Song Richness Index: A measure to understand the diversity and repetition of notes in a birdsong

Birdsong plays an important role in mate attraction and territorial defense. Many birds, especially Passerines, produce varying sequences of multiple notes resulting in complex songs. Studying the diversity of notes within these songs can give insights into an individuals reproductive fitness. We first looked at the previously described and commonly used diversity measures to understand the possible case-specific limitations. We then developed a new diversity measure- Song Richness Index (SRI). We compared SRI with three measures of diversity using all possible combinations of notes to understand the case-specific advantages and limitations of all approaches. Simulating all possible combinations gave us insights into how each diversity measure works in a real scenario. SRI showed an advantage over conventional measures of diversity like Note Diversity Index (NDI), Shannons Equitability (SH), and Simpsons Diversity (SI), especially in the cases where songs are made up of only one type of repetitive note.

Behavior, ecology and territory of the chestnut-bellied hummingbird, Saucerottia castaneiventris, in the xerophytic vegetation of the Chicamocha canyon of Colombia

The Chestnut-bellied Hummingbird Saucerottia castaneiventris is an endemic hummingbird of Colombia, currently categorized as Near Threatened (NT) globally and as Vulnerable (VU) in Colombia. We characterize the territorial defense and foraging behaviors of S. castaneiventris hummingbird during different seasons of the year, and we determined the size of the S. castaneiventris territory and its relationship with floral abundance at different times of the year. We made four field trips between 2008 and 2009 and registered 19 individuals from S. castaneiventris. Of these, 10 were in the rainy periods, distributed in five territories (one male and one female for each). Eight were in the dry period (July), distributed in four territories. And one individual was in the dry period of February, which did not settle in any of the identified territories. Territorial defense occupied a large part of species’ time. The nectar drinking, and insect hunting were the most frequent activities. The most common floral resources were Opuntia dillenii, Tillandsia sp. and Aloe vera. The hummingbirds Chlorostilbon gibsoni and Doryfera ludoviciae shared habitats with S. castaneiventris and there were fluctuations in encounter rates between the seasons (C. gibsoni ER: 20–7.5 and D. ludoviciae and ER: 0.0–2.5). Territories ranged between 1800 and 3800 m2 for the dry season and between 1500 and 6500 m2 for the rainy season. Our results provided primary information on the ecology of S. castaneiventris and form the basis for the formulation of conservation strategies for the species and for its habitats..

Slovenian Territorial Defense in the Ten-Day War

In 1991, the process of disintegration of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia began. The former Socialist Republics of Croatia and Slovenia were the first to announce their secession from the Federation in the last days of June. To restore the constitutional order, units of the Armed Forces of the SFR of Yugoslavia were sent to Slovenia, which faced the armed resistance of the Slovenian Territorial Defense (TO RS or TOS). In the Ten-Day War, the Federal troops, despite their numerical and technical advantage, suffered a defeat in the confrontation with the TOS subunits. Decisive for the success of Slovenian actions turned out to be the right choice of method of operation, knowledge of the combat environment, as well as high morale and support provided by the civilian population. The example of the Ten-Day War, an analysis of its course, shows that with the appropriate use of the TOS forces, they can conduct an effective fight against operational troops and be a fully-fledged component of the Armed Forces.

Military Territorial Defense as a guarantor of local security

Nowadays, one can observe a return to the tradition of territorial defense. This can be seen directly in the Territorial Defense Forces created in Poland. Their idea and ratio legis boils down to the need for the Polish state to have OT soldiers who, in the event of a threat of a military nature, will be trained to support the activity of operational troops and to help the civilian population. The relevance of this formation is the fact that it is the fifth (next to armed forces: land, air, sea and special forces) type of the Polish Armed Forces. This article is an attempt to briefly characterize the WOT role in creating local security standards, because the organizational structure of this formation (as well as its functioning) is strongly correlated with the administrative territorial division of the state. The study, in addition, describes the history of the WOT formation and also indicates the stages of its formation and (as a curiosity) the WOT concepts that were not implemented. This treatment is not only supposed to complement the study, but it is also needed to assess the validity (or not) of the form in which the WOT currently operates.

