Colony Sites Research Articles

Application of a novel banding technique and photographic recapture to describe plumage development and behaviour of juvenile Fairy Terns

The Australian Fairy Tern Sternula nereis nereis is a seabird that breeds along the coast and whose small populations are dispersed over vast stretches of the Australian seaboard and nearshore islands. In recent years, citizen science programs have been developed to bolster monitoring efforts to better understand breeding success and identify site threat profiles. The development of protocols that facilitate the collection of consistent measurements is important for long-term monitoring of this threatened (Vulnerable) species. This study describes plumage development and age-related behaviour in juvenile Australian Fairy Terns using direct observations and photographic recapture of individually marked birds. This information may be used as the basis for the development of a field ageing guide, enabling the collection of standardised information on colony demographics and juvenile development. A temporary colour-banding study was trialled by painting nail varnish onto 15 Australian Bird and Bat Banding Scheme (ABBBS) incoloy bands, avoiding the need to band nestlings with additional readable or PVC colour-bands. The varnish remained intact, albeit chipped, on four surviving birds that were resighted ≤80 days after banding, enabling the identification of individuals away from the colony site, without the need for recapture. The temporary marking of ABBBS bands using nail varnish offered an effective short-term solution for identifying individual juvenile Fairy Terns in the field and for describing plumage changes over a period of c. 3 months.

The Making of Japanese Settler Colonialism: Malthusianism and Trans-Pacifi c Migration, 1868–1961 by Sidney Xu Lu

Reviewed by: The Making of Japanese Settler Colonialism: Malthusianism and Trans-Pacifi c Migration, 1868–1961 by Sidney Xu Lu Martin Dusinberre (bio) The Making of Japanese Settler Colonialism: Malthusianism and Trans-Pacific Migration, 1868–1961. By Sidney Xu Lu. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2019. xvi, 310 pages. $99.99, cloth; $32.99, paper; $26.00, E-book. Open Access. Some 70 pages into The Ideological Origins of the British Empire, the historian David Armitage turns his attention to the career of Richard Hakluyt the younger (1553–1616) and offers a close reading of "A particuler discourse concerninge the greate necessitie and manifolde comodyties that are likely to growe to this Realme of Englande by the Westerne discoveries lately attempted" (1584). Better known as the "Discourse of Western Planting," the text appealed to Elizabeth I for the crown to finance Sir Walter Raleigh's planned permanent English settlement in Roanoke (today's North Carolina). As such, the "Discourse" was a failure—as, indeed, Roanoke Colony would be. But Armitage nevertheless devotes several pages to Hakluyt's ideas: the apparent need to counter overpopulation at home with colonization abroad; the export of people to achieve such colonization; and the new outlet for English markets that would thereby be created.1 I recalled Armitage's treatment of Hakluyt's "Discourse" as I was reading Sidney Xu Lu's extraordinary first book, The Making of Japanese Settler Colonialism. Any serious analysis of ideological origins, Armitage implicitly argues, must encompass the ideas that failed as much as those later considered to be "successes"; by logical extension, the same must be as true for the sites where colonization did not take root as those where it did. For many decades, scholarship on Japanese imperialism avoided this logic, with many works focusing exclusively on the Northeast Asian sites of modern Japan's colonies. And, for obvious reasons, these formal colonies still remain central to the story of empire. But Lu's book, read alongside Eiichiro Azuma's In Search of Our Frontiers,2 makes the powerful case for a new sensibility in our understanding of Japanese imperialism: that its sites—like Roanoke for England—were as much failed projects in Texas (Lu) or Mexico (Azuma) as the "successes" of Taiwan, Korea, Karafuto, and Manchuria; and that Japanese imperialism was a product of "ideological [End Page 477] interaction between Japanese migration campaigns on both sides of the Pacific" (p. 265). Indeed, for my money, the transpacific focus of Lu's analysis over the period of almost a century (1868–1961) adds up to a new way of conceptualizing the ideological origins of the Japanese empire. At the heart of Lu's thesis lies what he calls Malthusian expansionism: "a set of ideas that demanded extra land abroad to accommodate the claimed surplus people in the domestic society on the one hand and emphasized the necessity of the overall population growth of the nation on the other hand" (p. 3). In other words, overpopulation was as much a claim as a reality; and, unlike Thomas Malthus's original emphasis on the need to check growth in An Essay on the Principle of Population (1789), Japanese intellectuals celebrated increased population at home, both as the mark of a strong nation and also as a justification for further overseas expansion. True, Malthusianism was not the only ideological show in town, nor the only means by which to articulate a language of expansionism in post-1868 Japan. But with examples from Hokkaido, California, Texas, Brazil, and Manchuria, plus passing analyses of Hawai'i and Korea, Lu constructs a convincing case for historians to consider Malthusian expansionism as central to practices of Japanese settler colonialism across the Asia-Pacific world—about which more later. But first to the methodological elephant in the room. The tendency to size up Japanese imperialism according to European normative models has a long and problematic pedigree in postwar Japanese- and English-language scholarship. So when, in order to explain the expansive history of modern Japan, Lu offers a conceptual framework—Malthusianism—whose "intellectual roots can be traced back to the formative years of modern nationstates in Europe" (p. 26—and, we might add with a nod to...

