Suchergebnisse

In natural conditions, Griffon Vultures typically show shy behaviour and escape by flying if approached by humans. According to the state-dependent foraging theory, Griffon Vultures should modify their foraging behaviour depending on food availability and predation risk, humans being the main potential predator. We tested the Reaction Time (RT) and Flight Initiation Distance (FID) in five different artificial feeding schemes over three years in which food availability in the field varied significantly. The first scenario was set in a so-called "vulture restaurant", in which government employees feed vultures that may exhibit tame behaviour and stay within a few meters from a feeding person. Scenario 2 involved similar conditions, but here the researchers not employees placed the food in the vulture restaurant. The vultures did not land at the restaurant until one day had passed, and they flew away when people approached them within 250 m. The third scenario was established in a local zoo several months after the closure of the vulture restaurant. Here, employees fed captive vultures that were often accompanied by wild birds that landed to take food. The RT was 14.2 min and the FID was 50 m. The fourth scenario was established during the subsequent breeding season in a mountain where vultures were fed by the authors of the present study. The RT was 2.8 min and the FID was 15.2 m. The fifth scenario was established in another mountain after the breeding season. Now, the RT was 19.2 min and the FID was 52.2 m. These results demonstrate the ability of vultures to evaluate the predation risk depending on food availability and their state of hunger, and their ability to modify their behaviour from "natural" caution ("shyness") towards a more tolerant ("fearless") behaviour. ; Peer reviewed

We analyse the reply by Suárez et al. (2003) to our previous paper (Martínez et al., 2003), concluding that both reached the same general conclusion. The low quality of studies and evaluations of environmental impact assessment on birds is mostly due to a lack of interest and political will for using the information available and for detecting and solving relevant gaps in our knowledge. For this reason, the regulation of the Environmental Impact Assessment of projects is not applied efficiently in Spain. We also conclude that the disagreements between both papers refer mostly to details on (1) the relevance of gaps in basic information, (2) methods for using such information and (3) proposals to improve the quality of studies and evaluations. There are gaps in basic information, but a proper use of available sources which are seldom used would improve significantly studies and evaluations in the short term. Such sources are scientific papers on the biology of bird species and reports on the results of monitoring programs of the efficiency of correction measures of previous impacts. Increasing the scientific skills of technicians would improve the efficient use of these sources of information. Finally, the development of a variety of methods for the control of the quality of studies and evaluations, as well as of some regulations seldom used such as Territory Planning and Strategic Environmental Assessment, would further contribute to solve its general low quality. ; Peer Reviewed

The human body is host to a large number of microorganisms which conform the human microbiota, that is known to play an important role in health and disease. Although most of the microorganisms that coexist with us are located in the gut, microbial cells present in other locations (like skin, respiratory tract, genitourinary tract, and the vaginal zone in women) also play a significant role regulating host health. The fact that there are different kinds of microbiota in different body areas does not mean they are independent. It is plausible that connection exist, and different studies have shown that the microbiota present in different zones of the human body has the capability of communicating through secondary metabolites. In this sense, dysbiosis in one body compartment may negatively affect distal areas and contribute to the development of diseases. Accordingly, it could be hypothesized that the whole set of microbial cells that inhabit the human body form a system, and the dialogue between the different host microbiotas may be a contributing factor for the susceptibility to developing diseased states. For this reason, the present review aims to integrate the available literature on the relationship between the different human microbiotas and understand how changes in the microbiota in one body region can influence other microbiota communities in a bidirectional process. The findings suggest that the different microbiotas may act in a coordinated way to decisively influence human well-being. This new integrative paradigm opens new insights in the microbiota field of research and its relationship with human health that should be taken into account in future studies. ; A.V. has been granted by the predoctoral grant provided by the European Union's H2020 research and innovation programme under Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No801586. (Campus Iberus/UPNA).