A Review: Caring Practices of Songbird, Red-Whiskered Bulbul (Pycnonotus jocosus)

Pycnonotus jocosus is known as red-whiskered bulbul or known by local Malaysian as songbird or burung candik. Burung candik is one of the favourite pet birds’. Generally, it comes from Bangladesh, southern China, India, Nepal, north Peninsular Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam (Animal Pest Alert: Red-whiskered Bulbul). Burung candik is favoured because of their ability in singing in east-coast region of Malaysia specifically. In this research, the caring practices are observed. All the result were recorded and documented through interview and experiment research. The caring practices concerned are housing and cage, bathing and grooming, singing feature and diet and feeding. The results showed that one cage equipped with one bird for comfort and to avoid fighting. The birds were needed to be bathed once in a week at least according to the bird’s willingness. General singing functions are to attract the mate and territorial defense. Feed given were insects, fruits and pellet.

Singing strategies are linked to perch use on foraging territories in heart-nosed bats

Acoustic communication allows animals to coordinate and optimize resource utilization in space. Cardioderma cor, the heart-nosed bat, is one of the few species of bats known to sing during nighttime foraging. Previous research found that heart-nosed bats react aggressively to song playback, supporting the territorial defense hypothesis of singing in this species. By tracking 14 individuals nightly during the dry seasons in Tanzania we further investigated the territorial defense hypothesis from an ecological standpoint, which predicts singing should be associated with exclusive areas containing a resource. We quantified the singing behavior of individuals at all perches used throughout the night. Using home range analysis tools, we quantified overall use night ranges and singing ranges, as well as areas used in early and later time periods at night. Males engaged in antiphonal singing from small (x̄ = 3.48 ± 2.71 ha), largely exclusive areas that overlapped with overall night ranges used for gleaning prey. Individuals varied in singing effort; however, all sang significantly more as night progressed. Subsequently, areas used earlier at night and overall use areas were both larger than singing areas. Individuals varied in singing strategies. Some males sang for long periods in particular trees and had smaller core areas, while others moved frequently among singing trees. The most prolific singers used more perches overall. The results support the hypothesis that acoustic communication repertoires evolved in support of stable foraging territory advertisement and defense in some bats.

Repolitizar la vida, defender los cuerpos-territorios y colectivizar las acciones desde los feminismos indígenas

The collective actions of indigenous women for territorial defense against extractivisms, have made the bodies-territories, knowledges and emotions visible, which implies a political position that responds to diverse ontologies and epistemologies around being and feeling with and in the territory. Bodies-territories that imply relationships embedded and embodied in collective processes among humans and non-humans and relationships of reciprocity and mutual spiritual affectation and networks. They are collectivities in «acuerpamiento» that arise from indigenous feminisms and act against environmental and territorial injustices, and against violence such as femicides, ecocides and epistemicides. Indigenous feminisms contribute to the conceptual and methodological rethinking in social sciences of the political, the spatial and the collective, based on their fluidity and relationality, which seek to transform capitalism based on the defense of life.

Consultation in Ecuador: Institutional Fragility and Participation in National Extractive Policy

An analysis of five lawsuits against the infringement of the rights to participation illustrates that effective compliance with free prior and informed consultation and popular consultation on extractive projects in Ecuador is compromised by state institutional fragility. While suits on the rights to participation have served as strategies to halt extractive projects that lack prior consultation, extractive activities continue to present great risks to territorial defense and the good-living agenda. Un análisis de cinco demandas contra la violación del derecho a la participación ilustra que el cumplimiento efectivo de la consulta previa, libre e informada y la consulta popular sobre proyectos extractivos en Ecuador se ha visto comprometido por la fragilidad institucional del Estado. Si bien las demandas en torno a los derechos de participación han servido como estrategias para detener los proyectos extractivos que carecen de consulta previa, las actividades extractivas siguen presentando grandes riesgos para la defensa territorial y la agenda del buen vivir.

Use of Territorial Defense Forces (TDF) in combat operations

The Territorial Defense Forces’ combat operations carried out for the benefit of the operational troops will create a hardly permeable network of resistance points (defense zones), which will allow slowing down and ultimately stopping the enemy. However, to perform this task, the TDF operation principles and features when organizing the fight should be borne in mind. Apart from that, they must organize their effective system of reconnaissance, anti-landing, and anti-diversion activities, both in their offensive and protective-defensive forms. They will organize resistance points (defense zones) in specific combat environments as for network defense activities. In the first stage of the defense operation, they will take part in cover operations.