First description of movement and ranging behavior of the Griffon vulture (Gyps fulvus) from Serbia using GPS satellite tracking

Understanding the movement pattern and ranging behavior of the Griffon vulture population in Serbia is of great importance for prioritizing conservation action. In 2011, an immature vulture was the first bird to be equipped with a satellite transmitter in Serbia. Our study aims to define the vulture?s foraging areas, home ranges, core and basic areas, and to investigate movement patterns across different years and seasons by analyzing satellite telemetry data. We tracked the movements of the vulture for over three years and obtained satellite tracking data for 34 bird-months (1976 GPS fixes) between October 2011 and July 2014. We determined that the overall foraging area of the vulture across the entire study period was 11654.34 km2. The overall area used by the vulture was larger during spring and summer than during winter periods. Combined ranges across all years identified one basic area and its associated core area around the Uvac colony and nearby feeding site; we identified three core areas in its proximity. This study showed that areas of traditional stock-raising practices are important vulture foraging areas and that supplementary feeding sites have a vital role. Our maps can be used for future planning of vulture conservation measures.

Diversity of Tetrabothriidae (Eucestoda) among Holarctic Alcidae (Charadriiformes): Resolution of the Tetrabothrius jagerskioeldi Cryptic Species Complex— Cestodes of Alcinae—Provides Insights on the Dynamic Nature of Tapeworm and Marine Bird Faunas under the Stockholm Paradigm

