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The EU has expanded many times and many countries still aspire to join. Enlargement illustrates the success of the European model of integration. It has also provided the EU with a powerful tool to influence domestic politics in would-be members. But enlargement also poses fundamental challenges. It has implications both for how the EU works (its structure and institutions) and for what it does (its policies). The chapter first compares ‘widening’ and ‘deepening’ before discussing enlargement as a form of soft power. It then explains how the EU has expanded and why countries want to join. It also looks at wider Europe and the EU’s relationship with Norway, Switzerland, and Iceland, as well as prospective members in the Balkan countries. The chapter goes on to consider the EU’s relationship with Turkey and the European Neighbourhood Policy. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the potential limits of EU expansion and an evaluation of the enlargement process.

Urbanisation radically changes habitats and alters available resources. Populations of large, highly mobile species are often extirpated at the urban-wildland interface, while species like mesocarnivores may thrive by capitalising on changes in prey abundance. We investigated the diet of the caracal (Caracal caracal), a medium-sized felid inhabiting patchy natural habitat isolated within the dense urban matrix of South Africa’s second largest city, Cape Town. We systematically integrated two classic dietary methods (scat and GPS clusters) by accounting for gut transit times. As part of a larger caracal ecology study, we GPS-collared 26 individuals over a two-year period (2014–2016) to generate coarse (3-hour) and fine-scale (20-minute) GPS movement data. Using the movement data, we investigated 677 GPS-clusters for prey remains. We collected 654 scats, half of which were found at GPS-clusters and were linked with the individual sampled. By systematically correcting for a range of gut transit times, we determined whether scat at cluster sites was from the same or an earlier feeding event, thereby increasing the overall detection of feeding events by > 50%. Avian prey dominated GPS cluster findings while micromammals were overwhelmingly represented in scat. Although > 40% of feeding events occurred within 200 meters of the urban edge, caracals largely preyed on native species. Our findings have implications for understanding the ability of some species to persist in the face of rapid environmental change, human-wildlife conflict, pathogen transmission, and bioaccumulation of pesticides. Further, this approach could be incorporated into studies that estimate foraging-explicit resource selection and habitat preference.

Klein (1) challenges two interpretations in Niespolo et al. (2). Regarding his first point, we maintain that Ysterfontein 1 (YFT1) does provide the oldest known example of full coastal adaptation as indicated by the presence of shell middens (cf. ref. 3). Klein inaccurately characterizes the age of the deepest shell midden layers at Klasies River Main (KRM) given in ref. 4. While other workers identify even the oldest light brown sand (LBS) layer at KRM as similar in age or younger than the deepest deposits at YFT1 (cf. refs. 5 and 6), the reference cited by Klein (4) and subsequent dating efforts show that the shell midden lenses in beach-sand deposits within the LBS layer likely postdate the marine isotope stage 5e sea level highstand (∼120 ka) as does the midden at YFT1. However, existing dates suggest that KRM shell middens may, in fact, be younger than YFT1. Layer LBS has been directly dated using multiple techniques that converge on an age of ∼104 ka (5), notably younger than the 95% confidence interval for YFT1 deposition (2). However, complicating matters, a capping speleothem with a U-series age of ∼110 ka is interpreted as a minimum age of the LBS layer at KRM (5). Thus, layer LBS yields conflicting dates and its true age remains uncertain. The next oldest layer at KRM hosting midden deposits (layer shell and sand [SAS]) is definitively younger than YFT1 (5, 7). Thus, there is no basis for the assertion that KRM middens are older than those at YFT1, and we stand by our claim that YFT1 provides the oldest currently known example of systematic coastal resource exploitation.

