Researches on Türkoğlu Gavur Lake in Kahramanmaraş-Turkey and some projections from past to future

Gavur Lake, takes place on the Saghk Plain in the south of Turkoglu subprovince in Kahramanmaras, was one of the most important places, that was available in the past time, south of our homeland. Gavur Lake represents the northest point of the bird immigration route that extends to Victoria Lake in Africa together with Emen and Amik Lakes dried locate on more south. Gavur Lake had been dried because of the some reasons those were being the marsh inn time by without oxygen cycle and emerging the situation of the microorganisms those were big threat for human health and to provide land in 1950's for the people of immigrants in Turkoglu. Presently, the big part of the Gavur Lake has dried. Drying activities are continuing. Whereas, Gavur Lake have all the conditions of the Ramsar Accord. With the improving of the Turkoglu reed bed the local people will earn more money by tourism than agricultural. Otherwise, the future of the Gavur Lake is going to be like Amik Lake.     

The bird species of Kumasir lake (Kahramanmaras-Turkey) and a view of environmental ethics on sustainable wetland management

Kumasir lake is located next to towns of Donuklu and Fatih, nine km west of Kahramanmaras city center the region of east Mediterranean, Turkey This lake is of crucial importance from the point of native and immigrant birds. We located 17 birdspecies in this area during our observations carried out in the spring and autumn of 2005-2006. These were Ciconia ciconia L., Anas platyrhynchos L., Accipiter nisus L., Accipiter brevipes L., Fulica atra L., Columba palumbus L., Merops apiaster L., Upupa epops L., Alauda arvensis L., Motacilla flava L., Turdus merula L., Acrocephalus scirpaceus L., Regulus regulus L., Garrulus glandarius L., Corvus corax L., Fringilla coelebs L., Hirundo rustica L.. Among observed 17 species; 6 of them were immigrant and remaining 11 of them were native birds. Kumasir lake is surrounded by wetland of Amik and Gavur lake. Since it was greatly dried, it was transformed to farmland. Consequently the birds lost most of theirnests and settlements. However not taken in the care of environmental ethic values, the wastewaters of the villages drain to lake reservoir; herbicides and insecticides used for agriculture are polluting the water reeds have been burned, the lake's reeds are getting dry by the irrigation for the farmland. So, the wetland ecosystem is being affected negatively by these factors. On the other hand, the birds are exposed to illegal and unlawful hunting. For this reasons, this lake must be taken into a management regime of sustainable wetland (protection profiting balance) and used techniques of participation planning via the process of sustainable natural resources and planning.     

Bright plumage in the magpie: does it increase or reduce the risk of predation?

Conspicuous color patterns in birds may lead to increased risk of predation. Alternatively, bright birds may be aposematic or unprofitable prey, which leads to decreased predation. During four autumns, I examined whether the black-and-white plumage of (stuffed) magpies Pica pica increases or reduces the risk of attack by migrating goshawks Accipiter gentilis. Attack risk was higher for normal magpies than for cryptic, brown magpies whether the mounts were placed near one another or far apart. However, the brown magpie may have been avoided because of its novelty. For magpies and cryptic jays Garrulus glandarius exposed together, the attack risk was similar. In 2 years, magpie and jay mounts were also exposed far apart. In 1994, with an invasion of migrating jays, attack risk was much higher for jays than for magpies. In 1995, with a normal density of jays, hawks attacked the magpies more often. The results demonstrate frequency-dependent prey selection by goshawks, which would influence any predation cost of bright plumage. The attacks on normally colored magpie mounts suggest that magpies are not aposematic. Trials with photographs and human observers indicated that normal magpies were somewhat easier to detect than jays. The plumage of the magpie possibly increases the risk of predation, but may be favoured by sexual or social selection. Received: 18 January 1996 / Accepted after revision: 6 October 1996     

Sulfur isotopes link overwinter habitat use and breeding condition in Double-crested Cormorants.

