Nest traits for the world's birds

Funding: H2020 European Research Council, Grant/Award Number: 788203; John Templeton Foundation, Grant/Award Number: 60501.Motivation: A well-constructed nest is a key element of successful reproduction in most species of birds, and nest morphology varies widely across the class. Macroecological and macroevolutionary studies tend to group nest design into a small number of discrete categories, often based on taxonomic inference. In reality, however, many species display considerable intraspecific variation in their nest-building behaviour, and broad-level categories may include several functionally distinct nest types. To address this imprecision in the literature and facilitate future studies of broad-scale variation in avian parental care, we here introduce a detailed, global comparative database of nest building in birds, together with preliminary correlations between these traits and species-level environmental variables. Main types of variables contained: We present species-level data for nest structure, location, height, material composition, sex of builder, building time and nest dimensions. Spatial location and grain: Global. Maps are presented at the 10 × 10 level. Time period and grain: Included species are generally extant, although we present some data for recently extinct taxa. The data were collected in 2017–2021 and was drawn from secondary sources published in 1992–2021. Major taxa and level of measurement: Partial or complete trait data is presented for 8601 species of birds, representing 36 of 36 orders and 239 of 243 families. Software format: Data have been uploaded as Supplementary Material in .csv format and are separated by species and source for all traits (Dataset S1, and Metadata) as well as summarized at the species level for the major structure and location variables (Dataset S2, and Metadata).Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Nest traits for the world's birds

We thank Mike Hansell, Mike Benton and members of the Healy and Lala labs, especially Sophie Edwards and Helen Spence-Jones, for comments on project design. This work was funded by the John Templeton Foundation (#60501 to KNL) and the European Research Council (788203 ‘Innovation’).Peer reviewe

Opa vs Oper: Neutralization of /?/ and unstressed /a/ contrast in a perception and production study

The present study examined differences in production and perception of the German vowels /a/ and /?/ in word-final, unstressed position. In the first experiment, 3 male and 3 female speakers produced minimal pairs embedded in meaningful sentences and varied in prosodic environment. In the second experiment, the minimal pairs were extracted from the context and presented to 44 listeners for a forced-choice identification task. Results showed a better-than-chance performance that was, however, mainly driven by one male speaker. Temporal and spectral measures confirmed that only this speaker produced an acoustic difference between /a/ and /?/

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Latest mobile technologies have revolutionised the way people experience their environment. Recent research explored the opportunities of using augmented reality (AR) in order to enhance the user experience however, there is only limited research on users’ acceptance of AR in the tourism context. The technology acceptance model is the predominant theory for researching technology acceptance. Previous researchers used the approach of proposing external dimensions based on secondary literature; however missed the opportunity to integrate context specific dimensions. This paper therefore aims to propose an AR acceptance model in the context of urban heritage tourism. Five focus groups, with young British female tourists visiting Dublin and experiencing a mobile AR application, were conducted. The data were analysed using thematic analysis and revealed seven dimensions that should be incorporated into AR acceptance research including information quality, system quality, costs of use, recommendations, personal innovativeness and risk as well as facilitating conditions

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The benefits, value and potential of Augmented Reality (AR) are widely researched. However, the value of AR is most commonly discussed in relation to enhancing the tourist experience, rather than generating revenue or economic returns. Although AR promises to add value to the visitor experience and generate associated benefits, the financial implications and revenue model for AR implementation remain uncertain and therefore too much of a financial risk for most tourist organisations, typically Small to Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) characterised by limited funding. Thus, using the case of UNESCO recognised Geevor Tin Mine Museum, in Cornwall, UK, this study identifies ways in which tourism organisations can profit from AR implementation. Fifty semi-structured interviews with Geevor stakeholders, analysed using content analysis reveal a number of ways AR can be introduced to increase revenue generation and profits, therefore filling a gap in research and minimising the risk for managers and practitioners considering AR implementation

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As its market and society open up, China has transformed itself from a closed agrarian socialist economy to an urban state and an economic force. This has released accumulated tourism demand, led to the development of a diversified industry, and the spread of university and vocational courses in this field. However, the industry faces challenges to recruit and retain staff, with tourism education in higher education blamed for the shortfall in numbers and quality of candidates with suitable purpose, knowledge, and passion to serve. This chapter provides a background to the development of and problems facing tourism education in China, and suggests how to support student engagement and hence the future workforce