Electric infrastructure poses a significant threat at congregation sites of the globally threatened Steppe Eagle Aquila nipalensis in Saudi Arabia

Summary Saudi Arabia is the fastest growing electricity consumer in the Middle East, with a rapidly expanding network of powerlines. Bird mortality through electrocution and collision has been recorded in the country, but so far there is little information as to how much the electricity infrastructure affects globally threatened raptor populations that migrate to Saudi Arabia. In 2019, the world’s largest wintering congregation of Steppe Eagles Aquila nipalensis was discovered near a rubbish dump in central Saudi Arabia. We evaluated whether powerlines in the vicinity of this, and another congregation site, caused mortality of large birds. In November 2019, we surveyed powerlines within 6 km of two focal rubbish dumps at Al Qunfudhah (12.4 km) and Ushaiqer (2 km). We found 52 carcasses of five species, of which 85% were Steppe Eagles. Based on the age of these carcasses, we coarsely extrapolate that 14.4 km of powerlines near these two congregation sites may kill 94–240 Steppe Eagles per winter, representing up to 0.3% of their global population. We call for the urgent safeguarding of powerlines that cause mortality near known Steppe Eagle congregation sites, and the adoption and implementation of regulations that ensure that future infrastructure is constructed with designs that are safe for birds.

Three variants of an old tale. About the dream and reality of Emperor Asa

The paper deals with three similar tales - Of too much Pride, the story about Emperor Jovinian from Gesta Romanorum (Oesterley, 1872), The Story of Tsar Aggey and how he Suf?fered for Pride (Afanasev, Narodnye russkie legendy, 1859), and Asa The Emperor (Danicic, Three Old Tales, 1872). The story about Emperor Asa, the third king of the Kingdom of Judah (2 Chronicles 14-16), is preserved in only one Serbian-Slavonic manuscript from the end of the 16th century (now in The Patriarchal Library of the Serbian Orthodox Church, No. 167). Its main motif is the atonement of sin (Emperor?s deletion of three verses written by a woman from the holy books). In three days of punishment he will find himself in the alternative reality (of the dream), on a rubbish dump, dressed in rags, uncertain who he actually is. At the end of his ?waking dream? enlightened Asa will solemnize the Providence of God. The aim of this research is to establish some important literary aspects of shaping Asa?s character.

Development of a settlement on the northeastern promontory at 'Marea'

The ancient topography of the settlement on the northeastern promontory at ‘Marea’ (North Hawariya) was the subject of investigations carried out at the site in 2018 within the frame of a broader excavation project. Fieldwork established the date of some structures recognized along an ancient road. The oldest remains turned out to be from the Roman period, when the promontory became a rubbish dump for production waste, mostly sherds of Amphores égyptienne 3 and 4, from the nearby pottery kilns. Two superimposed occupation levels were recognised, the earlier one from the beginning of the 3rd century AD or later, the later one from the 5th–6th century. The buildings followed a regular grid that fits into the overall plan of the town. The research has resulted in a better understanding of the changes occurring in this part of ‘Marea’.

DISSEMINATION OF WASTE DANGERS TO ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH IN ANGGADITA VILLAGE

The danger of rubbish dump on health is an important thing for residents who live around the Citarum watershed, especially Anggadita Village. In this Community Service, it provides an understanding of the dangers of rubbish dump for health and how to maintain health in the surrounding environment. Barriers are still being experienced from the existence of the community to be caring and aware to maintain health and not to hoard or litter. How to overcome problems that occur in the partner community as described, the Community Partnership Program offers several methods of approach that can help in solving existing problems, Dissemination of the danger of waste dumps on environmental health, Dissemination of ways to protect environmental health, Dissemination of ways to protect environmental health and Assistance to the trainees.

Facepoeia: The Author Becoming a Photographic Subject. The Example of Tadeusz Różewicz

This paper reflects on the visual practices involving the circulation of portraits of authors in their publications, and in public sphere. The photographic portrait of the author interjects the belief that the presence of the author through and in the image familiarizes and intensifies its subject’s presence and declares the author’s identity. As a visual paratext, a portrait becomes an autobiographical space of self-invention and self-construction. I wish to illustrate these processes by focusing on Tadeusz Różewicz’s 1921–2014 complex ways of accessing visibility and manners of “fixing” his identity in the collaborative work he produced with the photographer Adam Hawałej under the title Rubbish Dump 2015.