We begin resolution of the Tetrabothrius jagerskioeldi–species complex with descriptions of Tetrabothrius alcae n. sp. based on numerous specimens, primarily in murres (species of Uria), from the greater North Pacific basin and Tetrabothrius sinistralis n. sp. based on cestodes in guillemots (species of Cepphus) from the central Bering Sea and West Greenland. These tetrabothriids are characterized, among 44 species of Tetrabothrius in avian hosts, by attributes of the scolex, male and female organ systems, structure and dimensions of the vitelline gland, numbers of testes, configuration of the genital atrium, genital papillae and the male and female atrial canals, position of the genital ducts relative to the poral osmoregulatory canals, structure, dimensions and position of the vaginal seminal receptacle, and dimensions of the embryophore and oncosphere, in addition to a broader array of characters. Remarkably, T. alcae, T. sinistralis, and a cryptic complex had remained unrecognized for the past century, given that these species are unequivocally differentiated by multiple suites of unique structural attributes relative to T. jagerskioeldi. Alcids and cestodes of the T. jagerskioeldi–complex are restricted to cold marine systems of advection and upwelling along coastal margins adjacent to the continental shelf or are associated with archipelagos (especially the Aleutian Arc), isolated islands and rocky headlands of the Bering Sea, Chukchi Sea, Gulf of Alaska, Sea of Okhotsk, and Sea of Japan. Tetrabothrius alcae, T. jagerskioeldi, and T. sinistralis may occur in sympatry but with minimal overlap in the faunas associated with murres (Alcini) and guillemots (Cepphini). Transmission for cestodes and persistence of this fauna is expected to be associated with pelagic and neritic systems adjacent to colony sites in zones where critical prey species are concentrated or secondarily dispersed downstream by predictable advective and upwelling processes and become available to foraging birds. Faunal assembly represents the outcomes of oscillating climate, shifting ranges (breakdown in isolation, ecological fitting, and exploration modes for cestodes) and the changing interfaces for resource availability maintained by trophic and habitat overlaps. Dynamics at these ecotones constitute the nexus of opportunity and capacity for infection by species of Tetrabothrius among avian hosts where capacity appears broad and opportunity is ecologically restricted in space and prevatime. Life history pathways for cestodes are tied to trophic associations and dynamics at mesoscales across marine domains and provinces. Resilience and connectivity through ecological fitting strongly suggest the influence of multiple trophic pathways for transmission and persistence of this complex fauna through differing assemblages of zooplankters, fishes, and cephalopods depending on locality, oceanographic conditions, and temporal variability. Changing conditions, especially ecological perturbations driven by climate oscillations, directly determine production cycles and distributions of micro- and macro-zooplankton, forage fishes, cephalopods, and trophic structure in high-latitude marine ecosystems. Expanding regimes of accelerating change emphasize the critical importance of field collections, archives, and baselines to assess biological outcomes across temporal and spatial scales. Parasite assemblages reveal macro- to meso-scale connectivity serving as adjuncts and proxies in recognizing and understanding outcomes for episodes of environmental oscillation and directional atmospheric and oceanic warming in marine ecosystems.

SEEING UNDERGROUND: THE FEASIBILITY OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL REMOTE SENSING IN COASTAL AND HIGHLAND PERU

This paper1 reports programmatic recommendations, an advanced seminar series in archaeology, and field tests in geophysics undertaken during a consultancy with the Peruvian Institute of Culture (INC) in October 1982. The invited international program focused on the investigation of twelve historic, Inca, and pre-Inca sites throughout the coast and highlands. Funding was provided by the OAS, UNESCO, and the Andres Bello Fund. This is the first formal presentation of this effort. The Sendero Luminoso war prevented future investigations under this initiative. The collaborative international effort had three major components: 1) a three-week seminar series on applied technology in archaeology for the archaeological and preservation staff of the INC in Lima, Cusco, and Ayacucho; 2) investigations at twelve INC project sites to recommend appropriate applied technology strategies in support of excavation and stabilization efforts; and 3) resistivity and soil chemistry tests at each site to establish the utility of a variety of site-specific remote sensing strategies (e.g., resistivity, magnetics, or ground penetrating radar/GPR) to provide enhanced definition of archaeological boundaries and internal site structure. Among the underlying strategic goals of the collaborative testing program was the development of environmental indicators, or proxies, based on correlation of the levels of a number of chemical compounds, relative to recorded resistivity levels to project the utility of GPR and resistivity at different sites (the higher the resistivity the deeper the radar penetration). Once defined, future teams could use simple and inexpensive soil chemistry tests, without the need for expensive electrical equipment, to project the utility and penetration of ground penetrating radar (GPR) and electrical resistivity at a variety of coastal and highland Inca, pre-Inca, and Colonial sites.

