Do Red Knots (Calidris Canutus Islandica) routinely skip Iceland during southward migration?

Subspecies Calidris canutus islandica of the Red Knot breeds on the arctic tundra of northeastern Canada and northern Greenland and winters along the coasts of northwestern Europe. During northward migration, it stops over in either Iceland or northern Norway. It has been assumed that it does the same during southward migration. Using ratios of stable carbon isotopes (&delta; 13 C) in whole blood, blood cells, and plasma, we investigated evidence for a stopover in Iceland en route from the breeding grounds to the Dutch Wadden Sea. With the expected diet (shellfish) and stopover duration at Iceland (12-15 days, maximum 17 days) and the turnover rates of blood cells (15.1 days) and plasma (6.0 days), Red Knots that stopped in Iceland should arrive with a blood (cell) &delta; 13 C midway between a tundra (-24.7[per thousand]) and a marine value (-14.0[per thousand]) and a plasma &delta;13 C approaching the marine value (-15.3[per thousand]). However, many adults arriving at the Wadden Sea had &delta;13 C ratios in blood (cells) and plasma below these levels, and some arrived with clear tundra signals in blood cells, suggesting that they skipped Iceland during southward migration. Surprisingly, available data suggest this also to be true for juveniles during their first southward migration. The &delta; 13 C signature of second-year birds confirmed that they oversummered in the Wadden Sea. Our findings contradict the largely untested idea that juvenile shorebirds make more stopovers than adults as well as the idea that the migration between the Nearctic and Europe is necessarily a two-leg process. <br /

Shellfish Dredging Pushes a Flexible Avian Top Predator out of a Marine Protected Area

There is a widespread concern about the direct and indirect effects of industrial fisheries; this concern is particularly pertinent for so-called “marine protected areas” (MPAs), which should be safeguarded by national and international law. The intertidal flats of the Dutch Wadden Sea are a State Nature Monument and are protected under the Ramsar convention and the European Union's Habitat and Birds Directives. Until 2004, the Dutch government granted permission for ~75% of the intertidal flats to be exploited by mechanical dredgers for edible cockles (Cerastoderma edule). Here we show that dredged areas belonged to the limited area of intertidal flats that were of sufficient quality for red knots (Calidris canutus islandica), a long-distance migrant molluscivore specialist, to feed. Dredging led to relatively lower settlement rates of cockles and also reduced their quality (ratio of flesh to shell). From 1998 to 2002, red knots increased gizzard mass to compensate for a gradual loss in shellfish quality, but this compensation was not sufficient and led to decreases in local survival. Therefore, the gradual destruction of the necessary intertidal resources explains both the loss of red knots from the Dutch Wadden Sea and the decline of the European wintering population. This study shows that MPAs that do not provide adequate protection from fishing may fail in their conservation objectives

A Study on the System and Mechanism Construction of Social Management with Chinese Characteristics

社会管理是一个相当有中国特色的词语。改革开放以来，随着经济体制的转轨和社会的转型，社会流动性大大增加，社会问题与事务与日增多，传统的社会管理理念和方式都难以实现有效的管理，社会问题造成的影响在不断的增大。在这样的情况下迫切需要建立起一种与社会发展阶段相适应社会管理模式，这已经成为广泛的共识，政府、学者、社会人士都在积极呼吁与不断实践。 在构建具有中国特色的社会管理模式时，我们首先要明确的是社会管理是一个涵盖社会生活方方面面的完整体系，是由各个社会管理体制与社会管理机制有机结合组成的。不断完善社会管理体制与机制建设是当前社会管理水平不断提高的必经之路。创新与完善需要建立在对历史的清醒认识和对现...Social management is a word with Chinese characteristics. Since the Chinese reform and opening, especially since the economic reform and social transformation, social mobility is greatly increased. At the same time, social problems and social affairs are also increasing quickly. Traditional social management ideas and methods are difficult to provide effective management; the impact of social prob...学位：管理学硕士院系专业：公共事务学院_行政管理学号：1392010115049

Landscape-scale experiment demonstrates that Wadden Sea intertidal flats are used to capacity by molluscivore migrant shorebirds