North American Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus) populations have increased greatly. Both breeding and overwintering ground factors have likely contributed to these increases. However, demonstrating how overwintering conditions may affect breeding birds has not been possible because of the difficulty in linking breeding birds to their wintering grounds. Here, we demonstrate the utility of stable sulfur isotopes to elucidate overwintering habitat use by cormorants breeding on Lake Erie. Sulfur isotopes in feathers grown on overwintering grounds provided insights into the degree to which birds used freshwater vs. marine environments. The proportion of birds utilizing freshwater habitats increased through time. This change may have reflected increases in freshwater aquaculture (i.e., catfish) in the U.S. south. Examination of body condition in birds returning to breed on Lake Erie indicated that those individuals that solely used marine habitats for at least a portion of the overwintering period were in poorer condition than birds using freshwater. Enhanced foraging opportunities at aquaculture facilities may improve the fitness of individuals that have returned to breed after overwintering at such locations. This study is the first to demonstrate a linkage between overwinter habitat use and breeding ground parameters in Double-crested Cormorants. These results underscore that factors throughout the Mississippi flyway are likely acting together to regulate cormorant populations.     

Is wind drift in migrating barnacle and brent geese, Branta leucopsis and Branta bernicla, adaptive or non-adaptive?

Whether migrating birds compensate for wind drift or not has been discussed frequently during the last decades. Observed behaviours seem to differ between species and situations. Even though complete compensation allows a bird to fly the shortest distance during its migration, this is not necessarily the optimal solution in all cases. There are certain situations when drifting with the wind, and thus getting higher groundspeed, will be more beneficial, i.e. adaptive drift. In this article, I analyse flight directions of spring migrating barnacle and brent geese, tracked by radar and optical range finder, and compare these with prevailing winds to see if these birds compensate or drift with the wind. I also use wind data from the days when the trackings were made to construct expected flight paths to see whether wind drift or compensation would be the most beneficial behaviour. The geese were found to drift partially with the wind. The drift effect was concluded to be true partial drift, i.e. not pseudodrift or drift forced by strong winds. The drift was not found to be of any obvious adaptive value, as the geese drifted irrespective of the strategy that would have been most beneficial to them. None of the situations in which drift is predicted to be adaptive was applicable to the birds and migration days in this study. A possible explanation for the observed pattern is that since these birds usually have access to favourable winds during their spring migration, selection pressures for adaptive drift or compensation behaviours might be weak.     

Detection of current and potential hazelnut plantation areas in Trabzon, North East Turkey using GIS and RS

Monitoring agricultural products requires the periodic determination of land cover and the production of land use policies in an optimum way. The hazelnut is one of the important Turkish agricultural exports and Turkey provides 77% of the world's hazelnuts. In Turkey, hazelnut production exceeds the demand; new regulations have been enacted to create new land use policies. By putting into practice regulations restricting hazelnut plantation areas, a more efficient and productive hazelnut harvest policy could be created. Therefore, more information on existing land cover is required to determine optimum (or ideal) potential hazelnut areas (PHA) and to forecast future crop production. The principle aim of this study is to create a methodology for determining existing PHA, using Geographic information system (GIS) and remote sensing (RS) techniques regarding to support hazelnut policy developers and economists. This study was basically carried out in the province of Trabzon, which is one of the most important hazelnut production areas in Turkey. Landsat ETM+ image was used to generate a current land cover classification. Using the supervised classification method, overall accuracy was determined to be 84.7%. Suitable hazelnut areas were determined according to criteria settled by government regulations.     

Effects of Climate and Land-Use Change on Species Abundance in a Central European Bird Community

Abstract:  Although it is known that changes in land use and climate have an impact on ecological communities, it is unclear which of these factors is currently most important. We sought to determine the influence of land-use and climate alteration on changes in the abundance of Central European birds. We examined the impact of these factors by contrasting abundance changes of birds of different breeding habitat, latitudinal distribution, and migratory behavior. We examined data from the semiquantitative Breeding Bird Atlas of Lake Constance, which borders Germany, Switzerland, and Austria. Changes in the regional abundance of the 159 coexisting bird species from 1980–1981 to 2000–2002 were influenced by all three factors. Farmland birds, species with northerly ranges, and long-distance migrants declined, and wetland birds and species with southerly ranges increased in abundance. A separate analysis of the two decades between 1980–1981 and 1990–1992 and between 1990–1992 and 2000–2002 showed that the impact of climate change increased significantly over time. Latitudinal distribution was not significant in the first decade and became the most significant predictor of abundance changes in the second decade. Although the spatial scale and temporal resolution of our study is limited, this is the first study that suggests that climate change has overtaken land-use modification in determining population trends of Central European birds.     

