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve. The poles were crudely fashioned and topped with flattened pads of hay, stuffed into polythene or white cloth bags

Conservation of a fragmented population of blackbuck (Antilope cervicapra)

The Vallanadu Blackbuck Sanctuary (VBS), Tamil Nadu, India is a small protected area (PA) designated to conserve blackbuck. We did a study on habitat use and suitability in the PA that has come under various management interventions. The occupancy of blackbuck was positively correlated with areas lying within the PA, but the encounter rate of blackbuck was significantly higher in areas outside the PA. Being small in size, VBS may not hold a large population of blackbucks, but may help in saving the species which once widely occurred in the southernmost parts of India

First detailed survey of waterbirds in Tirunelveli and Tuticorin districts, Tamil Nadu, India

The semi-arid districts of Tirunelveli and Tuticorin in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu consist of numerous wetlands in the form of irrigation tanks, interconnected by an ancient network of canals, and fed by the rivers originating from the Western Ghats. While these irrigation tanks have socio-economic and cultural significance, very little is known of their ecological importance. These tanks have the potential to harbor good populations of resident and wintering waterbirds but no studies have been done to confirm this. A survey was carried out in 230 irrigation tanks of various sizes in the two districts from November 2008 to January 2011. A total of 83 waterbird species were recorded. Indian Pond Heron Ardeola grayii occurred in most of the surveyed tanks. Large concentrations of wintering waterfowl such as Eurasian Wigeon Anas penelope, Northern Pintail Anas acuta, Garganey Anas querquedula were recorded in tanks closer to the coast. Based on our survey, six sites with large waterbird concentrations have been identified, one of which is Vagaikulam, an active heronry currently under threat from tree felling. These sites along with associated wetlands are important for the long term conservation of waterbirds in the region

The effect of type of femoral component fixation on mortality and morbidity after hip hemiarthroplasty:A systematic review and meta-analysis

Background: Hip hemiarthroplasty is a well-established treatment of displaced femoral neck fracture, although debate exists over whether cemented or uncemented fixation is superior. Uncemented prostheses have typically been used in younger, healthier patients and cemented prostheses in older patients with less-stable bone. Also, earlier research has suggested that bone cement has cytotoxic effects and may trigger cardiovascular and respiratory adverse events. Questions/Purposes: The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to compare morbidity and mortality rates after cemented and uncemented hemiarthroplasty for the treatment of displaced femoral neck fractures in elderly patients. Methods: Using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines, we searched seven medical databases for randomized clinical trials and observational studies. We compared cemented and uncemented hemiarthroplasty using the Harris Hip Score (HHS), as well as measures of postoperative pain, mortality, and complications. Data were extracted and pooled as risk ratios or standardized mean difference with their corresponding 95% confidence intervals in a meta-analysis model. Results: The meta-analysis included 34 studies (12 randomized trials and 22 observational studies), with a total of 42,411 patients. In the pooled estimate, cemented hemiarthroplasty was associated with less risk of postoperative pain than uncemented hemiarthroplasty. There were no significant differences between groups regarding HHS or rates of postoperative mortality, pulmonary embolism, cardiac arrest, myocardial infarction, acute cardiac arrhythmia, or deep venous thrombosis. Conclusions: While we found that cemented hemiarthroplasty results in less postoperative pain than uncemented hemiarthroplasty in older patients with femoral neck fracture, the lack of significant differences in functional hip scores, mortality, and complications was surprising. Further high-level research is needed

Mitochondrial physiology

As the knowledge base and importance of mitochondrial physiology to evolution, health and disease expands, the necessity for harmonizing the terminology concerning mitochondrial respiratory states and rates has become increasingly apparent. The chemiosmotic theory establishes the mechanism of energy transformation and coupling in oxidative phosphorylation. The unifying concept of the protonmotive force provides the framework for developing a consistent theoretical foundation of mitochondrial physiology and bioenergetics. We follow the latest SI guidelines and those of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) on terminology in physical chemistry, extended by considerations of open systems and thermodynamics of irreversible processes. The concept-driven constructive terminology incorporates the meaning of each quantity and aligns concepts and symbols with the nomenclature of classical bioenergetics. We endeavour to provide a balanced view of mitochondrial respiratory control and a critical discussion on reporting data of mitochondrial respiration in terms of metabolic flows and fluxes. Uniform standards for evaluation of respiratory states and rates will ultimately contribute to reproducibility between laboratories and thus support the development of data repositories of mitochondrial respiratory function in species, tissues, and cells. Clarity of concept and consistency of nomenclature facilitate effective transdisciplinary communication, education, and ultimately further discovery

A first compilation of harrier roost counts from India suggests population declines of wintering birds over 30 years

The Indian subcontinent is a major wintering area for many migrant birds from Central Asia and Russia and has experienced unprecedented landscape changes over the last two decades. The effects of these changes on the population of bird communities, especially on raptors, are unknown or poorly assessed. Migrant harriers Circus spp. that require large open grassland, savannahs or sparse scrubland to roost and forage in their wintering quarters, have become scarce in recent times. The species composition and abundance of harriers at historically documented roost sites, when monitored across years, can provide valuable information on their demographic status since data from their possible breeding locations in Russia is not readily available. Here, we collate published and unpublished information on various harrier roosts using predefined protocols to assess trends in the counts of harriers in protected and unprotected sites across the Indian subcontinent. Harrier counts across all sites, both protected and unprotected, showed a declining trend over the period 1985–2015. Limited species-specific data from two sites show a significant decline in Western Marsh Harrier Circus aeruginosus but not in Pallid Harrier C. macrourus and Montagu’s Harrier C. pygargus. These may be early signs of population declines at a continental scale, and we urge the development of more robust systematic ways, along with the current method, to monitor harrier populations. There is a need for improvement of international collaborations with researchers in the breeding areas to conduct studies on long range migrants and to set up a national conservation plan to protects harriers and grasslands