Outbreaks of Disease Possibly Due to a Natural Avian Herpesvirus Infection in a Colony of Young Magnificent Frigatebirds (Fregata magnificens)in French Guiana

International audienceThe Ile du Grand Connétable nature reserve is a rocky island off the Northern Atlantic coast of South America that hosts a unique population of Magnificent Frigatebirds (Fregata magnificens, Pelecaniformes). A high chick mortality, associated with nodular proliferative lesions, involving featherless areas, such as legs, neck, eyelids, and beak, was recorded during a consecutive 2 yr and affected almost half of the generation. Investigations were, therefore, conducted to determine the cause of these epidemics. Although histopathologic investigations suggested that malnutrition, because of fewer resources in the Frigates' fishing area, could be the cause of the epidemic, a novel alphaherpesvirus, tentatively called Fregata magnificens herpesvirus, was detected in cutaneous crusts on the diseased birds. Although in this study, we do not prove the causal link of this new virus to the symptoms observed, it can nevertheless be suggested that in debilitated hosts, a productive herpesvirus infection might accelerate, and/or be accelerated by, population declines. These results emphasize the need to take into consideration the possible role of herpesviruses in weakened populations of wild birds in conservation management plans

Introducing a common taxonomy to support learning from failure in conservation.

Conservation practitioners are increasingly interested in the lessons gained through failure. While other sectors have made significant progress in learning from failure, there is currently limited consensus on how a similar transition could best be achieved in conservation, and what is required to facilitate this. One of the key enabling conditions for other sectors is a widely accepted and standardized classification system for identifying and analyzing root causes of failure. In this paper, we propose a comprehensive taxonomy of root causes of failure affecting conservation projects. To develop this, we solicited examples of real-life conservation efforts that were deemed to have failed in some way, identified their underlying root causes of failure and used these to develop a generic, three-tier taxonomy of the ways in which projects fail. We subsequently tested the taxonomy by asking conservation practitioners to use it to classify the causes of failure for conservation efforts they had been involved in. No significant gaps or redundancies were identified during this testing phase. We then analyzed the frequency that particular root causes were encountered by projects within this test sample, which suggested that some root causes may be more likely to be reported in projects implementing particular types of conservation action, while others may frequently occur across a range of different project types. We propose that this taxonomy could be used to help improve identification, analysis and subsequent learning from failed conservation efforts, address some of the barriers that currently limit the ability of conservation practitioners to learn from failure, and contribute to establishing an effective culture of learning from failure within conservation. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved

Introducing a common taxonomy to support learning from failure in conservation.

Conservation practitioners are increasingly interested in the lessons gained through failure. While other sectors have made significant progress in learning from failure, there is currently limited consensus on how a similar transition could best be achieved in conservation, and what is required to facilitate this. One of the key enabling conditions for other sectors is a widely accepted and standardized classification system for identifying and analyzing root causes of failure. In this paper, we propose a comprehensive taxonomy of root causes of failure affecting conservation projects. To develop this, we solicited examples of real-life conservation efforts that were deemed to have failed in some way, identified their underlying root causes of failure and used these to develop a generic, three-tier taxonomy of the ways in which projects fail. We subsequently tested the taxonomy by asking conservation practitioners to use it to classify the causes of failure for conservation efforts they had been involved in. No significant gaps or redundancies were identified during this testing phase. We then analyzed the frequency that particular root causes were encountered by projects within this test sample, which suggested that some root causes may be more likely to be reported in projects implementing particular types of conservation action, while others may frequently occur across a range of different project types. We propose that this taxonomy could be used to help improve identification, analysis and subsequent learning from failed conservation efforts, address some of the barriers that currently limit the ability of conservation practitioners to learn from failure, and contribute to establishing an effective culture of learning from failure within conservation. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved

The low-frequency radio telescope NenuFAR

International audienceNenuFAR is a new, large low-frequency radio telescope, in construction and commissioning at the Nançay Radioastronomy Observatory, that starts to provide high sensitivity observations in the 10-85 MHz range. NenuFAR’s 1938 dual polarization antennas are connected to a suite of receivers allowing the instrument to operate, simultaneously if needed, in 4 distinct modes : as a standalone beamformer, a standalone imager, a waveform snapshots recorder, and a giant low-frequency station of the LOFAR array. We provide here an overview of the antennas, receivers, data products, operation and scientific context of the instrument

The low-frequency radio telescope NenuFAR

International audienceNenuFAR is a new, large low-frequency radio telescope, in construction and commissioning at the Nançay Radioastronomy Observatory, that starts to provide high sensitivity observations in the 10-85 MHz range. NenuFAR’s 1938 dual polarization antennas are connected to a suite of receivers allowing the instrument to operate, simultaneously if needed, in 4 distinct modes : as a standalone beamformer, a standalone imager, a waveform snapshots recorder, and a giant low-frequency station of the LOFAR array. We provide here an overview of the antennas, receivers, data products, operation and scientific context of the instrument

The low-frequency radio telescope NenuFAR

International audienceNenuFAR is a new, large low-frequency radio telescope, in construction and commissioning at the Nançay Radioastronomy Observatory, that starts to provide high sensitivity observations in the 10-85 MHz range. NenuFAR’s 1938 dual polarization antennas are connected to a suite of receivers allowing the instrument to operate, simultaneously if needed, in 4 distinct modes : as a standalone beamformer, a standalone imager, a waveform snapshots recorder, and a giant low-frequency station of the LOFAR array. We provide here an overview of the antennas, receivers, data products, operation and scientific context of the instrument

The low-frequency radio telescope NenuFAR

International audienceNenuFAR is a new, large low-frequency radio telescope, in construction and commissioning at the Nançay Radioastronomy Observatory, that starts to provide high sensitivity observations in the 10-85 MHz range. NenuFAR’s 1938 dual polarization antennas are connected to a suite of receivers allowing the instrument to operate, simultaneously if needed, in 4 distinct modes : as a standalone beamformer, a standalone imager, a waveform snapshots recorder, and a giant low-frequency station of the LOFAR array. We provide here an overview of the antennas, receivers, data products, operation and scientific context of the instrument

The low-frequency radio telescope NenuFAR

International audienceNenuFAR is a new, large low-frequency radio telescope, in construction and commissioning at the Nançay Radioastronomy Observatory, that starts to provide high sensitivity observations in the 10-85 MHz range. NenuFAR’s 1938 dual polarization antennas are connected to a suite of receivers allowing the instrument to operate, simultaneously if needed, in 4 distinct modes : as a standalone beamformer, a standalone imager, a waveform snapshots recorder, and a giant low-frequency station of the LOFAR array. We provide here an overview of the antennas, receivers, data products, operation and scientific context of the instrument