Set a thief to catch a thief: brown-necked raven (Corvus ruficollis) cooperatively kleptoparasitize Egyptian vulture (Neophron percnopterus)

Our study describes how brown-necked ravens (Corvus ruficollis) are able to take advantage of an ordinarily inaccessible, high-quality food source by relying upon their innovative and manipulative thinking capabilities to exploit methods used by Egyptian vulture (Neophron percnopterus) to overcome the problem. In five observed interactions, the ravens were first seen in the vicinity of an abandoned clutch of ostrich eggs (Struthio camelus). The area was frequented by a pair of Egyptian vultures that bred on the cliffs across the road from the nature reserve. The Egyptian vulture exhibits tool use in birds, and is able to crack the hard shells of ostrich eggs by lifting a rock in the beak and pounding at the egg till it breaks open or cracks. If the egg is only cracked, the vulture inserts its narrow bill into the fissure and widens it by opening the mandibles. Pieces of eggshell are removed from around the crack in order to further open the egg. This is the point at which the pair of ravens attacked the vulture and harassed it till it abandoned the egg and left the area. The ravens then jointly enjoyed the contents of the egg which was otherwise inaccessible to them because of the strong egg shell.     

The impact of the Almalyk Industrial Complex on soil chemical and biological properties

The effect of heavy metals on soil free-living nematodes, microbial biomass (C mic) and basal respiration (BR) was studied along a 15 km downwind deposition gradient, originating at the Almalyk Industrial Complex. Soil samples from 0-10 and 10-20 cm layers were collected at 5 km intervals. A significant decrease in heavy metal deposition was found going from the source in the downwind direction and with depth. The soil microbial biomass, basal respiration and derived microbial indices for soil samples from the Almalyk industrial area were analysed. The lowest soil microbial biomass and total number of free-living nematodes were found in soil samples near the industrial complex, with a high heavy metal and weak total organic carbon (C org) content. The highest C mic was found in the soil samples collected 15 km from the pollution source. BR displayed similar results. The derived indices, metabolic quotient (qCO2) and microbial ratio (C mic/C org), revealed significant differences with distance, confirming environmental stress in the first and second locations. The present study elucidates the importance of soil nematode and microbial populations as suitable tools for bio-monitoring the effect of heavy metals on soil systems.     

Differential sex- and age-related migration of Bluethroats Luscinia svecica at Eilat, Israel

This paper examines the phenology and biometrics of Bluethroats staging in the Eilat region. This is of special interest because of the extreme conditions with which this temperate zone breeding species has to contend because Eilat is a desert habitat and is the last green area before the crossing of the deserts in autumn or after it in spring. Data were collected during 20 spring and 18 autumn migration seasons in the years 1984–2003, and a total of 7,464 Bluethroat were recorded. The number of trapped birds was much higher in autumn than in spring. The majority of Bluethroats caught in both the autumn and spring migrations were juveniles. We found differences in sex ratio in the individual age classes only in the autumn wherein among both adults and juveniles, males were in greater numbers. We also found significant differences in the dates of ringed birds from different sex–age classes in the spring and in autumn migrations. In spring, males from both age classes were caught earlier than females. In autumn, adult birds arrived earlier than juveniles. We think that it is important to identify and conserve the high quality stopover habitats such as Eilat wherein not only Bluethroats have been shown to stopover but also several hundred other species.     

论精神分析批评及其缺陷

精神分析批评作为一种文学批评方法,可以用于解释作者的创作动机和研究文学文本。简要梳理精神分析批评的理论渊源,分析其对文学研究的影响,指出其缺陷,旨在帮助文艺批评者更好、更有效地运用于文学批评。     

A New Conceptual Framework for Sustainable Development

A critical review of the multidisciplinary literature on sustainable development reveals a lack of a comprehensive theoretical framework for understanding sustainable development and its complexities. A critical review shows that the definitions of sustainable development are vague; there is a lack of operative definitions and disagreement over what should be sustained; the concept is unclear in terms of emotional commitment; and it “remains a confused topic”, “fraught with contradictions”. This article aims to theoretically synthesize the interdisciplinary literature on sustainable development, and then identify the results by broad categories. Therefore, this article uses conceptual analysis, which reviews multidisciplinary literature on sustainable development, which recognizes patterns and similarities within the literature, then it synthesizes the patterns to different categories and independent concepts, where each concept has distinctive meanings and represents close ideas on sustainability. The analytical process elaborates seven concepts that together assemble the theoretical framework of ‘sustainable development’ and each concept represents distinctive meanings of the theoretical framework.