Species-specific population trends detected for penguins, gulls and cormorants over 20 years in sub-Antarctic Fuegian Archipelago

Understanding the dynamics and causes of population trends are essential for seabird conservation. Long-term studies of seabirds at high-latitude (Antarctic, sub-Antarctic and Arctic) regions have shown contrasting species-specific trends in population size in response to climate change and anthropogenic pressures. We have studied for the last 20 years (1992?2012) the population trends of seven seabird species that breed in the Beagle Channel, south-eastern Tierra del Fuego and at Staten Island, a sub-Antarctic region in southern Argentina. The numbers of Magellanic and Gentoo Penguins increased significantly since 1992 (by[15 % year-1). In comparison, the populations of Imperial Cormorants, Dolphin Gulls and Kelp Gulls increased at slower rates ( % year-1), while the Rock Cormorant population even decreased by 1.3 % year-1. At Staten Island, the numbers of Rockhopper Penguins decreased by 24 % between the censuses of 1998 and 2010, whereas the population of Magellanic Penguins increased by 227 % during the same period. Over the study period, air and sea-surface temperatures remained stable in our study area, suggesting that the detected population changes are not driven by the climate. This finding contrasts with the detected links between increasing temperature trends and seabird population changes reported from Antarctic and Arctic regions. The level of tourism and size of the permanent human population has increased in the Beagle Channel area during the last 20 years and could be responsible for the increase of gull populations. The seabird species that received the highest number of visitors (Imperial Cormorants and penguin species) seem to be adapted or at least indifferent to pressures exerted by tourism, as their populations increased during the study period. In addition, increasing numbers of seabirds in the area may generally be leading to higher abundances of scavenging species (e.g. gulls).Fil: Raya Rey, Andrea Nélida. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Austral de Investigaciones Científicas; ArgentinaFil: Rosciano, Natalia Gimena. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Austral de Investigaciones Científicas; ArgentinaFil: Liljesthrom, Marcela. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Austral de Investigaciones Científicas; ArgentinaFil: Saenz Samaniego, Ricardo Andres. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Austral de Investigaciones Científicas; ArgentinaFil: Schiavini, Adrian Carlos Miguel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Austral de Investigaciones Científicas; Argentina. Wildlife Conservation Society; Estados Unido

Crystal chemistry and selected physical properties of inorganic fluorides and oxide-fluorides

importance in the development of many new technologies, andare impacting various key points of modern life, that is, energyproduction and storage, microelectronics and photonics,catalysis, automotive, building, etc. Many research fields andapplications are indeed concerned by a better knowledge of therelationships occurring between the structure of suchcompounds and some pertinent physical properties. ThisReview deals with the structural chemistry of solid-stateinorganic fluorides and oxide-fluorides, mostly transitionmetal-based, including rare-earth elements. Such a Review hasnot been published for a long time.1 Articles that recentlyappeared on inorganic fluorinated compounds were mostlyfocused on material science characteristics: morphology, surfacefunctionalization, nanostructuration of the materials andapplications, rather than on the description of characteristicstructural features.2−5 Detailed reviews focused on rare earthbasedinorganic fluorides have also appeared some yearsago..