P>1. Whether intertidal areas are used to capacity by shorebirds can best be answered by large-scale manipulation of foraging areas. The recent overexploitation of benthic resources in the western Dutch Wadden Sea offers such an 'experimental' setting. 2. We review the effects of declining food abundances on red knot Calidris canutus islandica numbers, based on a yearly large-scale benthic mapping effort, long-term colour-ringing and regular bird-counts from 1996 to 2005. We focus on the three-way relationships between suitable foraging area, the spatial predictability of food and red knot survival. 3. For each benthic sampling position, red knot intake rate (mg AFDM s-1) was predicted by a multiple prey species functional response model, based on digestive rate maximization (this model explained diet and intake rate in earlier studies on red knots). This enabled us to derive the spatial distribution of the suitable foraging area, which in each of the 10 years was analysed with a measure of autocorrelation, i.e. Moran's I. 4. Over the 10 years, when accounting for a threshold value to meet energetic demands, red knots lost 55% of their suitable foraging area. This ran parallel to a decrease in red knot numbers by 42%. Although there was also a decrease in patchiness (i.e. less information about the location of the suitable feeding sites), this did not yet lead to additional loss of birds. 5. To cope with these landscape-scale declines in food stocks, an increase in the capacity for instantaneous food processing would be required. Although we show that red knots indeed enlarged their muscular gizzards, the increase in gizzard size was not enough to compensate for the decreased feeding area. 6. Survival of islandica knots in the western Dutch Wadden Sea, based on colour-ring resightings, declined from 89% in the first half of our study period to 82% in the second half of our study period and could account for almost half of the decline in red knot numbers; the rest must have moved elsewhere in winter. 7. Densities of red knots per unit suitable foraging area remained constant at 10 knots ha-1 between 1996 and 2005, which suggests that red knots have been using the Dutch Wadden Sea to full capacity

Monitoring biosecurity in poultry production: an overview of databases reporting biosecurity compliance from seven European countries

Compliance with required on-farm biosecurity practices reduces the risk of contamination and spread of zoonotic and economically important diseases. With repeating avian influenza epidemics in the poultry industry, the need to monitor and improve the overall level of biosecurity is increasing. In practice, biosecurity compliance is assessed by various actors (e.g., academic, private and public institutions), and the results of such assessments may be recorded and gathered in databases which are seldom shared or thoroughly analyzed. This study aimed to provide an inventory of databases related to the assessment of biosecurity in poultry farms in seven major poultry-producing European countries to highlight challenges and opportunities associated with biosecurity data collection, sharing, and use. The institutions in charge of these databases were contacted and interviewed using a structured questionnaire to gather information on the main characteristics of the databases and the context of their implementation. A total of 20 databases were identified, covering the gamut of poultry species and production types. Most databases were linked to veterinary health authorities or academia, and to a lesser extent interbranch organizations. Depending on the institutions in charge, the databases serve various purposes, from providing advice to enforcing regulations. The quality of the biosecurity data collected is believed to be quite reliable, as biosecurity is mostly assessed by trained farm advisors or official veterinarians and during a farm visit. Some of the databases are difficult to analyze and/or do not offer information concerning which biosecurity measures are most or least respected. Moreover, some key biosecurity practices are sometimes absent from certain databases. Although the databases serve a variety of purposes and cover different production types, each with specific biosecurity features, their analysis should help to improve the surveillance of biosecurity in the poultry sector and provide evidence on the benefits of biosecurity

Treatment of thumb carpometacarpal osteoarthritis; quo vadis?

The unique prehensile ability of the human hand is largely due to the biomechanical function of its complex first carpometacarpal (CMC1) joint. This makes the thumb the most important digit of the hand. The unique demands placed on the thumb regarding mobility, stability and transmission of force make it prone for degenerative changes. Thumb CMC joint osteoarthritis (OA) is a common and debilitating problem for the patient and a challenge to manage for primary care providers, hand therapists and hand surgeons. In this thesis treatment principles and options are discussed and evaluated to provide insight in the current knowledge of this rapidly evolving field. Conservative treatment can consist of patient education in joint protection, an intra-articular injection or an orthosis. If these measurements are insufficient, an operative intervention can be performed. Although a trapeziectomy has been considered the gold standard treatment, this treatment will not yield the best results in all patients. Other treatment options that could be considered are partial trapeziectomy with interposition of fascia lata allograft, implantation of a total joint prosthesis, and joint distraction. Implantation of a polyethylene mesh implant is not recommended because of the possible foreign body reaction. Choosing the optimal treatment for each individual patient with CMC1 OA is difficult and remains a challenge due to the variety of treatment options given my modern day medicine. Although trapeziectomy is considered the gold standard treatment, many subgroups of patients might be more eligible for other non-surgical or surgical interventions. Better tools to adequately select the right patient for each operative technique are essential and needed: treatment must be patient-tailored. Ultimately, our goal is to develop a clear, well defined and evidence based treatment strategy for each individual patient who presents with CMC1 OA. This requires a large amount of prospective research and data collection in an organised and standardised fashion. Only by sharing experience, knowledge and research efforts, we can attempt to obtain good guidelines to provide our patients with the best available care