A multi-scale examination of stopover habitat use by birds

Most of our understanding of habitat use by migrating land birds comes from studies conducted at single, small spatial scales, which may overemphasize the importance of intrinsic habitat factors, such as food availability, in shaping migrant distributions. We believe that a multi-scale approach is essential to assess the influence of factors that control en route habitat use. We determined the relative importance of eight variables, each operating at a habitat-patch, landscape, or regional spatial scale, in explaining the differential use of hardwood forests by Nearctic-Neotropical land birds during migration. We estimated bird densities through transect surveys at sites near the Mississippi coast during spring and autumn migration within landscapes with variable amounts of hardwood forest cover. At a regional scale, migrant density increased with proximity to the coast, which was of moderate importance in explaining bird densities, probably due to constraints imposed on migrants when negotiating the Gulf of Mexico. The amount of hardwood forest cover at a landscape scale was positively correlated with arthropod abundance and had the greatest importance in explaining densities of all migrants, as a group, during spring, and of insectivorous migrants during autumn. Among landscape scales ranging from 500 m to 10 km radius, the densities of migrants were, on average, most strongly and positively related to the amount of hardwood forest cover within a 5 km radius. We suggest that hardwood forest cover at this scale may be an indicator of habitat quality that migrants use as a cue when landing at the end of a migratory flight. At the patch scale, direct measures of arthropod abundance and plant community composition were also important in explaining migrant densities, whereas habitat structure was of little importance. The relative amount of fleshy-fruited trees was positively related and was the most important variable explaining frugivorous migrant density during autumn. Although constraints extrinsic to habitat had a moderate role in explaining migrant distributions, our results are consistent with the view that food availability is the ultimate factor shaping the distributions of birds during stopover.     

Is there a different response to winds during migration between soaring and flapping raptors? An example with the Montagu’s harrier and the lesser kestrel

During migrations, birds have to cope with varying meteorological conditions, which shape their migratory routes and affect their performance. Amongst these, wind is the main meteorological agent influencing behaviour of birds in their migration journeys. Here we analyze the effect of winds during migrations of adult individuals of two raptor species tracked with satellite telemetry, the Montagu’s harrier (Circus pygargus) and the lesser kestrel (Falco naumanni). While harriers use mostly soaring flight, kestrels principally use flapping flight and thus, wind can differently affect these birds. We found that both forward and perpendicular winds significantly affected the movements of the Montagu’s harrier, which were drifted from their intended direction but also took advantage of tailwinds. On the contrary, lesser kestrels moved more regardless of forward winds, despite they were highly drifted by crosswinds. Our results also support that the drifting effect of winds at the onset of the spring migration may explain the loop migration observed for both species, with birds compensating later the effect of crosswinds to arrive to their breeding areas. Results presented here illustrate how winds can differently affect migrating birds according to their flight modes.     

Inspection of mob-calls as sources of predator information: response of migrant and resident birds in the Neotropics