Settler colonialism and the violent geographies of tourism in the California redwoods

Hidden from view, underneath the tourism landscape of the California redwoods, is a genocidal settler colonial history of warfare, massacres, and forced removal of Native Americans from their ancestral lands. This history has been ignored in the touristic narrative of people and place presented by a redwoods attraction in northern California, which are rife with unacknowledged histories and geographies of violence. Framed by scholarship on violent geographies in tourism development, this study shows how redwoods tourism has erased Indigenous people and history from the landscape, and how new ‘power-laden’ tourism imaginaries have been created in their place. The new tourism narrative is found in the spatial layout, interpretive signage, exhibits, website, museum of Native American artifacts, and interpretive trails in a roadside attraction called Trees of Mystery. Secondary historical literature and maps of local Yurok ancestral territory and land ownership construct a counter-narrative of the site's geography and history. Findings reveal a fanciful settler colonial history highlighting heroic male loggers on the ‘frontier’, and representations of ingenious Native Americans as historic people who produced beautiful tools, clothing and artwork but are now defeated, dead, and exotic. In fact, white settlers, backed by the U.S. Army and local militias, appropriated and logged Native American redwood lands, and in doing so massacred resident Yurok People and forced the survivors from their traditional territories. Conversely, the Yurok People have been reclaiming ancestral lands, reviving cultural practices, and resisting settler colonialism from the early 1800s to the present-day. Across the Americas, countless other settler colonial tourism sites like these sit upon violent geographies. Unearthing the hidden geography of this particular site shows how decolonizing research might be undertaken at other tourism sites situated on stolen Indigenous lands in the U.S. and beyond.

An ∼1100 yr record of human and seabird occupation in the High Arctic inferred from pond sediments

Abstract Seabirds in the Canadian Arctic congregate in large colonies, producing oases of biological productivity and diversity in coastal regions. Here, we examined sterols, stanols, and stable isotopes (δ15N and δ13C) in three 14C-dated pond sediment cores near a large seabird colony and archaeological site on Devon Island (Nunavut, Canada), showing historical occupation by the seabirds and an ancient human (Thule or Norse) settlement over an ∼1100 yr time period. Coprostanol in the sediment records captures the presence of humans at ca. 1150 CE, followed by their abandonment of the site by ca. 1300 CE. Increased seabird presence at this site after ca.1200 CE is indicated by increases in δ15N and cholesterol/sitosterol. Seabird population expansion is observed after ca. 1600 CE in δ15N and cholesterol/sitosterol profiles, coinciding with European whaling activities that expanded in the seventeenth through nineteenth centuries. Our study provides insights into human and seabird occupation in the High Arctic to inform archaeological and conservation efforts.

Art and Research: A Portrait of a Humanities Faculty as an Inclusive Workspace

At a time when monuments are falling, learning processes and discourses accelerating, it seems apposite to pay attention also to artworks commissioned by established institutions in order to give form to good intentions. This essay focuses on a commissioned portrait of female professors, on art (history) education, Dutch art policy / politics and the former colonial (VOC) site that the University of Amsterdam occupies, in order to aide this institution’s desired process to become more inclusive. It proposes Art(istic) Research as a realm that can contribute a differentiated and thoughtful positioning of research and universities in visual and public domains: a necessary ally. Since the essay was written in Summer 2019 (with later additions), much has happened: the Faculty in question has been found to be the locus of ongoing sexual harassment. The student victims did not feel that the (internal) complaints procedures were safeguarding them sufficiently. They went to the media. The university’s ombudsperson asked to investigate found no systemic deficiencies. Since George Floyd’s death, such a conclusion is no longer possible, and the Board of the university has admitted shameful and systemic failures.[1] We now know better what “systemic” means. This essay’s case study is meant to show that art (history) and philosophy can jointly analyze systems and organizations as a basis for necessary conversations, followed by a broad range of people taking responsibility and acting accordingly. In Covid lock-down times, it became deceptively obvious how unimportant art is. Through an essay such as this (and the Faculty’s “art committee” that I established), it is hopefully also evident how art can be an indicator of institutional culture: e.g. in relation to how embedded the principle to consult specialists is, even if this seems to be unimportant. And that is a matter of life and death. [1] https://www.folia.nl/actueel/138876/fred-weerman-en-geert-ten-dam-dit-is-ongehoord-beschamend