Modern human behavioral innovations from the Middle Stone Age (MSA) include the earliest indicators of full coastal adaptation evidenced by shell middens, yet many MSA middens remain poorly dated. We apply (230)Th/U burial dating to ostrich eggshells (OES) from Ysterfontein 1 (YFT1, Western Cape, South Africa), a stratified MSA shell midden. (230)Th/U burial ages of YFT1 OES are relatively precise (median ± 2.7%), consistent with other age constraints, and preserve stratigraphic principles. Bayesian age–depth modeling indicates YFT1 was deposited between 119.9 to 113.1 thousand years ago (ka) (95% CI of model ages), and the entire 3.8 m thick midden may have accumulated within ∼2,300 y. Stable carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen isotopes of OES indicate that during occupation the local environment was dominated by C(3) vegetation and was initially significantly wetter than at present but became drier and cooler with time. Integrating archaeological evidence with OES (230)Th/U ages and stable isotopes shows the following: 1) YFT1 is the oldest shell midden known, providing minimum constraints on full coastal adaptation by ∼120 ka; 2) despite rapid sea-level drop and other climatic changes during occupation, relative shellfish proportions and sizes remain similar, suggesting adaptive foraging along a changing coastline; 3) the YFT1 lithic technocomplex is similar to other west coast assemblages but distinct from potentially synchronous industries along the southern African coast, suggesting human populations were fragmented between seasonal rainfall zones; and 4) accumulation rates (up to 1.8 m/ka) are much higher than previously observed for dated, stratified MSA middens, implying more intense site occupation akin to Later Stone Age middens.

This study tests the association between opal phytoliths in dental calculus on modern, historic, and prehistoric specimens of Loxodonta africana (African savanna elephant) with their local and regional vegetation. The modern samples were obtained from dental remains from deceased animals at the Addo Elephant National Park (Eastern Cape Province) and the Pilanesberg National Park & Game Reserve (Northwest Province) in the Republic of South Africa. The historic and prehistoric specimens, presumed to be free-roaming elephants, were sampled from museum collections in the Eastern Cape and Western Cape Provinces. In addition to comparing phytolith assemblages in dental calculus with those of the main vegetation associations, this study assesses the phytolith assemblage differences between free-roaming and park elephants. The results show that: (1) the phytolith assemblages in dental calculus of park elephants show little variation among individual specimens and close resemblance to phytolith assemblages of soils inside their areas of confinement; (2) the free-roaming specimens have a much higher diversity of phytolith morphotypes than those in parks and reserves, exhibiting sometimes typical signatures of more than one biome; (3) free-roaming Cape elephants from fynbos areas have significant amounts of Restionaceae phytoliths, which suggests that grazing on restios in grass-poor fynbos types was important; (4) short saddles, typical of Chloridoideae grasses, are always the most abundant short-cell morphotypes in dental samples, even in areas where other grass subfamilies dominate, and (5) with some limitations, the study of phytoliths in herbivore dental calculus has a high, largely unexplored, potential in paleoecology and conservation ecology.

Specialist predators are generally negatively impacted by habitat change. Predators that inhabit transformed areas are usually forced to diversify their diet and this departure away from traditional resources can have negative consequences for fitness and demographic parameters. We consider this relationship as it applies to Verreaux's eagles Aquila verreauxii, which is typically considered to be a highly specialised predator of hyraxes (Procavia and Heterohyrax spp.). We investigate diet in relation to land cover in two adjacent areas of South Africa and explore the links between diet diversity, the percentage of hyrax consumed, and the breeding performance of eagles. We also examine these same patterns using data from other studies. We found that diet diversity was greater in the agriculturally developed Sandveld region compared to the natural Cederberg region. Proportions of the three main prey types were correlated with the proportion of agriculturally developed land around the nest site. Breeding performance was correlated with the diet, but not in the manner expected, with breeding productivity being greater in regions with large diet diversity and a small proportion of hyrax in the diet. We found similar patterns when placing our results into a broader geographical context using other dietary studies of Verreaux's eagles, suggesting our results were not unique to our study system. Thus, our results suggest that diet diversification does not necessarily impinge on breeding performance in the presence of adequate alternative prey resources. This research adds to the growing number of studies suggesting that some predators may be adaptable up to a threshold level of habitat transformation. These results have implications for predicting changes on such species by anthropogenic habitat transformation and highlight the potential for agriculturally developed areas to maintain a conservation value when habitat heterogeneity is maintained.