Migrating animals face numerous mortality risks, such as novel predators with which they may not be accustomed. Most animals can recognize predators innately; however, additional predator information can be collected to enhance familiarity. Because migrating birds rarely participate in mobs, they may seek alternative information sources such as cues provided by other birds that can provide information on predator location, identity, and degree of threat. We predicted that Nearctic–Neotropical migrants (hereafter, “migrants”) would react to vocal antipredator cues (e.g., mob-calls) of species residing in areas through which they migrate. To test this, we conducted experiments in Belize during spring migration, using playbacks of mob-calls of black-capped chickadees (Poecile atricapillus) and blue-gray tanagers (Thraupis episcopus); tanagers are familiar to all birds in Belize; chickadees are novel to residents but familiar to migrants. This also allowed us to assess response to novel and out-of-context antipredator signals. Resident birds did not respond to novel chickadee mob-calls, but did respond to familiar tanager calls. Birds overwintering south of our study area, which were migrating during our study, responded most strongly to chickadee playbacks. Conversely, individuals of species that include our study area in their winter range did not respond to either playback. This is the first evidence that birds react to vocal antipredator cues during migration, which may be a strategy used by migrants to learn about predators. Although residents failed to recognize a foreign cue, migrating birds responded most strongly to the out-of-context chickadee cue, associated with breeding grounds >2,000 km northward. Electronic supplementary material  The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

Transoceanic bird migration: Evidence for detection of wind direction

Summary Further analysis of radar tracks of migrating birds over the Atlantic Ocean (Larkin et al., 1979) indicates that birds sometimes fly at lower air speeds when winds are in the direction of flight than in crosswinds or head winds. The birds are able to estimate wind direction over open ocean by a mechanism which is presently open to speculation.     

Differential timing of spring migration in northern wheatears Oenanthe oenanthe: hurried males or weak females?

In a field experiment on the island of Helgoland (southeast North Sea), we investigated whether migration strategy or competition between the sexes cause the differential timing of spring migration of male and female northern wheatears (Oenanthe oenanthe) (males migrating earlier). The study included two subspecies, heading towards Greenland/Iceland and Scandinavia, respectively, and is based on colour-ringing and remote weighing of individuals. Despite food offered ad libitum, most Scandinavian birds left the island on the day of arrival or stayed only 1–3 days, whereas more than half of Greenlandic/Icelandic birds stayed for up to 12 days and refuelled rapidly. In the latter subspecies, males showed a positive correlation of departure fuel load and fuel deposition rate, resembling time-minimizers in optimal migration theory. In contrast, females departed irrespective of fuel deposition rate, with an approximately constant level of fuel stores. This level was lower than in males, but sufficient to enable by-passing of stopover sites en route, allowing us to regard females as time-minimizers also. Since females are not able to reach Greenland without additional refuelling elsewhere and males appeared to have a larger potential for by-passing stopover sites, time-selection seems to be more pronounced in males and may be the reason for earlier migration of males. Intraspecific aggressive interactions between colour-ringed birds were predominantly won by the initiator, by males and by larger birds, whereas fuel load and subspecies did not affect the outcome. Although compared to females, males were more often dominant at the feeding stations or held territories, refuelling patterns could not be explained by dominance. Subordinate or non-territorial birds did not refuel at a lower rate or depart with lower fuel loads than dominant or territorial birds. In non-territorial birds, the restricted access to feeding stations was made up with larger doses of food taken per visit, leading to the same energy intake as that of dominant and territorial birds. Therefore, competition during stopover could be eliminated as the reason for differential timing of migration of male and female wheatears, but this result may be species-specific.Communicated by W. Wiltschko     

Residues of organochlorinated pesticides in eggs of water birds from Tai Lake in China

