ALBERT

Description: We studied the energetics of incubating Great Cormorants Phalacrocorax carbo carbo via heart rate and respirometric measurements performed in captive and free-living animals. We applied a modified heart beat frequency (HR) monitor built for use in human athletics as well as respirometry for measurements in four captive-bred cormorants at Neumuenster Zoo, Germany. The obtained data were used to model the relationship between HR and metabolic rate (MR). The resulting correlations were MR (W kg-0.723) = 4.76 + 0.01HR (bpm) during daytime and MR (W kg-0.723) = 2.33 + 0.03HR (bpm) at night. Furthermore, the heart beat frequencies of 5 free-living, incubating cormorants at the Chausey Islands, France, were measured acoustically using artificial eggs while the activities at the nest were observed via video. HR-MR models established in the captive animals were used to determine the activity-dependent energy expenditure in these free-living cormorants. The Median MR was 5.08 W kg-0.723 at night, 6.06 W kg-0.723 while resting and sleeping during daytime, 6.20 W kg-0.723 during preening, gular flutter and unrest and 6.47 W kg-0.723 during nest building. In resting birds we found a nocturnal reduction in the energy expenditure of 16 %. Our method for measurement of heart beat frequency appears promising as a technique for determination of HR with minimal restraint to the animal

Description: The northeastern region off Taiwan exhibits a high marine diversity favoured by the influence of northern and subtropical water masses driven by the East China Sea Water and the Kuroshio current (KC), respectively. A total of 87 species of copepods representing 36 genera were identified in present study. Calanoida was the most dominant order, while Temora turbinata (Dana, 1849), Paracalanus parvus (Claus, 1863) and Ditrichocorycaeus affinis (McMurrich, 1916) appeared as most dominant species. However, we noticed the unusual presence of the copepod Calanoides philippinensis Kitou & Tanaka, 1969 in concurrence with the dominant influence of KC, which suggests a larger intrusion of South China Sea (SCS) waters into the northeast Taiwan region. C. philippinensis is an exclusive species of the warm subtropical Pacific waters. Its presence in the northern Taiwan region may reflect a larger intrusion of warm SCS waters. We therefore suggest its potential use as a bioindicator of southern, tropical waters in the northern Taiwan area.

Description: In Legal Regimes for Environmental Protection the editors offer important new insights into the legal questions on tackling climate change and the legal instruments available to address maritime environmental problems

Description: While Lesser Black-backed Gull Larus graellsii numbers increase substantially at the German North Sea coast since the late 1980s, Herring Gull Larus argentatus numbers have been roughly stable since the mid-1980s. In order to investigate whether a different ecology might explain the current trends, we studied diet, colony attendance, reproductive output and aggressive behaviour in a mixed-colony on Amrum, southeastern North Sea, in 1994 and 1995. During incubation Lesser Black-backed Gulls fed mainly upon crustaceans and molluscs which were taken from the intertidal zone. During chick-rearing, they took mainly crustaceans and fish which were gathered mostly as trawler discards. The main food of Herring Gulls throughout the reproductive season were molluscs and crustaceans which were obtained from the intertidal zone. Numbers of Lesser Black-backed Gulls in the colony mainly varied with season and time of day, those of Herring Gulls with tide and season. Numbers of Herring Gulls commuting to the open sea roughly equalled those commuting to the Wadden Sea. Lesser Black-backed Gulls generally flew to the open sea but hardly towards the Wadden Sea. Nest attendance was significantly higher in Lesser Black-backed Gulls than in Herring Gulls during the chick-rearing period. Hatching success and fledging success tended to be higher in Lesser Black-backed Gulls. Lesser Black-backed Gulls won interspecific aggressive interactions significantly more often than Herring Gulls in the chick-rearing period. Our study indicates that Lesser Black-backed Gulls currently enjoy a few ecological advantages compared with Herring Gulls, particularly because they feed on food of apparently higher quality. We conclude that Lesser Black-backed Gulls have filled an empty niche rather than have out-competed Herring Gulls during the past decades