The aim of this study was to investigate the species composition of prey caught in the forest, savanna and emerging habitats in which African Crowned Eagles Stephanoaetus coronatus breed in KwaZulu-Natal province, South Africa. At the 17 nest sites, the remains of 195 prey individuals were collected. The five dominant prey species caught were Rock Hyrax Procavia capensis , Vervet Monkey Chlorocebus pygerythrus , Blue Duiker Philantomba monticola , Greater Canerat Thryonomys swinderianus and Bushbuck Tragelaphus scriptus . All of these species respond positively to urban expansion. Only eagles that nested inside protected areas were recorded preying on domestic animals. In terms of biomass, Bushbuck was one of the dominant taxa, and the remains of an estimated 28.8 kg Bushbuck ram was found under a nest. The surprisingly high proportion of Rock Hyraxes and low proportion of Vervet Monkeys caught in emerging habitat may indicate that African Crowned Eagles nesting in this habitat are adapting to a more specialised feeding strategy compared with those nesting in habitats that are more natural. Future studies should investigate how and why prey proliferates in emerging habitats and examine the association between land uses and the diet of African Crowned Eagles. Keywords: African Crowned Eagle, diet, emerging habitat, Stephanoaetus coronatus , urbanisation

The Publisher would like to correct the introduced formatting errors on the caption of Figure 1 and in the data in Table 2.

The EU has expanded many times and many countries still aspire to join. It has extended the prospect of membership to countries in the Balkans and Turkey and has developed a ‘neighbourhood’ policy towards other countries, some of which may want to join in the future. Enlargement illustrates the success of the European model of integration. It has also provided the EU with a powerful tool to influence domestic politics in would-be members. But enlargement also poses fundamental challenges. It has implications both for how the EU works (its structure and institutions) and for what it does (its policies). The chapter first compares ‘widening’ and ‘deepening’ before discussing enlargement as soft power. It then explains how the EU has expanded and why countries want to join. It also looks at prospective member states: the Balkan countries, Turkey, Norway, Switzerland, and Iceland. Finally, it examines the European Neighbourhood Policy.

We conducted a taphonomic analysis of modern prey accumulations of Verreaux's Eagle (VE; Aquila verreauxii) from the Cape Floral Region of South Africa. VE nest in or around cliffs and rocky outcrops, places that also attract other bone accumulators, including humans. Therefore, it is necessary to characterize the signatures of VE bone accumulation with as much precision as possible in order to differentiate between the prey remains of other bone accumulators, especially in relation to fossil assemblages that originate in and around cliffs, rock shelters, and caves. Towards this end, we describe the taxonomic composition, skeletal-part representation, bone breakage patterns, and bone surface modifications of mammal bones as well as the range of variability within those signatures. Based on the frequency of bone modifications we determine that VE modify the bones of their prey more often than do other eagle species. We suggest that taphonomic patterns derived from predation by other eagle taxa are not the most appropriate means to identify VE predation in faunal assemblages. In addition, we conclude that there is patterned variability in the ways that VE accumulate and modify the bones of their prey. There are two distinct skeletal-parts preservation, bone breakage, and bone surface modification patterns among the prey in our sample: one that characterizes hyraxes, mole-rats, and carnivores, and another that characterizes hares and bovids. Faunal analysts investigating the potential role of VE at fossil sites should be aware of 1) these taphonomic patterns and differences and 2) that there is no singular pattern of accumulation. We define patterns of preservation, breakage, and bone modification that can be employed on a taxon-specific basis to distinguish VE prey remains from other bone accumulators.