Distribution and Abundance of Double-crested Cormorants Nesting in the Interior of California, 2009–2012

As part of an 11-state inventory, we censused the Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus) in the interior of California from 2009 to 2012, using a combination of aerial, ground, and boat surveys. An estimated 8791 pairs breeding in the interior of the state in 2009–2012 exceeded the 7170 pairs estimated in 1998–1999. In both periods, cormorants were breeding in 9 of 11 ecoregions, but three-fourths were at one site—Mullet Island at the Salton Sea in the Sonoran Desert ecoregion (abandoned in 2014). The ecoregions with the next highest proportions were the Sacramento Valley, San Joaquin Valley, and Modoc Plateau. The apparent increase in numbers and colony sites since 1999—consistent with the pattern through much of western North America—reflects the (short-lived) increase in numbers at the Salton Sea, an increasing number of colonies and breeding pairs in the Central Valley, and slightly better coverage on the recent surveys. Because of practical survey constraints and limited data to date, evidence of change in numbers of Doublecrested Cormorants breeding in the interior of California between 1998–1999 and 2009–2012 is inconclusive. Plans for monitoring will need to take into account the effects of substantial annual variation in numbers, which may be associated with large fluctuations in cormorants’ prey base, short-term cycles of drought and flood, shifts of nesting cormorants into or out of the interior of California, and the expectation of greater environmental fluctuations with continuing climate change. The factors most likely to limit the number of cormorants breeding in the interior of the state are habitat loss or alteration (particularly from reallocation of water for human needs), disease, human disturbance, and the long-term effects of climate change.

The secret life of Fairy Terns: breeding chronology and life history observations of Sternula nereis nereis in south-western Australia

This research describes the breeding ecology, behaviour and substrate preferences of the Australian Fairy Tern, Sternula nereis nereis, in four colonies around Perth, Western Australia between 2018 and 2020. Extensive field observations, supported by a bird banding study and sunrise to sunset video recording were used at colony and roosting sites to determine the processes of mating, colony formation, egg-laying and incubation periods, post-hatching care and breeding success (fledglings per pair). At a colony in North Fremantle, the median nest spacing was 0.71m (mean± s.e.= 0.89±0.05m), which increased over time. Birds establishing nests within a week of the first eggs being laid selected sites with significantly higher percentage beach shell cover (73.5±4.5%) than those laying later in the season (58.2±7.9%) and on average, birds selected sites with higher shell cover (64.9±2.8%, n=114) than a random sample of sites within the colony (53.7±4.4%, n=44). Incubation periods ranged from 17 to 26 days (n=86, mean=21±0.17 days). Incubation shift duration was highly variable, with both sexes contributing, almost equally to the care of the brood (mean=1.27±6.11h). Chicks fledged 21–23 (mean=22±0.21, n=10) days following hatching, with all banded juveniles leaving the colony site within 8 days of fledgling. The information gained from this research helps inform conservation strategies for this vulnerable species, where management interventions are frequently necessary to prevent population decline.

Identifying metallurgical practices at a colonial silver refinery in Puno, Peru, using portable X-Ray fluorescence spectroscopy (pXRF)

This study presents the results of in situ portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) analyses of surface soils at the site of Trapiche Itapalluni, a Spanish colonial silver refinery located 15 km southwest of Puno, Peru in the western Lake Titicaca Basin (4000 masl). Although the benefits of pXRF analysis are well known, such as its wide availability and rapid, non-destructive nature, there has been little applicability of this technique at colonial metallurgical sites in the high-altitude Andes. The results of our analysis confirmed the introduction of the patio process technique of silver refining from Mexico to the Puno Bay, and further clarified areas of intense metallurgical production, including local Andean adaptations. This study highlights the advantages of in situ pXRF analysis of surface soils at industrial archaeology sites, especially in marginal and high-altitude environments such as the southern Andes.

