Habitat selection by an avian top predator in the tropical megacity of Delhi: human activities and socio-religious practices as prey-facilitating tools

Research in urban ecology is growing rapidly in response to the exponential growth of the urban environment. However, few studies have focused on tropical megacities, and on the interplay between predators’ habitat selection and human socio-economic aspects, which may mediate their resilience and coexistence with humans. We examined mechanisms of breeding habitat selection by a synanthropic raptor, the Black Kite Milvus migrans, in Delhi (India) where kites mainly subsist on: (1) human refuse and its associated prey-fauna, and (2) ritualised feeding of kites, particularly practised by Muslims. We used mixed effects models to test the effect of urban habitat configuration and human practices on habitat selection, site occupancy and breeding success. Kite habitat decisions, territory occupancy and breeding success were tightly enmeshed with human activities: kites preferred areas with high human density, poor waste management and a road configuration that facilitated better access to resources provided by humans, in particular to Muslim colonies that provided ritual subsidies. Furthermore, kites bred at ‘clean’ sites with less human refuse only when close to Muslim colonies, suggesting that the proximity to ritual-feeding sites modulated the suitability of other habitats. Rather than a nuisance to avoid, as previously portrayed, humans were a keenly-targeted foraging resource, which tied a predator’s distribution to human activities, politics, history, socio-economics and urban planning at multiple spatio-temporal scales. Many synurbic species may exploit humans in more subtle and direct ways than was previously assumed, but uncovering them will require greater integration of human socio-cultural estimates in urban ecological research

Strategy of raptor conservation in the USSR

Volume: 15Start Page: 1End Page:

Stability of Territorial Bounds in Birds of Prey as Indicator of Their Life Strategies

The level of stability of territorial bounds can act as an integral index of a life strategy, considering the ability of raptors to actively move in space as an evolutionary result of optimizing relations with the environment

Design and Analysis of Asymptotic Probabilistic Genetic Algorithm

В данной работе предлагается модификация вероятностного генетического алгоритма, в кото- ром вместо генетических операторов, действующих на отдельные решения (особей), использу- ются операторы, действующие на распределение вероятностей компонент вектора решений (ге- нов), а также производится сравнение надежности и эффективности базового алгоритма и мо- дификаций на множестве тестовых функций и задаче динамического составления расписаний.This paper proposes the modification of probabilistic genetic algorithm, which uses genetic operators, effecting not on particular solutions, but on the probabilities distribution of solution vectors components. This paper also compares reliability and efficiency of basic algorithm and proposed modification using the set of test functions and dynamic scheduling problem

Design and Analysis of Asymptotic Probabilistic Genetic Algorithm

В данной работе предлагается модификация вероятностного генетического алгоритма, в кото- ром вместо генетических операторов, действующих на отдельные решения (особей), использу- ются операторы, действующие на распределение вероятностей компонент вектора решений (ге- нов), а также производится сравнение надежности и эффективности базового алгоритма и мо- дификаций на множестве тестовых функций и задаче динамического составления расписаний.This paper proposes the modification of probabilistic genetic algorithm, which uses genetic operators, effecting not on particular solutions, but on the probabilities distribution of solution vectors components. This paper also compares reliability and efficiency of basic algorithm and proposed modification using the set of test functions and dynamic scheduling problem

Organochlorine pesticides, PCBs and mercury in hawk, falcon, eagle and owl eggs from the Lipetsk, Voronezh, Novgorod and Saratov regions, Russia, 1992-1993

Volume: 32Start Page: 143End Page: 15