[EN]: Studying the diet of wild animals is central for understanding their flexibility in food requirements. The Black Harrier Circus maurus is an endangered raptor in South Africa and Namibia. To date, information about the diet of the species is insufficient for a comprehensive understanding of its ecology. We studied the diet composition of breeding Black Harriers using c. 1 000 pellets (>1 700 identified prey) collected at nest sites in two geographical regions (coastal vs inland) over 10 breeding seasons (2006–2015). We show the importance of small mammals in Black Harrier diet (64.4% and 78.2% of prey and consumed biomass, respectively), with the four-striped mouse Rhabdomys pumilio being a main trophic resource. We also reveal the importance of birds and reptiles as alternative prey, particularly in inland regions, and show inter-annual variations in diet in both regions. Our study confirms that this species can be considered a small mammal specialist. Specialist predators are more vulnerable than generalist ones and diet specialisation has been linked with a poorer conservation status in other species. Our results thus have implications for the conservation of this species in southern Africa. These are highlighted for the long-term sustainability of this threatened endemic species. [FR]: L’étude du régime alimentaire des animaux sauvages est essentielle afin d’étudier leurs besoins, leur flexibilité ou dépendance. Le busard noir Circus maurus est un rapace rare et menacé, endémique d’Afrique méridionale. L’information actuelle sur son alimentation est insuffisante pour une compréhension globale de leur écologie. Dans cet article, nous étudions le régime alimentaire d’individus reproducteurs en utilisant l´analyse d’environ 1 000 pelotes de rejection (>1 700 proies identifiées) collectées au nid dans deux régions géographiques contrastées (côtière et intérieur) pendant 10 saisons de reproduction (2006–2015). Nous montrons l’importance des micromammifères dans l’alimentation du busard noir (64.4 % de proies et 78.2% de biomasse consommée) et en particulier du rat de champ rayé Rhabdomys pumilio qui est la principale ressource trophique. Nous révélons également l’importance des oiseaux et reptiles comme proies alternatives, notamment dans les régions de l’intérieur, et montrons des variations interannuelles du régime alimentaire dans les deux régions. Notre étude confirme que cette espèce peut être considérée comme spécialiste de micromammifères. Les prédateurs spécialistes sont d’ordinaire plus vulnérables que les généralistes, et leur spécialisation alimentaire va généralement de pair avec un statut de conservation plus défavorable que pour d’autres prédateurs généralistes. Nos résultats ont des implications pour la conservation et la viabilité à long terme de cette espèce endémique et menacée d’Afrique méridionale. This study was funded by the National Research Foundation of South Africa (NRF; Grant no. 90582 to RES), the DST-NRF Centre ofExcellence at the Percy FitzPatrick Institute, University of Cape Town, the CSIC (Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas PIE 201330E106) and by private landowners and organisations. Particular thanks for economic support are due to BirdLife South Africa, Inkwazi and Wits Bird Club, “Golden Fleece Merino”, the University of Cape Town Research Council (URC), Jakkalsfontein Private Nature Reserve, the Two Oceans Slope Soarers (TOSS), Natural Research UK, Hawk Mountain (USA), the Peregrine Fund, Sven Carlsson-Smith, Nial Perrins, Chris Cory, Gisela Ortner and James Smith. FM and BA thank the University of Cape Town for financial support (2015 Science Faculty Distinguished Visitor award to FM; and Foreign Research Fellowship through A Amar to BA).

There is a lot of interest in combining aftertreatment system components to reduce packaging volume and cost. One example of this is the SCRF®, which consists of an NH3 Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) catalyst coated on a diesel particulate filter (DPF). In this work, a one-dimensional model for an SCRF® has been developed. The model was produced by combining kinetics for either a Cu-zeolite or an Fe-zeolite SCR catalyst, originally developed for a flow-through monolith, with a physical model for a coated DPF. The kinetics for the various NH3NOX reactions, as well as for NH3 oxidation, were developed from laboratory microreactor data. The model is capable of predicting the conversion of NO and NO2, NH3 slip and the formation of N2O, as well as effects associated with NH3 storage and desorption. In the model, reactants can diffuse to the catalytic coating both from the gas flowing along the coated channel (as in a flow-through monolith) and from the gas flowing through the filter wall. The model has been validated against engine data for both light- and heavy-duty diesel conditions. In general, good agreement between model prediction and the experimental data was achieved for both Cu- and Fe-zeolite SCRF®s. It is demonstrated that SCR kinetics developed for a flow-through monolith are capable of giving a good prediction when the same coating is applied to a wall-flow filter in the SCRF®. The model has been applied to investigate the interaction between SCR and DPF functionality. The presence of soot on the SCRF® is predicted to have no significant impact on NOX conversion. Conversely, SCR activity (NOX reduction) is predicted to significantly retard the rate of soot removal by oxidation with NO2. Both predictions are in agreement with experimental results.

