Vulnerability of northern gannets to offshore wind farms; seasonal and sex-specific collision risk and demographic consequences

There is a pressing need to quantify the risks of renewable energy developments such as offshore wind farms for protected populations. However, assessments are often based on incomplete data, or fail to consider variation in risk between sexes and at different times of year. We tracked northern gannets foraging from the world's largest colony (Bass Rock, Scotland) across five consecutive breeding seasons. We examine how seasonal and sex differences in behaviour affect the collision risk from planned and operational wind farms within their foraging range and assess the likely consequences for long-term population viability. Both sexes made shorter trips during chick-rearing than prior to chick-hatching, spent a greater proportion of time within wind farm sites and had an eight times greater potential collision risk during chick-rearing. Females made longer trips than males at both these times of year, flew higher and spent more time within wind farm sites, leading to three times greater collision risk for females. After accounting for the potential additional mortality from collisions, and assuming that the death of a parent also led to the loss of its offspring, the breeding population was projected to increase by 3.57% (95% CI: 2.16–5.15%) per year, compared with 6.56% (95% CI: 4.59–8.73%) in the absence of turbines, suggesting a negligible effect on population viability. However, additional mortality could result in greater immigration from neighbouring colonies, potentially affecting their viability and highlighting a need for research within a metapopulation framework to assess the impacts of offshore wind developments on vulnerable species across multiple connected sites

Post-fledging movements, mortality and migration of juvenile northern gannets

Studying the at-sea movements and behaviour of juvenile seabirds is logistically challenging, but new technologies now allow tracking birds on their first migration, giving a more complete picture of population-level spatial ecology. We investigated the post-fledging migration of juvenile northern gannets Morus bassanus from the world's largest colony, at Bass Rock, Scotland. We first examined the movements and survival of 38 juveniles over their initial days at sea with GPS precision for up to 53 d post-fledging. We then compared their migration journeys with those of 35 adults tracked with geolocators. Almost one-third of juveniles died within 2 mo of leaving the colony, and this mortality was often associated with apparent uncertainties in their direction of migration, including marked, abrupt and often repeated changes in bearing within the North Sea. Both juveniles and adults then migrated as far as the Canary Current Large Marine Ecosystem (CCLME) off the Atlantic coast of West Africa, initially taking both clockwise and counter-clockwise routes around the UK. Juveniles covered a distance each day similar to that of adults, but they reached the CCLME much more quickly, mainly because they travelled more directly, staying close to the coast throughout most of their migration, whereas adults additionally spent long periods over relatively restricted areas of ocean further offshore. The CCLME is a hotspot of unregulated fishing activity, and our findings highlight the importance of this region across different age-classes of birds, echoing previous calls that the regional strengthening of marine conservation should be a high priority

Risks to different populations and age classes of gannets from impacts of offshore wind farms in the southern North Sea

The southern North Sea holds the world's highest concentration of offshore wind farms (OWFs). Northern gannets (Morus bassanus), a species considered at high risk from OWF impacts, show a strong seasonal peak there in November, but it is unclear which populations and age classes are most at risk of collision with wind turbines. We tagged adult and juvenile gannets at the world's largest colony (Bass Rock) and reviewed two sources of survey data for different age classes to study their movements through southern North Sea waters. Tracked birds showed peak numbers in the southern North Sea in mid-October, with much smaller numbers there during November. Adults were distributed throughout the area, including waters close to OWFs, whereas juveniles were confined to the coast. Survey data indicated high proportions of immature gannets in southern North Sea waters, suggesting higher collision risk than for adults. Gannets present in November may be predominantly from colonies further north than Bass Rock

A study of relationships between bone-related vitamins and minerals, related risk markers, and subsequent mortality in older British people: the National Diet and Nutrition Survey of People Aged 65 Years and Over

Follow-up of a British national survey of older people found that in men, all-cause mortality was predicted by baseline plasma concentrations of phosphorus, albumin, creatinine and alpha 1-antichymotrypsin, and food energy intake and in women by plasma alkaline phosphatase, creatinine, alpha 1-antichymotrypsin, 25-hydroxy-vitamin D (marginally), and phosphorus intake

Augmented Two-Channel Arrhythmia Detection: An Efficient Diagnostic Method for Implantable Devices

