This volume is targeted at theoretical physicists, mathematical physicists and mathematicians working on mathematical models for physical systems based on symmetry methods and in the field of Lie ...theory understood in the widest sense. It includes contributions on Lie theory, with two papers by the famous mathematician Kac (one paper with Bakalov), further papers by Aoki, Moens. Some other important contributions are in: field theory - Todorov, Grosse, Kreimer, Sokatchev, Gomez; string theory - Minwalla, Staudacher, Kostov; integrable systems - Belavin, Helminck, Ragoucy; quantum-mechanical and probabilistic systems - Goldin, Van der Jeugt, Leandre; quantum groups and related objects - Jakobsen, Arnaudon, Andruskiewitsch; and others.The proceedings have been selected for coverage in:* Index to Scientific & Technical Proceedings® (ISTP® / ISI Proceedings)* Index to Scientific & Technical Proceedings (ISTP CDROM version / ISI Proceedings)* CC Proceedings - Engineering & Physical Sciences
Disentangling individual-and population-level variation in migratory movements is necessary for understanding migration at the species level. However, very few studies have analyzed these patterns ...across large portions of species' distributions. We compiled a large telemetry dataset on the globally endangered Egyptian Vulture Neophron percnopterus (94 individuals, 188 completed migratory journeys), tracked across ∼70% of the species' global range, to analyze spatial and temporal variability of migratory movements within and among individuals and populations. We found high migratory connectivity at large spatial scales (i.e., different subpopulations showed little overlap in wintering areas), but very diffuse migratory connectivity within subpopulations, with wintering ranges up to 4,000 km apart for birds breeding in the same region and each subpopulation visiting up to 28 countries (44 in total). Additionally, Egyptian Vultures exhibited a high level of variability at the subpopulation level and flexibility at the individual level in basic migration parameters. Subpopulations differed significantly in travel distance and straightness of migratory movements, while differences in migration speed and duration differed as much between seasons and among individuals within subpopulations as between subpopulations. The total distances of the migrations completed by individuals from the Balkans and Caucasus were up to twice as long and less direct than those in Western Europe, and consequently were longer in duration, despite faster migration speeds. These differences appear to be largely attributable to more numerous and wider geographic barriers (water bodies) along the eastern flyway. We also found that adult spring migrations to Western Europe and the Balkans were longer and slower than fall migrations. We encourage further research to assess the underlying mechanisms for these differences and the extent to which environmental change could affect Egyptian Vulture movement ecology and population trends.
The Endangered Egyptian Vulture Neophron percnopterus congregates in communal roosts in the wintering areas and where food availability is high, where even a single threat might lead to substantial ...population declines. Thus, more research on the congregation sites is needed for timely detection of threats and effectively directed conservation measures. We studied bird numbers, use of roosting substrates and roosting habitat of wintering Egyptian Vultures in Ethiopia. Vultures were counted using the road-count technique in 2009, 2010 and 2013 along c. 600 km of roads in the Afar region. Over 1 000 individuals were counted each year and the sites with the highest congregations were identified. Nearly half of the birds were adults and the majority roosted on bird-safe types of electric pylons. Most of the Egyptian Vultures were found below 500 m above sea level, in bare areas, open savannas or grasslands, and their abundance was negatively related to the amount of cover of bush vegetation. The distribution of roosting birds was not affected by distance to human settlements. To avoid disasterous effects on the population of the Egyptian Vultures, we strongly recommend that the sites sheltering the highest numbers of roosting birds should be included in the Important Bird Area network, the use of poisons should be banned, and dangerous power lines should be insulated or substituted with safer types.
Avian scavengers are declining throughout the world, and are affected by a large number of threats such as poisoning, electrocution, collision with man-made structures, direct persecution, changes in ...agricultural practices, landscape composition, and sanitary regulations that can reduce food availability. To formulate effective conservation strategies, it is important to quantify which of these factors has the greatest influence on demographic parameters such as territory occupancy and breeding success, and whether quantitative models can be transferred across geographic regions and political boundaries. We collated territory and nest monitoring data of the endangered Egyptian Vulture
Neophron percnopterus
in the Balkans to understand the relative influence of various factors on population declines. We monitored occupancy in 87 different territories and breeding performance of 405 territory-monitoring years between 2003 and 2015, with an overall territory occupancy rate of 69% and a mean productivity of 0.80 fledglings per occupied territory. We examined which of 48 different environmental variables were most influential in explaining variation in territory occupancy and breeding success in Bulgaria and Greece, and tested whether these models were transferrable to the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. Territory occupancy and breeding success were affected by a wide range of environmental variables, each of which had a small effect that may not be the same across political boundaries. Both models had reasonably good discriminative ability area under the receiver-operated characteristic curve (AUC) for territory occupancy = 0.871, AUC for breeding success = 0.744, but were unsuccessful in predicting occupancy or breeding success in the external validation data set from a different country, possibly because the most influential factors vary geographically. Management focussing on a small number of environmental variables is unlikely to be effective in slowing the decline of Egyptian Vultures on the Balkan Peninsula. We recommend that in the short term the reduction of adult mortality through the enforcement of anti-poison laws, and in the long term the adoption of large-scale landscape conservation programs that retain or restore historical small-scale farming practices may benefit vultures and other biodiversity.
The European population of Black Kites of the nominate subspecies
Milvus migrans migrans
(Boddaert, 1783) is estimated at 81,200–109,000 pairs. The birds winter in Africa but their natal dispersal ...remains largely unstudied. Here, we analyze the behavior of 25 GPS-tracked Black Kites tagged from 2014 until 2018 using GPS/GSM telemetry devices from 16 nests in Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Germany and Slovakia. We calculated juvenile Black Kite post-fledging areas (PFA) using Kernel density estimations 95% (KDE95) and minimum convex polygons 95% (MCP95). Our results revealed that the average occupied PFA for juvenile birds was 2.8 km
2
(range 0.006–20.1 km
2
) as KDE95 and 0.3 km
2
(range 0.07–1.35 km
2
) as MCP95. Birds left PFA from 29 July to 30 August (median 12 August). Two main migration routes were used by tagged birds, namely a southwestern European route crossing the Strait of Gibraltar and a southeastern European route to Turkey and the Middle East. Migration routes which directly crossed the Mediterranean Sea to Africa from Italy and Greece were rarely used. Winter quarters were located in sub-Saharan Africa throughout the belt from Senegal and Gambia to Ethiopia. Four Black Kites remained to stay in tropical Africa during their first summer, seven birds moved north but to substantially lower altitudes (in Morocco, Spain and Turkey) then those in their natal areas. During the second year, Black Kites wintered again in the tropical part of sub-Saharan Africa, summer quarters were located north from the winter quarters, three birds stayed throughout the summer in Africa, three in south to central Europe, one in Turkey and one in northwestern Russia. One 3-year-old bird (fourth calendar year) attempted to nest but it was unsuccessful and occurred 15.6 km from the natal nest. Temporary settlement areas (TSA) were commonly used by Black Kites during migratory routes, winter and summer quarters. The average home range size of TSA was 233.8 km
2
(range 0.99–852 km
2
) as KDE95 and 140.2 km
2
(range 0.1–1054 km
2
) as MCP95. As usual, siblings used the same migratory routes and also shared the same winter and summer quarters. Our findings suggest that the genetic background of the migration behavior of Black Kites is strong.
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