Remains of phocid and otariid seals from published and unpublished palaeontological and archaeological occurrences on the South African coast are reviewed. New phocid material supports Hendey's earlier contention that Homiphoca capensis was a breeding resident during the Early Pliocene (5 Ma) and extends its distribution. Lobodon carcinophagus is recorded from the Middle Pleistocene (270 ka) and Late Pleistocene. Arctocephalus is recorded from the Pliocene (probably 5 Ma, but possibly only 2.7 Ma) and A. pusillus from the Middle Pleistocene (~330 ka). Late Pleistocene records for Hydrurga leptonyx, Mirounga leonina, A. pusillus and A. gazella are listed. The possibility that Homiphoca capensis and Arctocephalus (sp. nov.) co-existed during the Pliocene is discussed.

The Lisbon Treaty adapts the EU's institutional structures into a new architecture for foreign affairs. It creates a High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy with responsibility as Vice-President in the Commission for work on external affairs (“first pillar”) and in the Council for common foreign and security policy (“second pillar”). To assist this person in his/her tasks it creates a European External Action Service and Union Delegations in non-EU countries, which may develop into a European Diplomatic Service. The article examines the service's tasks, timing, institutional place, staff, structure and budget, and the participation of EU member states.

Non-medical prescribing has undergone radical changes in recent years, and there is clearly a need to evaluate its impact on practice. The study reported in this article focused on one county in the south-east of England. A two-part strategy was adopted: a questionnaire was distributed to all nurses who held the non-medical prescribing qualification; and interviews conducted with a variety of nurses, pharmacists, doctors and managers. An earlier paper ( Avery et al, 2007 ) focused on the extent to which effectiveness of non-medical prescribing was associated with the doctor–nurse relationship, but this article examines its impact for all the stakeholders involved. The findings suggested that, in a number of areas, patient throughput was increasing, nurses and doctors were re-assessing their roles, and that the qualification enhanced personal feelings of job satisfaction and autonomy. Moreover, although patients were not directly involved in the study, the overall perception was that they too were experiencing satisfaction with a system that enabled speedier access to treatment.

This paper reports a study that was commissioned to evaluate non-medical prescribing in one health authority in the south-east of England. A questionnaire was distributed to all nurses and pharmacists who held a non-medical prescribing qualification, and this was followed up by semi-structured interviews with nurses, pharmacists, doctors and managers. The findings confirmed that the majority of respondents were very experienced, and that they were making good use of the qualification. In addition, there were clear signs that patient care was being enhanced, but this was more evident when there was a close working relationship with the doctor. In the absence of this relationship, there is a need for the organization to develop a clear strategy for the implementation of non-medical prescribing, which should incorporate the views of all key stakeholders.

This chapter focuses on the expansion of the European Union and the widening of Europe. Enlargement is often seen as the EU's most successful foreign policy. It has extended prosperity, stability, and good governance to neighbouring countries by means of its membership criteria. However, enlargement is much more than foreign policy: it is the process whereby the external becomes internal. It is about how non-member countries become members, and shape the development of the EU itself. The chapter first compares widening and deepening before discussing enlargement as soft power. It then explains how the EU has expanded and why countries want to join. It also looks at prospective member states: the Balkan countries, Turkey, Norway, Switzerland, and Iceland. Finally, it examines the European Neighbourhood Policy.