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/75624/1/j.1540-8159.1996.tb03164.x.pd

Charcoal does not change the decomposition rate of mixed litters in a mineral cambisol: a controlled conditions study

It has been recently shown that the presence of charcoal might promote humus decomposition in the soil. We investigated the decomposition rate of charcoal and litters of different biochemical quality mixed together in a soil incubation under controlled conditions. Despite the large range of organic substrate quality used in this study, we did not find any difference in the decomposition between the average of two individual substrates decomposing separately and the same substrates mixed together. We concluded that charcoal does not always promote other organic matter decomposition and that its particular effect might depend on various factors, for example, soil properties

Costs and Cost-Effectiveness of Training Traditional Birth Attendants to Reduce Neonatal Mortality in the Lufwanyama Neonatal Survival Study (LUNESP)

The Lufwanyama Neonatal Survival Project (“LUNESP”) was a cluster randomized, controlled trial that showed that training traditional birth attendants (TBAs) to perform interventions targeting birth asphyxia, hypothermia, and neonatal sepsis reduced all-cause neonatal mortality by 45%. This companion analysis was undertaken to analyze intervention costs and cost-effectiveness, and factors that might improve cost-effectiveness.We calculated LUNESP's financial and economic costs and the economic cost of implementation for a forecasted ten-year program (2011–2020). In each case, we calculated the incremental cost per death avoided and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) averted in real 2011 US dollars. The forecasted 10-year program analysis included a base case as well as ‘conservative’ and ‘optimistic’ scenarios. Uncertainty was characterized using one-way sensitivity analyses and a multivariate probabilistic sensitivity analysis. The estimated financial and economic costs of LUNESP were $118,574 and$127,756, respectively, or $49,469 and$53,550 per year. Fixed costs accounted for nearly 90% of total costs. For the 10-year program, discounted total and annual program costs were $256,455 and$26,834 respectively; for the base case, optimistic, and conservative scenarios, the estimated cost per death avoided was $1,866,$591, and $3,024, and cost per DALY averted was$74, $24, and$120, respectively. Outcomes were robust to variations in local costs, but sensitive to variations in intervention effect size, number of births attended by TBAs, and the extent of foreign consultants' participation.Based on established guidelines, the strategy of using trained TBAs to reduce neonatal mortality was ‘highly cost effective’. We strongly recommend consideration of this approach for other remote rural populations with limited access to health care

Evaluating the use of the Child and Adolescent Intellectual Disability Screening Questionnaire (CAIDS-Q) to estimate IQ in children with low intellectual ability

In situations where completing a full intellectual assessment is not possible or desirable the clinician or researcher may require an alternative means of accurately estimating intellectual functioning. There has been limited research in the use of proxy IQ measures in children with an intellectual disability or low IQ. The present study aimed to provide a means of converting total scores from a screening tool (the Child and Adolescent Intellectual Disability Screening Questionnaire: CAIDS-Q) to an estimated IQ. A series of linear regression analyses were conducted on data from 428 children and young people referred to clinical services, where FSIQ was predicted from CAIDS-Q total scores. Analyses were conducted for three age groups between ages 6 and 18 years. The study presents a conversion table for converting CAIDS-Q total scores to estimates of FSIQ, with corresponding 95% prediction intervals to allow the clinician or researcher to estimate FSIQ scores from CAIDS-Q total scores. It is emphasised that, while this conversion may offer a quick means of estimating intellectual functioning in children with a below average IQ, it should be used with caution, especially in children aged between 6 and 8 years old

Constraints on Nucleon Decay via "Invisible" Modes from the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory

Data from the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory have been used to constrain the lifetime for nucleon decay to ``invisible'' modes, such as n -> 3 nu. The analysis was based on a search for gamma-rays from the de-excitation of the residual nucleus that would result from the disappearance of either a proton or neutron from O16. A limit of tau_inv > 2 x 10^{29} years is obtained at 90% confidence for either neutron or proton decay modes. This is about an order of magnitude more stringent than previous constraints on invisible proton decay modes and 400 times more stringent than similar neutron modes.Comment: Update includes missing efficiency factor (limits change by factor of 2) Submitted to Physical Review Letter