Spatial and Temporal Changes in Nesting Behavior by Black Skimmers (Rynchops niger) in New Jersey, USA, from 1976-2019

Sea level rise from anthropogenic climate change threatens waterbird species worldwide. In New Jersey, USA, one such waterbird, the Black Skimmer (Rynchops niger), uses both salt marsh islands and beaches for nesting colony sites. Both habitats vary in flood risk, with salt marsh islands typically being more vulnerable especially in the face of sea level rise. Given that sea level has increased in the mid-Atlantic region over the past four decades, we hypothesized that Black Skimmers have shifted their colonies from salt marshes to beaches, and that this change has led to an increase in coexistence with Least Terns (Sternula antillarum). We analyzed 44 years of seabird population census data from New Jersey and found that the probability that a Black Skimmer colony was located on a salt marsh island, as opposed to a beach, significantly declined over the survey period. Additionally, the probability of coexistence with Least Terns significantly increased. Such climate change driven population shifts of endangered species may have significant consequences for their conservation in human modified systems where habitat is already limiting.

Dialects in the alarm calls of black- tailed prairie dogs (Cynomys ludovicianus): A case of cultural diffusion?

Prairie dogs (Cynomys spp.) produce an alarm call when a predator appears. Gunnison’s prairie dogs (Cynomys gunnisoni) produce calls that vary in spectral structure according to predator type and specific characteristics unique to the individual predator, such as color and shape. These calls vary depending on geographic location and have been characterized as dialects. Black-tailed prairie dogs (Cynomys ludovicianus) also encode information about terrestrial predators in their alarm calls. However, nothing is known about whether there are dialects in these alarm calls, and if so, why these dialects might have arisen. We studied the alarm calls and habitat characteristics of eight different black-tailed prairie dog colonies within the Southwestern USA: Maxwell National Wildlife Refuge, NM, Vermejo Park Ranch, NM, Kiowa National Grasslands, NM, Rita Blanca National Grasslands, TX, and Comanche National Grasslands, CO. An analysis of time and frequency changes in alarm calls showed that colony sites that were located within 30 km each other did not have significant differences in alarm call structure, but sites that were more distant were significantly different from the other sites, consistent with the existence of dialects as well as with genetic models of isolation by distance. The acoustic structure of the alarm calls was not explained by differences in habitat characteristics at each site. A comparison of Squared Euclidian Distances (D2) of alarm calls versus linear distances between sites showed a significant positive correlation, implying that alarm call dialect differences increase the farther one site is from another. This relationship is consistent with a cultural diffusion model of dialects, and is similar to that observed in human dialects.

Сучасний стан популяції бабака степового (Marmota bobak) у Стрільцівському степу (схід України)

The Striltsivskyi Steppe Nature Reserve (with a total area of 522 hectares) was created in 1948 to preserve the steppe marmot population; however, according to the population state studies carried out in the course of the reserve operation, a decrease in the marmot population has been established. This article is aimed to provide current data related to the marmot population monitoring results. The author established the number of colonies as well as adult and this year’s individuals inhabiting the nature reserve territory in 2020. The author explored the structure of each colony’s site and studied their area, shape and number of permanent and temporary burrows to analyze the state of the population. Only a quarter of all colony sites located in the territory of the reserve can be characterized as permanent ones. According to the author, despite a slight increase in the number of colony sites in the northern part of the Kreydyanyi Ravine and slopes towards the Cherepakha River, the entire population tends to decline. A high level of age structure misbalance and pronounced population fragmentation are observed, which are more evident in the left-hand slope in the northern part of the Kreydyanyi Ravine and in the vicinity of the Zapovidna Balka, which characterizes the population state as unstable. Changes in the vegetation cover are the principal reasons for these processes: increased area occupied by bushes, high grass stand, dry grass residues and predators (foxes and domesticated dogs). It is possible to forecast that the number of steppe marmot will continue to fall due to the current state of the vegetation cover state and absence of large grazers. The state of colony sites improves in the territories of with cattle grazing and haymaking. The state of colony sites and number of individuals in the colonies improved to a certain degree in the slopes towards the Cherepakha River where cattle grazing was carried out. As many as four colonies were found there in 2018 while their number reached ten in 2020. Exclusively reserve status under the current steppe conditions without large grazers will fail to improve the marmot population. The author suggests carrying out such actions aimed to prevent the decrease in the number of marmot population in the nature reserve territory as introducing cattle grazing, haymaking in the territories of colony sites, removing high grass near permanent burrows and conducting ecology awareness-building campaigns among the local population to prevent illegal hunting.

