Search Results (3)

Seabirds of the families Fregatidae, Phalacrocoracidae and Sulidae, common on the southeastern coast of Brazil, form colonies and play a bioindicator role in coastal ecosystems due to their ecological habits. This study aimed to identify the prevalence of parasitic helminths in Suliformes birds, of the species Fregata magnificens Mathews, 1914, Sula leucogaster Boddaert, 1783 and Nannopterum um Gmelin, 1789, from the Instituto de Pesquisas Cananeia (IPeC) on the southern coast of the State of São Paulo, and to record the diversity and parasitic indices, since reports of helminth prevalence in pelagic birds are scarce in Brazil. From 2018 to 2020, a total of 270 nematode specimens and 271 acanthocephalan parasites were collected from 51 Suliformes birds (20 F. magnificens, 10 N. brasilianum and 21 S. leucogaster). The host species F. magnificens was parasitized by Contracaecum plagiaticium and Contracaecum pelagicum. The host S. leucogaster was parasitized by C. plagiaticium. In the host N. brasilianum, specimens of Contracaecum australe, Contracaecum rudolphii, Contracaecum multipapillatum, Syncuaria squamata and Andracantha tandemtesticulata were found. This is the first report of C. plagiaticium and C. pelagicum in F. magnificens in Brazilian territory, and of A. tandemtesticulata in N. brasilianum in the southeast region of Brazil. Full article

The population of the continental race of the great cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo sinensis) has significantly increased over the last few decades due to legal protection. This rise has led to intense conflicts with fishing interests because of the bird’s fish-eating habits. Effective conflict management requires an understanding of public attitudes. We collected data through interviews with 260 residents (50 fishers and 210 members of the general public) to examine the endorsement and prioritization of strategies to manage great cormorants in a fishery in northern Greece. First, we asked respondents to state their endorsement of implementing each of six management strategies, with possible responses being “endorsed” or “not endorsed.” Then, we asked them to select the one they would prioritize among the six strategies for implementation. The most endorsed management strategy among all residents was using nets to cover fish wintering channels (85.7%), followed by compensation for damage (66.7%), scaring devices (66.0%), destruction of breeding colonies (33.3%), taking no action (26.3%), and killing birds (20.7%). Taking no action was more endorsed by the general public, while scaring, colony destruction, and killing were more endorsed by fishers. Nets for cover were the most prioritized management strategy among all residents (47.3%), followed by compensation (29.3%), scaring (11.4%), taking no action (6.0%), colony destruction (4.0%), and killing (2.0%). Fishers prioritized nets for cover, colony destruction, and killing more than the general public, who prioritized taking no action, compensation, and scaring. These findings will be valuable for informing the management process of the great cormorant–fishery conflict. Full article

The possibility of sex identification of birds has substantial importance for studies on different aspects of bird ecology and behaviour. Using discriminant functions is becoming increasingly popular in studies of bird species that are monomorphic in plumage characteristics because they are cheap, hardly invasive and may be applied to data collected in the past. In this paper, we provide a discriminant function to sex great cormorants using external measurements. Males were larger than females in all linear body measurements, but there were no significant differences between adults and juveniles. Thus, data on juveniles and adults within a sex was combined. Discriminant equations with the most commonly used linear measurements, wing length and bill length, were provided. If identifying birds with discriminant function values D₂ < −1.256 as females and those with D₂ > 0.916 as males, 99% of birds will be correctly sexed. The method presented here makes it possible to account for sex-specific patterns in ecological studies of the great cormorant and may be applied to data collected in the past. The cross-application of discriminant functions developed for other populations of the great cormorant produces a 5.4% and 7.5% misclassification rate for birds from northern Poland using discriminant equations developed for populations in Greece and the Netherlands, respectively. Full article