scholarly journals The Ringing Site In Jericho (Palestine) – Development Of Bird Migration And Parasitological Research On The Great Rift Valley Flyway

Ring ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-63 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Awad ◽  
Izabella Rząd ◽  
Przemysław Busse

ABSTRACT A new research project near Jericho in the Jordan Valley (Palestine) was launched on 10 September 2013, work continued until October 23rd 2013. Standard ornithological work and bird ringing work was conducted using mist nets situated in an oasis type habitat of Wadi Qelt surrounded by palm plantations. The field methods followed the SEEN (SE European Bird Migration Network) standards that include apart from ringing of captured birds, also several measurements (wing length, tail length, wing formula) and scores (fat load and body mass), as well as the studies on the directional preferences of migrants using round, flat orientation cages. Ornithological research was enhanced by parasitological studies analysing migratory birds (hosts) - helminths relations during migration period of the former. This was a part of complex studies covering the Middle East and north African ringing sites. Altogether 481 individuals of birds representing 59 species were ringed and about 50 were retrapped. The most interesting was relatively high share of Masked and Red-backed shrikes as well as good number of birds of local species as Dead Sea Sparrows and introduced Indian Silverbills.

Ring ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Awad ◽  
Izabella Rząd

Abstract Work begun in autumn 2013 at a research ringing site near Jericho in the Jordan Valley (Palestine) was continued in spring 2014 (8 March–18 April). Due to a flood, the area was much changed in relation to the autumn habitat distribution. Standard ornithological and ringing work was performed using mist nets. The methods used were in accordance with SEEN (SE European Bird Migration Network) standards, and apart from ringing included some measurements (wing length, tail length, wing formula) and scores (fat determination and body mass), as well as testing of the directional preferences of migrants. The ornithological work was expanded to include parasitological testing, taking into account migrant-helminth relations during migration. Altogether 508 birds from 44 species were ringed and inspected for external signs of infection by Collyriclum faba trematodes (subcutaneous cysts), and an additional 32 dead individuals were collected and dissected. Altogether 168 internal parasites were found. The most common migrants in spring were Lesser Whitethroat Sylvia curruca, Blackcap Sylvia atricapilla and Olivaceous Warbler Hippolais pallida, while the autumn dominants–Masked and Red-backed shrikes (Lanius nubicus and L. collurio) were scarce. In spring a good number of Dead Sea Sparrows Passer moabiticus were caught, but only two introduced Indian Silverbills Lonchura malabarica.


Minerals ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (5) ◽  
pp. 82 ◽  
Author(s):  
Khalil Ibrahim ◽  
Issa Makhlouf ◽  
Ali El Naqah ◽  
Sana’ Al-Thawabteh

2020 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 249-267 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cornelia Wilske ◽  
Axel Suckow ◽  
Ulf Mallast ◽  
Christiane Meier ◽  
Silke Merchel ◽  
...  

Abstract. Despite being the main drinking water resource for over 5 million people, the water balance of the Eastern Mountain Aquifer system on the western side of the Dead Sea is poorly understood. The regional aquifer consists of fractured and karstified limestone – aquifers of Cretaceous age, and it can be separated into a Cenomanian aquifer (upper aquifer) and Albian aquifer (lower aquifer). Both aquifers are exposed along the mountain ridge around Jerusalem, which is the main recharge area. From here, the recharged groundwater flows in a highly karstified aquifer system towards the east and discharges in springs in the lower Jordan Valley and Dead Sea region. We investigated the Eastern Mountain Aquifer system for groundwater flow, groundwater age and potential mixtures, and groundwater recharge. We combined 36Cl ∕ Cl, tritium, and the anthropogenic gases SF6, CFC-12 (chlorofluorocarbon) and CFC-11, while using CFC-113 as “dating” tracers to estimate the young water components inside the Eastern Mountain Aquifer system. By application of lumped parameter models, we verified young groundwater components from the last 10 to 30 years and an admixture of a groundwater component older than about 70 years. Concentrations of nitrate, simazine (pesticide), acesulfame K (ACE-K; artificial sweetener) and naproxen (NAP; drug) in the groundwater were further indications of infiltration during the last 30 years. The combination of multiple environmental tracers and lumped parameter modelling helped to understand the groundwater age distribution and to estimate recharge despite scarce data in this very complex hydrogeological setting. Our groundwater recharge rates support groundwater management of this politically difficult area and can be used to inform and calibrate ongoing groundwater flow models.


