Nest-site preference of griffon vulture (gyps fulvus) in Herzegovina

Although formerly an abundant species, the Eurasian Griffon (Gyps fulvus Hablizl, 1783) has undergone a dramatic decline in Herzegovina. Such an unfavorable trend may be associated with frequent poisoning incidents (consumption of poisoned baits), shortage of food and hunting. This species disappeared from its breeding habitats in Herzegovina during the last decade of the 20th century. The extinction was probably caused by military activities during the civil war. Using data that were collected over a period of long-term (1980-1991) monitoring of the breeding population, we discovered optimal environmental conditions for the nesting of the Eurasian Griffon Vulture in Herzegovina. Information on nest-site preference is valuable for conservation programs and the possible reintroduction of the Eurasian Griffon, not only in Herzegovina, but also to a much wider region. During the study period, we observed 61 nests and 252 nesting cases in four colonies of Eurasian Griffon Vulture. Most nests were located on limestone and dolomite rocks. The average altitude of nests was 378 m a.s.l.; most of nests (85%) were located below 500 m a.s.l. Also, the majority of nests were located on west-exposed sites

Nest-site preference of Griffon Vulture (Gyps fulvus) in Herzegovina

Although formerly an abundant species, the Eurasian Griffon (Gyps fulvus Hablizl, 1783) has undergone a dramatic decline in Herzegovina. Such an unfavorable trend may be associated with frequent poisoning incidents (consumption of poisoned baits), shortage of food and hunting. This species disappeared from its breeding habitats in Herzegovina during the last decade of the 20th century. The extinction was probably caused by military activities during the civil war. Using data that were collected over a period of long-term (1980-1991) monitoring of the breeding population, we discovered optimal environmental conditions for the nesting of the Eurasian Griffon Vulture in Herzegovina. Information on nest-site preference is valuable for conservation programs and the possible reintroduction of the Eurasian Griffon, not only in Herzegovina, but also to a much wider region. During the study period, we observed 61 nests and 252 nesting cases in four colonies of Eurasian Griffon Vulture. Most nests were located on limestone and dolomite rocks. The average altitude of nests was 378 m a.s.l.; most of nests (85%) were located below 500 m a.s.l. Also, the majority of nests were located on west-exposed sites.nul

Influence of the twilight period and different sampling methods on catch of Gobiids (Gobiidae) at four locations in the inshore parts of the Danube River

The aim of this work was to compare the efficiency of two different methods for fish sampling and to assess the influence of the twilight period on the catch of gobiids along the Danube River in Serbia. The samplings were performed by electrofishing and beach seining in inshore parts of the Danube River with water depth up to 120 cm at four locations: Novi Sad, Belgrade, Tekija, and Prahovo, in October 2012 and September 2013. At each location, the samplings were performed at 17:30, 18:30, 19:30 and 20:30. Totally, 539 gobiids were caught. The highest number of specimens (218) was registered at Tekija, while lower numbers were registered at Belgrade (192) and Prahovo (117), and only 12 specimens were caught at Novi Sad. The catch of the round goby Neogobius melanostomus and monkey goby Neogobius fluviatilis was more efficient by beach seining than by electrofishing, whereas the catch of the tubenose goby Proterorhinus semilunaris was more efficient by electrofishing. Both methods had similar efficiency in catching the bighead goby Ponticola kessleri and racer goby Babka gymnotrachelus. The species diversity and number of the caught specimens were the highest at 18:30. All five species were recorded at Belgrade, Tekija and Prahovo, while only the monkey goby and racer goby were caught at Novi Sad. The methods used in this study showed good efficiency in catching gobiids, especially at dusk. Even though these methods are difficult to apply in certain habitats, they could be highly relevant in the regular monitoring of gobiids along the inshore parts of rivers

Influence of the twilight period and different sampling methods on catch of Gobiids (Gobiidae) at four locations in the inshore parts of the Danube River

The aim of this work was to compare the efficiency of two different methods for fish sampling and to assess the influence of the twilight period on the catch of gobiids along the Danube River in Serbia. The samplings were performed by electrofishing and beach seining in inshore parts of the Danube River with water depth up to 120 cm at four locations: Novi Sad, Belgrade, Tekija, and Prahovo, in October 2012 and September 2013. At each location, the samplings were performed at 17:30, 18:30, 19:30 and 20:30. Totally, 539 gobiids were caught. The highest number of specimens (218) was registered at Tekija, while lower numbers were registered at Belgrade (192) and Prahovo (117), and only 12 specimens were caught at Novi Sad. The catch of the round goby Neogobius melanostomus and monkey goby Neogobius fluviatilis was more efficient by beach seining than by electrofishing, whereas the catch of the tubenose goby Proterorhinus semilunaris was more efficient by electrofishing. Both methods had similar efficiency in catching the bighead goby Ponticola kessleri and racer goby Babka gymnotrachelus. The species diversity and number of the caught specimens were the highest at 18:30. All five species were recorded at Belgrade, Tekija and Prahovo, while only the monkey goby and racer goby were caught at Novi Sad. The methods used in this study showed good efficiency in catching gobiids, especially at dusk. Even though these methods are difficult to apply in certain habitats, they could be highly relevant in the regular monitoring of gobiids along the inshore parts of rivers

Key extraction from general non-discrete signals

We address the problem of designing optimal schemes for the generation of secure cryptographic keys from continuous noisy data. We argue that, contrary to the discrete case, a universal fuzzy extractor does not exist. This implies that in the continuous case, key extraction schemes have to be designed for particular probability distributions. We extend the known definitions of the correctness and security properties of fuzzy extractors. Our definitions apply to continuous as well as discrete variables. We propose a generic construction for fuzzy extractors from noisy continuous sources, using independent partitions. The extra freedom in the choice of discretisation, which does not exist in the discrete case, is advantageously used to give the extracted key a uniform distribution. We analyze the privacy properties of the scheme and the error probabilities in a one-dimensional toy model with simplified noise. Finally, we study the security implications of incomplete knowledge of the source’s probability distribution P. We derive a bound on the min-entropy of the extracted key under the worst case assumption, where the attacker knows P exactly

Nest-site preference of Griffon Vulture (Gyps fulvus) in Herzegovina

Although formerly an abundant species, the Eurasian Griffon (Gyps fulvus Hablizl, 1783) has undergone a dramatic decline in Herzegovina. Such an unfavorable trend may be associated with frequent poisoning incidents (consumption of poisoned baits), shortage of food and hunting. This species disappeared from its breeding habitats in Herzegovina during the last decade of the 20th century. The extinction was probably caused by military activities during the civil war. Using data that were collected over a period of long-term (1980-1991) monitoring of the breeding population, we discovered optimal environmental conditions for the nesting of the Eurasian Griffon Vulture in Herzegovina. Information on nest-site preference is valuable for conservation programs and the possible reintroduction of the Eurasian Griffon, not only in Herzegovina, but also to a much wider region. During the study period, we observed 61 nests and 252 nesting cases in four colonies of Eurasian Griffon Vulture. Most nests were located on limestone and dolomite rocks. The average altitude of nests was 378 m a.s.l.; most of nests (85%) were located below 500 m a.s.l. Also, the majority of nests were located on west-exposed sites

First record of a hybrid striped bass (Morone saxatilisxMorone chrysops) in the Danube River

Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development of the Republic of Serbia [OI 173045, TR 37009