More massive but potentially less healthy: black vultures feeding in rubbish dumps differed in clinical and biochemical parameters with wild feeding birds

Background Organic waste is one of the most important anthropogenic food subsidies used by different species. However, there is little information about the health impact that rubbish dumps produce on species foraging in these sites. Methods We studied the effect that rubbish dumps produce on the health of a scavenging bird from the Americas, the black vulture (Coragyps atratus). We sampled and studied clinical and biochemical parameters in 94 adult black vultures from two different sites in North Western Patagonia, a rubbish dump and the wild steppe. Results We found differences in clinical and biochemical parameters between sites. Body mass was greater in individuals from the dump, whereas in the steppe there were more individuals clinically dehydrated. Biochemical parameters such as uric acid, calcium, alkaline phosphatase, glycaemia, globulins and haematocrit had higher values in individuals using the dump than in individuals from the steppe. Other biochemical parameters such as aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase, creatine phosphokinase and urea were higher in individuals from the steppe than in individuals from the dump. Discussion Foraging in organic waste could be considered beneficial for black vultures because they increase body mass and parameters associated to nutritional status like calcium and haematocrit. However, foraging in dumps can also affect their health status due to nutritional problems, potential kidney damage or infections that are signalled by the higher values of glycaemia, uric acid and globulins found in individuals from the dump. Our results highlight the contrasting effects that rubbish dumps may produce on wildlife health. They are relevant to different species using these sites, and are also an additional instrument for managing waste.

Beads and pendants from the Hellenistic to Early Byzantine Red Sea port of Berenike, Egypt, Season 2014 and 2015

Almost 650 beads and pendants, most of them of glass and faience, were excavated over two seasons in 2014 and 2015 at Berenike on the Red Sea coast of Egypt. This material, coming from 19 trenches variously located within the Hellenistic to early Byzantine site, has contributed some new data, enhancing the Berenike bead typology. Highlights included a Bes pendant of glass from a Hellenistic context and early Roman mosaic glass beads with face patterns. Other materials of which the ornaments were made included marine mollusk shells, ostrich eggshell, and a variety of stone and minerals. Of greatest interest were beads coming from early Roman graves, of an older man (the order of the threaded beads could be traced) and of animals (neck collars). Beads threaded on fragments of string, most probably of Indo-Pacific make, came from the early Roman rubbish dump.

No short-term effect of closing a rubbish dump on reproductive parameters of an Egyptian Vulture population in Turkey

SummaryChanges in food availability that lead to lower reproductive output or lower survival probability are important drivers of the widespread declines in vulture populations. Permanent feeding stations for scavengers, such as vulture restaurants or rubbish dumps, may have both positive and negative effects on reproductive parameters. Here we examine the effects of the closure of a large communal rubbish dump on breeding success and fledging rate of a dense population of the ’Endangered’ Egyptian Vulture Neophron percnopterus in central Turkey to assess whether the closure may have affected the population. We monitored territories from 2011 to 2016, and tested whether the closure of the rubbish dump in early 2015 coincided with changes in reproductive parameters while accounting for confounding variables such as weather and the availability of other predictable foraging opportunities. We found an average productivity of 0.78 fledglings per territorial pair before the dump closed and 0.82 after the closure, an average breeding success of 0.64 before and 0.71 after the closure, and an average fledging rate of 1.17 fledglings per successful pair before and 1.26 after the closure of the rubbish dump. Once confounding variables were accounted for, the closure of the rubbish dump did not have a significant effect on reproductive parameters (P = 0.426 for nest survival and P = 0.786 for fledging rate). We speculate that the Egyptian Vulture population in central Turkey may have sufficient alternative food sources and high levels of intra-specific competition due to its density, so that the closure of the rubbish dump may not have resulted in detectable positive or negative effects. We recommend the maintenance of small traditional animal husbandry farms and disposal practices that mimic the spatio-temporally unpredictable supply of food sources that appears to be most beneficial for avian scavengers.