The levels of organochlorine compounds in eggs of water birds from the colony on Tai Lake in China were studied. The eggs were collected in 2000 and belonged to the following species: 65 samples of black-crowned night heron (Nycticorax nycticorax), 36 samples of little egret (Egretta garzetta), 26 samples of cattle egret (Bubulcus ibis) from 13 clutches and 43 samples of Chinese pond heron (Ardeola bacchus) from 17 clutches. Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) and its derivates (DDE and DDD), hexachlorocyclohexane (HCH) and its isomers (alpha-HCH, beta-HCH, gamma-HCH, delta-HCH), heptachlor, heptachlor epoxide, aldrin, dieldrin, endrin, endrin aldehyde, alpha-endosulfan, beta-endosulfan, and endosulfan sulfate were determined in the laboratory by gas chromatography. The data showed that DDE had the highest levels in all the samples, followed by beta-HCH. The mean levels of DDE among the water bird species were in the order as follows: black-crowned night heron (5464.26 ng/g, dry weight) > Chinese pond heron (2791.12 ng/g, dry weight) > little egret (1979.97 ng/g, dry weight) > cattle egret (660.11 ng/g, dry weight). DDT and its metabolites accounted for 90% of the total organochlorines, except that it was only 73% for cattle egret. The differences of the residue among the bird species were statistically significant and could be attributed to their variations in prey and habitat. Although the DDE burdens in Tai Lake were much lower than 8 microg/g (wet weight) which are thought to have significant adverse effects on black-crowned night herons, they would be expected to increase the risk of adverse effects on survival of chicks of herons and egrets, particularly black-crowned night heron, based on the critical value of 1 microg/g (wet weight) DDE. The burdens of HCHs in this study were higher and the cyclodienes were lower than those found elsewhere.     

Migratory fuelling in blackcaps (Sylvia atricapilla) under perceived risk of predation

It has been argued that the body mass levels achieved by birds are determined by the trade-off between risks of starvation and predation. Birds have also been found to reduce body mass in response to an increased predation risk. During migration, the need of extra fuel for flights is obvious and crucial. In this study, migratory blackcaps (Sylvia atricapilla) were subject to an experimental stopover situation where the predation risk was manipulated by exposure to a stuffed predator. Blackcaps that perceived an imminent risk of predation increased their food intake and fuel deposition rate during the first period of stopover compared with a control group. The pattern of night activity indicates that birds that were exposed to the predator also chose to leave earlier than birds in the control group. Since there was no cover present at the stopover site, birds might have perceived the risk of predation as higher regardless of whether they were foraging or not. Under such circumstances it has been predicted that birds should increase their foraging activity. The findings in this study clearly indicate that birds are able to adjust their stopover behaviour to perceived predation risk. Received: 8 January 1997 / Accepted after revision: 11 April 1997     

Climate change and sandy land development in Qinghai Lake Watershed, China

The Qinghai Lake Watershed, containing the largest saline lake in northwest of China, has suffered from severe sandy land development in recent years. This paper analyzes its daily precipitation, temperature, and wind from 1958 to 2001, and the spatial and temporal distributions of sandy land through the interpretation of remote sensing images covering four years (1977, 1987, 2000, and 2004). Results showed that since the middle of the 1960s, the daily precipitation (P) of 0<P?5 mm decreased, while the P>20 mm increased significantly (S<0.05) in their annual total amounts and days. The maximum daily precipitation also increased significantly. Both the maximum dry spell and the total dry spell of more than ten days had a significant upward trend. Since the beginning of the 1960s, all the extremely high, extremely low and mean temperatures increased significantly (S<0.01), at a rate of 0.1°C/10a, 0.2°C/10a, and 0.2°C/10a, respectively. The days with extremely high temperature had a significant upward trend, while the days with extremely low temperature had a significant downward trend. The Qinghai Lake was significantly shrinking (S<0.01) and provided abundant sediments for Aeolian erosion. The NNW wind prevailed in the watershed, and the largest scale wind was from the west and concentrated on the dry months. As a result, the sandy land was mainly born on the east bank of Qinghai Lake. The total sandy land area in the watershed had grown from 587.4 km², 660.7 km², 697.6 km² to 805.8 km², accordingly, its area percentage growing from 2.0%, 2.2%, 2.4% to 2.7%, respectively.     

Flight speeds observed with radar,a correction: slow “birds” are insects

Summary Based upon new data and re-analysis of previous data, some results concerning migration of birds at night are now attributed to insects. In particular, slowly flying radar targets over land (Larkin and Thompson 1980) and, by analogy, over the ocean (Larkin et al. 1979) are shown to lack wing beat patterns of birds and the appearance of birds when viewed with a radar-controlled high-power telescope and spotlamp. The insect targets overlap with birds in the amount of radar echo returned, are abundant in warmer months, and fly even in March and November in temperate North America. Other previous results are largely substantiated; however, a previous report (Larkin 1980) that migrating birds can detect the wind direction over the ocean is not substantiated.     

