MigrationsMigrationsCells, birds, and musings from a biologist 
Articles
Climate Change May Mean Longer Migrations
2009-04-15 11:08:00 a href=”http://www.independent.co.uk/ environment/nature/tiny-warbler-at-risk-f rom-longer-african-migration-1668847.html ”>Tiny warbler at risk from longer African migration, as European breeding ranges shift northwards: They are some of the world’s most remarkable and improbable journeys ? vast odysseys across desert, mountain and sea by creatures often no bigger than a Mars bar. But the annual flights of Europe’s migratory birds to and from sub-Saharan Africa ... More About: Climate Change , Climate , Change
Warblers on Limesticks
2009-04-11 13:28:00 Today’s birdwatching outing was a productive one, with 10 new year birds added to the list. However, there was one big negative: finding limesticks (sticky glue on sticks for trapping birds, which are later served as an illegal delicacy called ambelopoulia). Stavros and I found four limesticks set, two with birds already caught. We freed ... More About: Conservation , Cyprus , Birding
Primer on Biological Diversity
2009-04-09 10:50:00 Mo from Neurophilosophy shared this directory of free primers on a wide variety of topics in the journal Current Biology. I took special note of the primer on Biological Diversity , and liked it so much, I chose to offer it here on Migrations (below the fold)… “Biological diversity,” Current Biology - 22 February 2005 (Vol. 15, ...
Quote of the Day
2009-04-08 11:10:00 The colleagues and successors of Darwin and Wallace have now been at it for more than a century and a quarter, and throughout most of that effort biogeography has been their paramount tool. The patterns of species distribution have provided clues about the ways in which species originate, change, and diverge, and the question how? ... More About: Evolution , Quote Of The Day , Quote
A Social Contract
2009-04-07 08:22:00 Seeing as blogging is slow for me lately, here’s a relatively timeless old blog entry of mine for re-posting. Enjoy Following my Habits of Mind post, a reader suggested an article titled Winning Greater Influence for Science for further reading. It’s quite a good read, focusing on the lost influence of scientists in the public ... More About: Politics , Social , Contract
Birdwatching Ethics
2009-04-03 14:39:00 The March newsletter for BirdLife Cyprus has a “Code of Practice” (based on one developed by British bird conservation groups and birdwatching magazines) that bears repeating: A growing number of people enjoy birdwatching in Cyprus ? this code puts the interests of birds first and respects the countryside and other people, whether or not they are interested in ... More About: Ethics , Birding
2 Carnivals and a Diary
2009-04-02 11:40:00 While this week has been slow for bird and science blogging, here are a few links. First, the 10th Carnival of Evolution is up at The Oyster’s Garter. Second, the 97th I and the Bird is up at The Greatest Auk. And third, I took the liberty to start a Daily Kos diary. First post: an introduction, ... More About: Diary , Carnivals
Gratuitous Image of Lepidopteran Diversity
2009-03-31 09:33:00 Image from The Bordalier Institute More About: Diversity , Biophilia , Image
Earth Hour 2009
2009-03-28 07:30:00 At 8:30pm tonight (March 28) your local time, turn out your lights for Earth Hour 2009. Your light switch is your symbolic vote for action on global warming. This year, Earth Hour has been transformed into the world?s first global election, between Earth and global warming. For the first time in history, people of all ages, nationalities, ... More About: Climate Change
Cypriot Acceptance of Evolution
2009-03-26 08:42:00 This isn’t a new statistic - it was originally published in August 2006 in Science magazine. Most people in the States recall it for showing just how low the public’s acceptance of evolution in the United States is compared with Europe (it’s pretty low). But take note where Cyprus is on that list. Cyprus just beat ... More About: Education , Evolution , Acceptance
Migratory Birds served in Cypriot Restaurants
2009-03-24 13:32:00 a href=”http://www.birdlife.org/news/ news/2009/03/cyprus.html”>BirdLife International - “It is an unacceptable toll and a depressing trend, which ever way you look at it”, said Martin Hellicar, Executive Manager at Birdlife Cyprus . BirdLife Cyprus have been systematically monitoring illegal trapping with mist nets and limesticks since 2002, with the support of the RSPB (BirdLife in the UK). Trappers usually target ... More About: Restaurants , Conservation , Birds
Quote of the Day
2009-03-24 10:36:00 Focusing on important questions puts us in the awkward position of being ignorant. One of the beautiful things about science is that it allows us to bumble along, getting it wrong time after time, and feel perfectly fine as long as we learn something each time. No doubt, this can be difficult for students who ... More About: Science , Quote Of The Day , Quote
BirdLife?s Born to Travel Campaign
2009-03-23 08:28:00 BirdLife Cyprus - Cyprus? position in the Eastern Mediterranean places it on one of the major migration routes and makes it an important stop off point for many species which pass each year from Europe/Asia to Africa via the Nile Delta. With a few exceptions, these are birds that breed in Europe passing south through ... More About: Travel , Campaign
Migration in Full Swing
2009-03-22 09:55:00 Yesterday was really just an awesome day for me, going out birdwatching again with Stavros. Sure, we kinda ‘ditched’ the rest of the BirdLife Cyprus fieldtrip in Cape Greco, but I’m sure they had a great day birding too. For starters, we went looking for a bird that had been reported along Mazatos beach on Friday ... More About: Birds , Birding , Full , Swing , Full Swing
State of the Birds
2009-03-21 15:49:00 From back home in the State s, from the US Fish & Wildlife Services Agency: That from the State of the Birds report released March 19th in a press conference by US Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar. It’s an excellent resource, with analyses of the more than 800 bird species that inhabit terrestrial, coastal, and ocean ...
