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Data on species’ demography are essential to detect changes in population size, identify drivers of population change, motivate conservation plans, or evaluate the effectiveness of management. The Arctic Skua Stercorarius parasiticus is a seabird with a circumpolar distribution, which is listed as “Endangered” on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) European Red List, although listed as “Least Concern” globally. It is both a predator and a kleptoparasite reliant on marine and terrestrial prey, and undertakes migrations from northern breeding habitats to temperate and tropical marine environments. Most studies of breeding populations originate from North Atlantic populations where Arctic Skuas are primarily kleptoparasitic. However, a large proportion of the global breeding population occupies remote coastal and inland tundra of Arctic regions where Arctic Skuas are more generalist in foraging modality and the range of prey taken. Here, we collated and summed national/regional population estimates to provide an updated global estimate of breeding population size and trends. We reviewed drivers of population change and knowledge gaps, and their implications for the conservation of this species. We estimated a minimum breeding population of 185,131–395,315 pairs combining Alaska, Canada, Greenland, and Europe; we extrapolated that at least 40,000 pairs could be found in Asian Russia, where no estimates were available. We noted differential trends, with substantial declines in typically kleptoparasitic populations of the North Atlantic where data quality was higher, whereas for populations in the Nearctic, trend data were scarce and geographically restricted. Various threats were identified as potential drivers of population change, including bottom-up processes, fisheries, heat stress, and interspecific competition/predation. Given the large uncertainty around abundance and population trends for much of the Arctic Skua’s range, the current global conservation status of Least Concern may be better designated as “Data Deficient”, and we encourage the implementation of a range of approaches to improve monitoring of population trends and demography globally.
Animal telemetry is maturing into a viable method for observing the ocean as it can be used to monitor both environmental conditions and biological metrics along the movement trajectories of marine animals. As part of the Cormorant Oceanography Project, we have augmented a biologging tag with an external fast response temperature sensor to collect ocean temperature profiles from the backs of foraging marine birds. Cormorants dive between 50 and 250+ times a day to forage for prey so they can provide hard-to-match temporal and spatial coverage of coastal ocean conditions within their foraging areas. We process tag measurements to obtain fundamental oceanographic data (e.g., temperature profiles, bottom soundings, surface current measurements). Together, we have tracked 17 marine bird species (including two Spheniscus penguins spp. and a sea duck), originating from 17 countries and foraging along the edges of all major oceans. Tagged birds’ distribution included 191 MPAs in 26 countries, offering a unique ocean monitoring method to complement more widely used methods.
Denne artikkelen tar utgangspunkt i Motorferdsellovutvalgets forslag til ny motorferdsellov (NOU 2024: 10), og hensikten er å belyse maktkampene som kommer til uttrykk i prosessen, og hvordan disse reflekterer ulike verdier, interesser og forståelser av hva utmarka er og bør være. Dette gjør vi gjennom problemstillingene: Hvilke konfliktlinjer aktiveres i lovforslaget om motorferdsel i utmark og i høringsuttalelsene? Hvordan forholder disse konfliktlinjene seg til allerede eksisterende konfliktlinjer og til maktforhold og moralske vurderinger i utmarksforvaltningen? Det teoretiske rammeverket kombinerer Mouffes teori om «det politiske», som ser konflikt som en uunngåelig del av demokratiet, med Rokkans skillelinjeteori og Horlings perspektiver på verdier. Dette gir grunnlag for å analysere hvordan «den moralske utmarka» forhandles både symbolsk og konkret i en tid med økende mangfold i bruk og forståelser av utmarka. Artikkelen bygger på dokumentanalyser av lovforslaget og et utvalg høringsuttalelser. Vi identifiserer sentrale konfliktlinjer i at natur skal vektlegges foran andre hensyn, om motorferdsel skal regnes som friluftsliv, betydningen av lokalt selvstyre og hvem som til syvende og sist skal ha beslutningsmyndighet. Konfliktene følger både sentrum–periferi-aksen og sosioøkonomiske skillelinjer, men viser også motsetninger mellom norske og samiske forståelser av natur og perspektiver på meahcásteapmi samt interne maktkamper i det samiske samfunnet om hva slags samisk utmarksbruk som skal gi rett til motorferdsel. Vi argumenterer for at lovforslaget ikke løser de underliggende konfliktene, men at prosessen – særlig høringsrunden – har synliggjort ulike verdivurderinger. Vi viser at utvalgets sammensetning og tolking av mandatet har bidratt til å svekke oppslutningen om loven blant enkelte aktører, mens et mindretall blant høringspartene mener at utvalget ikke går langt nok i å ivareta naturhensyn. Artikkelen viser også at norske myndigheter ikke tar stilling til Sannhets- og forsoningskommisjonens (2023) kritikk av at dagens utmarksforvaltning fortsatt bidrar til fornorsking i samiske områder.
Janusz Gazda – krytyk filmowy, redaktor pism filmowych; był także w latach 1973-1979 redaktorem w Telewizji Polskiej odpowiedzialnym za produkcję filmową. Wywiad przeprowadzony w roku 2006 koncentruje się na zagadnieniach związanych z kulisami powstawiania najważniejszych wówczas filmów i seriali telewizyjnych. Janusz Gazda opowiada o próbach przekraczania w realizowanych projektach ówczesnych granic dyskursu społecznego, prowadzących do częstych zderzeń z cenzurą. Wywiadowi towarzyszy informacja o jego bogatej działalności redakcyjnej, w tym także jako redaktora naczelnego „Kwartalnika Filmowego”. (Materiał nierecenzowany).
The aim of this study was to assess whether activity and heart rate sensor implants can be used to measure stress and thus estimate one important welfare indicator for fish in aquaculture pens, and if such measurements correlate to physiological factors measured through blood sampling. The experiment consisted of two parts: i) a bio-logger study where implanted sensors were used to monitor activity and heart rates for fish undergoing stress (crowding); and ii) an analysis of blood constituents (cortisol, glucose, lactate, and chloride) of a second group of fish undergoing the same treatment. We found that activity measurements can be used to track high-impact stress events but may not be suitable to discern possibly nuanced reactions to stress impacts of lower magnitude. While heart rate was measured reliably, e.g., in showing clear circadian rhythms, it was no credible proxy for predicting stress in this study. Our results thus underline challenges observed in previous work around the use of heart rate as stress indicator, and imply that the translation of its meaning into a proxy for stress needs further work. Although tag-based monitoring of stress is not without its difficulties, studies such as this provide a wealth of information on salmon behaviour and physiology, and the links between these.