Creating a conservation network: Restoration of the critically endangered Chinese crested tern using social attraction

Social attraction techniques have been demonstrated effective in restoring seabird breeding colonies, especially colonies of terns (Subfamily: Sterninae). The Chinese crested tern (Thalasseus bernsteini) is a critically endangered seabird with a global population of about 100 breeding adults and a breeding range restricted to the East China Sea and the Yellow Sea. In order to restore a breeding colony of Chinese crested terns in an archipelago where a former colony had been abandoned, social attraction (decoys and audio playback systems) was deployed on a small, uninhabited island with no history of seabird nesting. The objective was to establish a breeding colony of greater crested terns (T. bergii), a closely-related common species, in the hope that Chinese crested terns would follow. Thousands of greater crested terns and at least 19 Chinese crested terns colonized the island during the first breeding season after deployment of social attraction. After three years of successful breeding, the colony was abruptly abandoned early in the fourth breeding season because of invasive king rat snakes (Elaphe carinata), which consumed all tern eggs. Following removal of all snakes from the colony, terns resumed nesting the subsequent year. Recovery of this critically endangered seabird depends on repeating this process at multiple islands. Careful planning, in conjunction with habitat management, close colony monitoring, and deployment of social attraction, can establish a conservation network of suitable, secure colony sites where most breeding adults can reproduce successfully. This approach can be used to restore a variety of declining seabird species along the Chinese coastline.

GPS TRACKING OF THE FORAGING MOVEMENTS OF OILBIRDS (STEATORNIS CARIPENSIS) FROM THE DUNSTON CAVE AT ASA WRIGHT NATURE CENTRE, TRINIDAD

The ranging behaviors of the Oilbird (Steatornis caripensis) in Trinidad are not well defined and are required to better outline fu- ture conservation management parameters for this species. Due to the nocturnal foraging behaviors of the Oilbird, past observations were restricted to colony site observations, video recordings, and limited electronic tracking over short periods. Utilizing newly developed small- scale Global Positioning System (GPS) data loggers, we were able to determine the flight and foraging behaviors of two oilbirds that roost at the Asa Wright Nature Centre for up to 270 days. The use of backpack style GPS tracking devices provided high site resolution and accuracy of the movements and a better understanding of the annual foraging behaviors of the oilbirds in the Asa Wright Nature Centre colony. The oilbirds’ home range was determined to be 3,564.6 km2, with an average trip distance from Dunston Cave of 7.33 km, excluding an interme- diary migration point in Venezuela. 48.5% of the foraging area consisted of locations within the Northern Range, while 27.7% of these trips remained within the Arima Valley, which is only partially protected from quarrying activities. This data document the previously unknown patterns of habitat use of the Oilbird and serves as a pilot study to determine the conservation importance of those habitats for the develop- ment of long-term conservation action plans for these iconic birds.

