PRELIMINARY BASELINE SURVEY OF AVIFAUNAL DIVERSITY IN JIMMA ZONE, SOUTH-WESTERN ETHIOPIA

Multidimensional poverty, which is deeply-rooted within least-developed African countries like Ethiopia, is forcing local people to heavily rely on natural resources for their subsistent livelihoods. As a result, remaining wilderness areas in tropical Africa which support huge but little known biological diversity, are subject to extensive habitat loss, fragmentation and degradation in turn causing loss of plant and animal species and ecosystem services provided by them. Coffee forest fragment within the Jimma Zone of Ethiopia cannot be expected to be an exception to such scenario. Taking this persistent problem into consideration, we carried out a preliminary survey of bird biodiversity in selected areas of Jimma Zone during a short term bird ringing training held from Sept. 30 to Oct. 20, 2008. The main objective of the survey was to identify and document bird species of Jimma Zone, Southwestern Ethiopia, for further in-debth ornithological studies. Survey data were collected through exhaustive observations in and around 10 coffee forest fragments in Garuke, one fragment in Eladale, one urban area site in Jimma town and in scrubland vegetation around Gilgel Ghibe hydropower reservoir, Jimma Zone, Southwestern Ethiopia. In addition, five mist-nets were employed to capture understory forest birds in two purposively selected coffee forest fragments. Mist nets were opened at 5:50 A.M. and checked every 30 minutes until they were closed at 12:00 A.M. Over 196 bird species were identified during this survey and of these, 41 individuals belonging to 20 species were captured in Garuke and 23 individuals of 9 bird species in Eladale. Montane white-eye (Zosterops poliogastrus) followed by Olive sunbird (Nectarinia olivacea), Abyssinian slaty-flycatcher (Melaenornis chocolatinus) and Rupell’s robinchat (Cossypha semirufa) were the most frequently captured bird species. Of the sites surveyed, Gilgel Ghibe hydropower reservoir had strikingly highest bird species diversity. We approached the reservoir almost in a constant site near Bulbul Kebele (the smallest administrative unit in Ethiopia) and recorded over 115 bird species within about 300 meters distance! We learnt that this area was an important and most appropriate site to see a number of migrant and resident species as well as to undertake future bird ringing activities. We believe that the result of this survey will contribute much for the preparation of a comprehensive bird species checklist for Jimma Zone that could serve as important baseline information for more focused future ornithological investigations in the area so as to promote bird conservation through ecotourism activities and improve the livelihood of local people

Preserve birds in their natural NZ habitat and save their “Wild Musick”.

The Wild Musick framework has been created to support the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (Tourism) NZ, Department of Conservation, Ministry of Conservation, and Ministry of Youth Development. It works to encourage the youth, and families in saving birds and conserving the biodiversity of New Zealand avian population. The solution offers the following direct use cases : 1. Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (Tourism) a. Creation of new walking trails along areas of high bird density. b. Promoting bird watching and bird sounding trips. c. Aligning the tourism season with bird migration and seasonal population variation of birds. d. Promoting bird watching as a sport. e. Family trips encouraged to record bird sounds and feeding them to the Wild Musick web service. 2. Ministry of Conservation (Bio Conservation) a. Pest population has an inverse relationship to the bird population in a geographic area. The Wild Musick framework can assist in decreasing the pest population in an area supporting other programs working in conjunction with saving birds. b. Saving the avian population leads to the maintenance of the ecological balance in the Aotearoa region. c. Identification of unusual birds migration in specific areas. d. Identification of bird songs from bird calls and identifying the breeding season and perhaps preventing human intervention during the season. e. Identifying bird’s behaviour based on their songs/calls. f. Identify the population density of the endangered birds species. 3. Ministry of Youth Development a. Identify the bird sounds in the wild on youth trips. b. Respond to a bird call for help, if we can isolate the bird sound c. Gamify the application and ask the youth (children as well as youth) when they go wit

Stacking the Deck? An Empirical Analysis of Agreement Rates Between Pro Tempore Justices and Chief Justices of California, 1977-2003

The chief justice of California is empowered to select a pro tempore justice when one or more of the court\u27s regular justices are absent. Chief Justice Rose Bird was accused of using this power to manipulate case outcomes. Contemporary scholarly investigations came to mixed conclusions. Bird\u27s successors have adopted the nondiscretionary method of alphabetical selection. The present study compares the agreement rates of temporary justices with Bird and with her two immediate successors, Malcolm Lucas and Ronald George. It finds evidence of vote bias for Bird, particularly in close cases and cases before April 1981. It does not find evidence of vote bias for Chief Justices Lucas or George, suggesting that a non-discretionary selection procedure should be formally required