Description: Two methods for determining the movement of birds are discussed; Global Location Sensing (determination of position by consideration of day length and local timing of mid-day) and dead reckoning (calculation of routes by vectors). These are examined for their utility over a number of scales. Work conducted on penguins demonstrates that, although global location sensing is not subject to drift errors, its temporal and spatial resolution makes the system only applicable for large scale movements over at least tens of km. Dead reckoning, however, can be used over scales ranging from tens of kilometres to centimetres. Positions derived from dead reckoning are relatively more accurate the closer they are in time and distance to each other although drift over time can be problematic. The high temporal and spatial resolution of dead reckoning means that animal decisions leading to their movements can be determined and this is examined for penguins over a scales ranging from tens of kilometres to metres. Future work is likely to concentrate on small scale movements in 3 dimensions which, to date, cannot be resolved with other systems

Description: Despite prolonged and obligate biparental care for a single offspring in the Australasian gannet Morus serrator, several reproductive behaviours are presumed to be sex specific and might indicate sexual dimorphism in mating and parental effort in this broadly monomorphic seabird. For instance, the delivery of seaweed as a nesting material has been typically considered a male specific trait. We assessed this assumption and determined whether the potential role of this behaviour is to serve as a nuptial trait preceeding copulation or to impart a thermal benefit for incubation. First, as predicted, all arriving individuals at the colony that mated following seaweed delivery assumed the top copulatory position, which is consistent with male behaviour in this species. In comparison, the likelihood of birds without seaweed copulating in top position upon arrival at the nest site was approx. 50%, indicating an even mix of the sexes. However, the sex of those individuals in our sample that did not copulate during our observations remains unresolved. Second, seaweed delivery was not related to copulation following arrival, as individuals arriving with seaweed in our sample had a lower probability of mating than did individuals arriving without seaweed. Third, to determine if seaweed provides thermoregulatory benefits to alleviate the physiological costs of incubation, the foot temperatures of incubating and non-incubating individuals and temperatures of nests with or without seaweed were recorded. Temperatures of the foot-webbings during incubation were significantly higher above ambient temperatures than those of non-incubating gannets at the colony. Nests that contained seaweed were significantly warmer at sunrise than those without seaweed. There was no consistent difference between the temperatures of nesting material in the evenings alone, with a large variance of evening nest temperatures. These correlative data are consistent with male specificity and thermoregulatory benefits associated with seaweed delivery in M. serrator, implying that further experimental work on known-sexed birds should focus on physiological benefits and reproductive consequences of seaweed delivery in this species

Description: Thirteen essentially (holo)pelagic species of Mysidacea (Lophogastrida and Mysida), plus five benthopelagic species were taken with vertical plankton hauls (mostly 1000-0 m depth) and by examining the stomach contents of benthopelagic fish (from 550-700 m) in restricted areas of the NE Atlantic Ocean. The families Gnathophausiidae, Lophogastridae, and Eucopiidae are each represented by two species, the Mysidae by 12 species. A first description of the previously unknown male and a supplementary description of the female are given for Longithorax alicei, so far known only from the Canary archipelago. First records for the northern hemisphere are given for two South Atlantic species, Boreomysis bispinosa from the Cape Verde archipelago and Katerythrops resimora from the Canary Islands. Additional new records for the Canary Islands are Gnathophausia zoea, Lophogaster spinosus, and Longithorax nouveli. Among the 12 species of Mysidae examined, ten showed statoliths mineralized with fluorite (CaF), while two Boreomysis species showed comparatively soft, non-mineralized statoliths. Most of the 29 pelagic species so far known from the Selvagens, the Canary, and the Cape Verde Islands belong to the circumtropical deep-water fauna. The local pelagic fauna shows no particular correspondence with that in the Mediterranean, because the two areas have almost nothing but ubiquitous species in common. By contrast, ten benthopelagic species so far recorded from pelagic (plankton) samples off the Canary Islands are endemic in the eastern Atlantic, in most cases including the Mediterranean