Influence of Landscape Scale on Farmland Birds Breeding in Semi-Natural Pastures

Abstract: Little attention has been paid to fragmentation effects on organisms living in open habitats in which species may have high mobility and generalized habitat use. We investigated landscape effects on 23 farmland bird species breeding in 72 semi-natural dry pastures distributed equally among three landscape types (agricultural-dominated, mosaic, and forest-dominated) in southcentral Sweden. There were generally higher local abundances of farmland birds in pastures located in agricultural-dominated and mosaic landscapes than in forest-dominated landscapes. Species feeding on a mixed diet as well as resident species and temperate migrants were most numerous in pastures located in agricultural-dominated landscapes and least numerous in forest-dominated landscapes. While controlling for the effects of local pasture area and vegetation structure, we found that the local abundance of 18 ( 78%) farmland bird species was significantly associated with the composition and structure of the surrounding landscape. The landscape distance that explained the largest part of local variation in abundance varied among species according to the size of their breeding territories or foraging home ranges. Our results suggest that habitat use of farmland birds breeding in pastures is affected both by suitable foraging habitats in the surrounding landscape and by nest sites within local pastures. Despite the generally higher abundances of farmland birds in pastures located in agricultural-dominated landscapes, most species of European and Swedish conservation concern had higher abundance in pastures located in more forested landscapes. Thus, the rapid loss of semi-natural dry pastures in forest-dominated landscapes is a serious threat to the future of these species in Sweden.     

The Impact of Variation in Stopover Habitat Quality on Migrant Rufous Hummingbirds

We examined the impact of variation in habitat quality on migrating Rufous Hummingbirds ( Selasphorus rufus ) in the California Sierra Nevada. As do other migratory species, these birds depend on "stopover" habitats en route for feeding and replenishing depleted energy stores. During seven years of study, the quality of the stopover habitat (assessed in terms of the density of nectar food resources) varied widely due to natural variation in flowering. In years when stopover habitat quality was poor, incoming body masses were low and stopover durations were long. Population densities of migrant hummingbirds at the study site were coupled to habitat quality both within and among years. These observations demonstrate important effects of stopover habitat variation on the physiological, behavioral, and population ecology of migrating hummingbirds. High-quality stopover habitats are critical links between breeding and wintering areas for many species, and their preservation should be considered an essential component of strategies aiming to conserve migratory bird populations.     

The air speed of migrating birds and its relationship to the wind

Summary This paper deals with the flight speeds of migrating birds observed by radar over a Swiss Alpine pass. The distributions of air speeds for different classes of birds and the influence of the wind on air speeds were investigated. Our findings differ greatly from observations of bird migration over the North Atlantic Ocean and the North American continent. Our data reveal: (1) that the air speeds of the bulk of migrating birds were in the range of 8–18 m/s and that the amount of slow flyers (air speed below 5 m/s) was less than 5%; (2) that there was an obvious influence of the wind on air speeds and, moreover, the data showed a distinctly variable compensatory behavior among different bird classes; (3) that the wind component in the direction of the bird's heading was a better predictor for air speed than the wind direction. Although we do not speculate about possibilities and mechanisms of wind detection, a simple argument shows how birds could estimate wind directions if they do use the moving surface as a reference system.     

无锡市水环境变化及其引发的地质灾害问题与对策

随着经济的快速发展，无锡市水环境质量发生了很大的变化。由于在太湖、五里湖等湖泊周围大规模围湖造田，水域生态环境和原有水系格局被破坏，五里湖、梅梁湖水质恶化，每10年下降一个等级，太湖水质总体上呈现富营养化状态。水环境变化在一定程度上导致了地面沉降的发生，有的地区地下水位呈加速下降的趋势，有的地区已出现多个地下水位降落漏斗，后者面积达220km^2。应该加快区域供水建设步伐，调整工业结构，加强对水资源的管理和调控。