The Impact of Landscaping with Native Plants on Biodiversity
2009-03-19 11:11:00 The latest I and the Bird is up at The Birdchaser’s place, and one post really jumped out at me, from Audubon Birdscapes: Impact of Native Plants on Bird and Butterfly Biodiversity in Suburban Landscapes. The post in question shares notice of a paper of the same title in the Feb. 2009 issue of the journal ... More About: Landscaping
Gratuitous Image of Animal Macroevolution
2009-03-18 11:27:00 Gotta Love the Tree of Life and its diversity. Of course this only represents the Animal Kingdom, and drastically under-represents plants, fungi and single-celled life. And it’s in German - sorry about that fellow anglophones. Image from The Bordalier Institute. More About: Evolution
Cyprus Birds in the News
2009-03-17 07:39:00 I’m a big fan of GrrlScientist’s long-running weekly Birds in the News series, and occasionally base my decision of what is news and what isn’t in the bird world on her posts. So this week, she links to an article about Cyprus not unlike some items I’ve mentioned in the past about Cyprus: In a special ... More About: Conservation , In the News , The News
Quote of the Day
2009-03-16 19:00:00 With the hints of Springtime coming our way, this quote seems appropriate: In the sea, as on land, spring is a time for the renewal of life. During the long months of winter in the temperate zones the surface waters have been absorbing the cold. Now the heavy water begins to sink, slipping down and displacing ... More About: Quote Of The Day , Biophilia , Quote
Looking for an Graphics Artist
2009-03-12 10:52:00 I have a request, and I’ll leave this linked to on the sidebar until answered: Is there anyone out there with the skills and time to create some banner art for me? I have a relatively complete idea of what I’d like, but don’t have the skills to do it myself. My idea: In the background, ... More About: Graphics , Artist
What Use is Half a Wing - Evolution of Flight
2009-03-11 10:34:00 Ever since Archaeopteryx was discovered (at least) evolutionary biologists and naturalists have been fascinated with the question of “How and why did avian flight evolve”. It has been a puzzling question, because while Darwin could plausibly suggest the usefulness of “half an eye” for the gradual natural selection of the vertebrate eye, he could not ... More About: Evolution , Wing , Flight , Half
Animal Rights Terrorists Strike Again
2009-03-10 17:32:00 Just heard the news at Neurotopia: Animal Rights Extremists firebomb researcher’s car. The Animal Liberation Front (ALF) claimed responsibility. Listen folks, domestic terrorists belong in jail. For a long time. And given the support that PETA has shown such terrorists over the years, I can’t help but say that the vast majority of animal rights activists ... More About: Terrorists , Animal Rights , Strike
Operation Migration
2009-03-10 10:40:00 Enjoy the show… For more: Icons of Migration: Whooping Crane More About: Operation
Cells, Development, and Politics
2009-03-08 17:36:00 In case you haven’t gotten the memo, tomorrow Pres. Obama will reportedly reverse the ban on stem cell research. Good. No, not because of some political reason, or the promise of a cure for some disease, but for the intrinsic potential for discovery, and the the remarkable but unexpected places that such discoveries can take ... More About: Science , Politics , Development , Stem Cells
Four-Winged Dinosaurs?!
2009-03-06 15:26:00 This from Why Evolution is True: One of the most exciting developments in paleontology in the past ten years or so has been the discovery that many species of theropod dinosaurs had feathers... One of the strangest of these feathered dinosaurs was Microraptor gui, which had both its forelimbs and hindlimbs modified into feathered wings. ... More About: Dinosaurs
Becoming Human - an Interactive Documentary
2009-03-06 12:12:00 Just found a really nicely done interactive documentary by the Institute of Human Origins at Arizona State called Becoming Human. Oh, and how do I know monkeys are following me? Human vestigiality for one. 1. I have a coccyx, trace of the tail our ancestors once had. 2. I have ... More About: Evolution , Documentary , Interactive
Quote of the Day
2009-03-05 08:38:00 It is hard to realize that the living world as we know it is just one among many possibilities; that its actual structure results from the history of the earth. Yet living organisms are historical structures: literally creations of history. They represent, not a perfect product of engineering, but a patchwork of odd sets pieced ... More About: Evolution , Quote Of The Day , Quote
Wing-Assisted Incline Running
2009-03-04 12:53:00 I hope no one following this blog missed this little tidbit in this week’s Birds in the News: Ken Dial at The University of Montana has unveiled a major new theory for the evolution of flight that is changing textbooks around the world. It involves wing-assisted incline running and a fundamental bird wing angle. Using high-speed ... More About: Running , Evolution , Wing
Checklist for Birds of Cyprus
More articles from this author:2009-03-02 09:51:00 In my free time about a week ago, I put together a handy brochure-type checklist for birdwatching in Cyprus [.doc], especially for those people who keep lists (e.g. life lists, year lists, records of individual field trips, etc.). I used it this past weekend, and intend to share it with others in BirdLife Cyprus. I ... More About: Birds , Birding 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 |
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