Guinea Pigs in the Spanish Colonial Andes: Culinary and Ritual Transformations

Following Spanish colonization, the food and symbolic roles of domesticated guinea pigs (Cavia porcellus) changed depending on geographic setting and the ethnic composition of inhabitants. I draw on archaeology, ethnohistory, historical imagery, and historical studies to explore how Spanish social perceptions regarding edible food animals and the human body altered the culinary and ritual uses of guinea pigs after the conquest. Zooarchaeological data from Spanish colonial sites in Peru and Bolivia document differential use of guinea pigs depending on site function and who lived there. Contemporary European artistic representations show how people transformed guinea pigs into pets.

Sustainable development of heritage conservation and tourism: A Hong Kong case study on colonial heritage

AbstractThis paper uses primary economic concepts to discuss, with reference to Hong Kong colonial heritage sites, the possible, but not deterministic, convivial, and antagonistic relationships between heritage conservation and heritage tourism as economic activities recognized by the state. Depending on the level of use, the enabling institutional framework and mechanism, and the mindset of stakeholders, both activities can be mutually exclusive, compatible, interdependent, or codeveloping. Absence of institutional support, notwithstanding government grading, tends to result in a trade‐off with an increase in ordinary tourists. While conservation, through signaling, can promote tourism, a certain degree of sustained tourism input is required to promote conservation not just in terms of funding but also in terms of actual conservation. Whether or not heritage conservation and tourism are complementary goods or, better still, able to codevelop depends on the institutional design.

Status Assessment and Population Trends of the Madagascar Pond-Heron (Ardeola idae) from 1993-2016

The Madagascar Pond-heron (Ardeola idae) is a migratory species that breeds exclusively in Madagascar and nearby islands (Europa, Aldabra and Mayotte). Changes in the population of this species were investigated over the last 23 years through literature reviews, field monitoring, and surveys undertaken from 1993 to 2016. Data from 111 sites were collected and analyzed for population assessment, including 11 known breeding sites in Madagascar (n = 6), Mayotte (n = 4), and Europa (n = 1). Trend analyses were done with surveys from 1993-2016 (omitting 1996) and population estimates from the last 5 years of surveys, 2012-2016. The species occurred in all types of wetlands including lakes, ponds, marshes, rivers, mangroves, pasture wet meadow, and rice fields. During the non-breeding season (May-September), many pond-herons migrate to eastern and central Africa; however, some birds (911 records) remained in Madagascar and Mayotte during austral winter. Data show the current population estimated at ∼1100 breeding birds in the total breeding area. The population has declined significantly, with 41.6% and 52.9% declines, respectively, at the two colony sites in Tsimbazaza and Tsarasaotra parks with the longest history of breeding. Main threats to the species are habitat destruction, collection of eggs and fledglings, predation, and human disturbance at all breeding sites.

A multi-isotope, multi-tissue study of colonial origins and diet in New Zealand.

Colonial period New Zealand was lauded as a land of plenty, where colonists could improve their station in life and secure a future for their families. Our understanding of colonial experience, however, is often shaped by historical records which communicate a state-sponsored version of history. This study aims to reconstruct the lives of settlers using isotopic evidence from the colonial skeletons themselves. We use skeletal remains from recently excavated colonial sites in Otago (South Island, New Zealand) to illustrate the information that can be gleaned from the isotopic analysis of individuals. We use 87 Sr/86 Sr to identify European settlers, and δ13 C and δ15 N from collagen and hair keratin, as well as dental enamel carbonate δ13 C to trace dietary change over their life-courses. Strontium isotope analysis shows that all adults in our sample are non-local. Dietary isotopes show that while most individuals had relatively consistent childhood diet, one individual with more rural origins likely had seasonal use of resources during childhood. While some members of the population seem to have increased their meat intake in the new colony most do not have clear evidence for this. We show the diversity of human experience in first-generation New Zealanders both prior to emigration and in the new colony. Despite colonial propaganda claiming that circumstances in New Zealand were improved for all settlers, we have little evidence for this, aside from among individuals of potentially high status.