Bird Population Changes Following the Establishment of a Diverse Stand of Woody Plants in a Former Crop Field in North Dakota, 1975– 2015

Changes in the coverage of trees and shrubs on the North Dakota landscape since Euro- American settlement have likely had a pronounced impact on bird species that favor woody vegetation. Long- term data sets on breeding bird populations in wooded habitats in North Dakota or in the Great Plains are scarce. In 1975 a wildlife habitat plot was established in a 10.5 ha cropland field with a long history of small- grain production. Th e objective of this article is to evaluate the successional changes in bird populations as the habitat at this site became more biologically and structurally complex aft er the establishment of a diverse stand of shrubs and trees. Between 1975 and 2015, 103 species or varieties of native and non- native trees, shrubs, or vines were planted in this wildlife habitat plot (hereaft er woodlot); 58.2% of those species were still present in 2016. Th e avian community in the woodlot increased in abundance and diversity as the woody vegetation increased in complexity and maturity, but the changes in abundance varied among ecological bird groups. Grassland bird abundance remained relatively constant but uncommon throughout the four decades aft er woody vegetation was first established. Bird species associated with shrublands and open woodlands and edges responded positively and showed the greatest increases in abundance during the 41- year period. Th e abundance of bird species associated with open areas with scattered trees or shrubs (i.e., savanna habitat) increased during the first half of the study but declined during the second half. Bird species associated with forest habitats were rare throughout the 41- year period, but their abundance increased during the most recent two decades. Results of this study are important for informing decisions about restoration efforts of riparian forests and other native wooded areas in the Great Plains and setting expectations for the time- scale required for the return of assemblages of species of woodland birds

Coffee berry borer Hypothenemus hampei (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae) removal in coffee plantations: a pest control service provided by birds

Coffee is one of the most important crops in tropical regions of the world, where areas suited for its production are usually immersed within important biodiversity conservation regions. Studies in these agricultural systems have proven its conservation value, particularly for bird species which provide us with an array of ecosystem services including seed dispersal, pollination, and pest control. Regulating ecosystem services such as pest control (MEA 2005) are especially important to quantify because their benefits can be perceived at smaller scales and directly by coffee growers. Positive effects of bird species in the removal of insects in coffee systems have already been established however fewer studies have focused specifically on the effect of bird species in the control of the coffee berry borer (cbb), one of the most damaging pests affecting coffee production worldwide. In order to assess this effect on January 2013 we set up an exclosure experiment in a Costa Rican coffee plantation where we randomly selected two coffee shrubs at ten different coffee plots, one of the coffee shrubs was then isolated from bird foraging activity by a plastic mesh preventing the entrance of birds but allowing insects to fly in and out. Brocap traps were installed at each one of the ten coffee plots to monitored cbb flights/availability, bird community was evaluated via point counts and mistnetting and direct evidence of predation was obtained through the identification of cbb DNA in fecal and emesis samples. Results show that 25% out of 117 bird species detected within our sampling units are exclusively insectivorous birds while 55% include invertebrates as part of their diet. Trapping of cbb indicated several episodes of flights/availability of the pest throughout the year. Coffee berry borer infestation rates were significantly higher in coffee shrubs excluded in comparison with coffee shrubs exposed to bird foraging activity (F=23.40, p=0.0019). Preliminary DNA analysis shows evidence of insectivorous bird species predating on the genus Hypothenemus. Our findings provide further evidence on the potential contribution of insectivorous bird species in the removal and control of the coffee berry borer in coffee systems and highlight the importance of further studies using molecular biology techniques that allow to quantify the amount of cbb consumed by birds on a given moment as well as the economic importance of this service. (Texte intégral

The FireBird Mission – A Scientific Mission for Earth Observation and Hot SpotDetection

More than 10 years ago the first specialized small satellite for hot spot recognition and fire observation was designed, built and operated by several DLR departments. This BIRD (Bi-spectral Infra Red Detection) satellite demonstrated the capability of fire monitoring from space by using a dedicated small satellite and sensor system. On the other hand it has shown that DLR is capable to manage nearly a complete space mission “in house”. The comparison of typical BIRD data with the well-known MODIS fire products led to the label “fire zoom” for BIRD data. It is due to the high geometric and radiometric resolution of BIRD fire products. Typically small fires with a diameter of 4m could be detected. The precise estimation of fire parameters was successfully shown without problems like false alarms. The success of BIRD opened the doors for next steps. The scientific DLR Earth observation mission “FireBird” will continue the fire monitoring topic by using two small satellites (TET-1, launched June 2012, BIROS launch planed 2014). The paper shall present this mission. It will finally be focused on possible interfaces for a desired worldwide international scientific cooperation within this running space mission