Author(s):  
Rachel D. Brown

The subject of Muslim integration has been the focus of much policy development, media engagement, and everyday conversation in France. Because of the strong rhetoric about national identity—a national identity based on Republican ideals of universalism, equality, and French secularism (laïcité)—the question often becomes, “Can Muslims, as Muslims, integrate into French society and ‘be’ French?” In other contexts (e.g., the United States), religion may act as an aid in immigrants’ integration. In Europe, and France specifically, religion is viewed as an absolute hindrance to integration. Because of this, and thanks to a specific migration history of Muslims to France, the colonial grounding for the development of French nationality and secularism, and the French assimilationist model of integration, Muslims are often viewed as, at best, not able to integrate and, at worst, not willing to integrate into French society. The socioeconomic inequality between Muslim and non-Muslim French (as represented by life in the banlieues [suburbs]), the continued labeling of second- and third-generation North African Muslim youth as “immigrants,” the occurrence of terrorist attacks and radicalization on European soil, and the use of religious symbols (whether the head scarf or religious food practices) as symbols of intentional difference all add to the perception that Muslims are, and should be, the subject of integration efforts in France. While the discourse is often that Muslims have failed to integrate into French society through an acceptance and enactment of French values and policies, new research is suggesting that the “failed” integration of Muslims reveals a deeper failure of French Republican universalism, equality, and secularism.


Zootaxa ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 4415 (2) ◽  
pp. 297 ◽  
Author(s):  
ANDREAS MÜLLER

Hoplosmia, a subgenus of the osmiine bee genus Osmia (Megachilidae), comprises 21 species restricted to the Palaearctic region. Analysis of female pollen loads and field observations indicate that probably all O. (Hoplosmia) species are specialized on Asteraceae except for one pollen generalist species, which exhibits a preference for the pollen of Cistaceae. Among the Asteraceae specialists, differences exist with respect to the three main Asteraceae subfamilies exploited for pollen, with some species exclusively visiting Carduoideae, others exploiting only Asteroideae and Cichorioideae and again others collecting pollen on Asteroideae, Carduoideae and Cichorioideae. All O. (Hoplosmia) species build their brood cells within preexisting cavities: several species exclusively nest in empty snail shells, few species use small cavities in rock and stones and the remaining species colonize linear cavities in dead wood and plant stems or nest in abandoned burrows of other bees and wasps. Chewed leaves serve as material to construct brood cell partitions and nest plug except for two species, which use mud as nest building material. The taxonomic revision of O. (Hoplosmia) revealed the existence of an undescribed species, O. centaureae spec. nov., which occurs in a small area that ranges from the Dead Sea over the Jordan Valley to northernmost Israel. Due to clear morphological gaps and widely disjunct distribution with the nominotypical subspecies, O. pinguis carbo (Zanden 1974) is elevated to species rank. Based on morphology and biology, three species groups are recognized within Hoplosmia. Identification keys for all O. (Hoplosmia) species are given including the hitherto unknown male or female sex of three species. 


2016 ◽  
Vol 43 (6) ◽  
pp. 2494-2501 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yariv Hamiel ◽  
Oksana Piatibratova ◽  
Yaakov Mizrahi

2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 92-100
Author(s):  
O. R. Druzyaka ◽  
A. V. Druzyaka ◽  
M. A. Gulyaeva ◽  
F. Huettmann ◽  
A. M. Shestopalov

Aim. The circulation and transmission of pathogens is a global biological phenomenon that is closely associated with bird migration. This analysis was carried out with  the aim of understanding and assessing the prospects of using the stable isotope  method to study the circulation and transmission of the avian influenza A virus via  migratory birds. Discussion. Insufficient data on the distances of migration of infected birds and their  interpopulational relationships leaves open the question of the transmission of highly pathogenic influenza viruses (HSV) in the wild bird population. A deeper study of  the role of migrations in the spread of HSV may possibly allow the more effective  investigation of the transmission of the viral pathogen between individuals at migration stopover sites and the clarification of global migration routes. New methodological approaches are providing a more complete picture of the geography and phenology of migrations, as well as of the consequences of migratory behavior for species biology. The study of the quantitative component of migratory flows based on  the analysis of the content of stable isotopes (SIMS) in bird tissues seems very promising. This method is being applied to the solution of various environmental issues,  including the study of animal migrations.   Conclusion. Based on data from the scientific literature, it is shown that SIMS is  promising for the clarification of bird migration routes and the quantification of their  intensity. The resolving power of the method is sufficient to determine the migration  pathways of carriers of viral pathogens on the scale of zoogeographic subdomains  and in even further detail. However, to date, there have been few such studies: in  Russia they have not been conducted at all. The increased use of the SIMS methodology may possibly reveal new ways in which viral infections are spread via birds.  


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document