An article from the special issue "Eastern African Quaternary Research Association 4th conference" comprising six articles (plus the introduction). This special issue emerged from the PAGES supported meeting: ‘Eastern African Quaternary Climate Change and Variability: A View from the Highlands’ held in Nanyuki Kenya from 23 27 July 2013. ABSTRACT: We compare taphonomically relevant aspects of 6 bone accumulations produced by extant spotted hyaenas Crocuta crocuta striped hyaenas Hyaena hyaena and brown hyaenas Parahyaena brunnea) from eastern and southern Africa (Republic of Djibouti and Namibia) and published accounts. We highlight similarities and differences in the bone cracking/consumption and bone collecting habits of each hyaena species with a view to revealing criteria that might be used to distinguish these species. Four parameters are described: i) the prey taken and preferences ii) the skeletal part distribution iii) the long bone fragmentation iv) the tooth mark diversity and frequency. Information from hyaena ecology and the ungulate remains recovered from each bone accumulation reveals differences (or a lack thereof) related to environment anthropogenic pressure and ethology. Spotted hyaena hunting strategy and clan size suggest a low degree of inter group competition but high levels of intra group on carcass competition; fewer osteological remains are brought back to dens. In contrast striped and brown hyaenas are primarily scavengers (removing carcass remnants) and produce significant accumulations of bones at their dens. These differences are likely to be related mainly to inter specific competition and serve to reduce interaction with other carnivores and to limit kleptoparasitism; the composition of accumulations at dens is determined by food availability and foraging behaviour to a greater or lesser degree. Modern analogues are essential baseline tools for elucidating characteristics that might distinguish each species. The development of neo taphonomic models is the first step towards comparison and greater understanding of the palaeo ethology of extinct Pleistocene hyaenids.

Human fossils and the genetics of extant human populations indicate that living people derive primarily from an African population that lived within the last 200,000 years. Yet it was only ≈50,000 years ago that the descendants of this population spread to Eurasia, where they swamped or replaced the Neanderthals and other nonmodern Eurasians. Based on archaeological observations, the most plausible hypothesis for the delay is that Africans and Eurasians were behaviorally similar until 50,000 years ago, and it was only at this time that Africans developed a behavioral advantage. The archaeological findings come primarily from South Africa, where they suggest that the advantage involved much more effective use of coastal resources. Until now, the evidence has come mostly from deeply stratified caves on the south (Indian Ocean) coast. Here, we summarize results from recent excavations at Ysterfontein 1, a deeply stratified shelter in a contrasting environment on the west (Atlantic) coast. The Ysterfontein 1 samples of human food debris must be enlarged for a full comparison to samples from other relevant sites, but they already corroborate two inferences drawn from south coast sites: ( i ) coastal foragers before 50,000 years ago did not fish routinely, probably for lack of appropriate technology, and ( ii ) they collected tortoises and shellfish less intensively than later people, probably because their populations were smaller.

Excavations into a coastal cliff at Ysterfontein (YFT) 1, South Africa, have revealed 2.5–3 m of stratified sands containing classic Middle Stone Age (MSA) stone artifacts, abundant mussel and limpet shells, numerous fragments of ostrich eggshell, and somewhat rarer bones from mammals, birds, tortoises, and snakes. The sands apparently filled a crevice-like, calcrete shelter, where the artifacts and animal remains accumulated partly in place and perhaps partly through slippage down the face of a dune that once stood between the site and the sea. Accelerator radiocarbon dating of ostrich eggshell places the sequence before 33,400 years ago. Artifact typology provisionally suggests that it formed after 70,000 years ago. The fauna resembles faunas from the handful of other known coastal MSA sites and contrasts with faunas from regional Later Stone Age (LSA) sites in its low diversity of coastal marine species and in the large size of its limpets and tortoises. The difference suggests that MSA people exploited local resources less intensively, probably because their populations were less dense.

Duinefontein 2 (DFT2) preserves at least two buried land surfaces within a 10-m thick dune plume on the Atlantic Coast of South Africa, about 35 km north of Cape Town. Optically stimulated luminescence dating indicates that the sands enclosing the upper surface accumulated around 270 ky ago, while the sands between the two surfaces were accumulating about 290 ky ago. Excavation so far has focused on the upper buried surface, which is now exposed over 480 m 2 . Historically, there was no body of fresh water nearby, and the surrounding vegetation was a variant of the regional fine-leafed shrub or fynbos. Pedogenic alteration of the sands and bones of water-loving mammals and amphibians indicate, however, that the bones and associated Acheulean artifacts accumulated near the edge of a large pond or marsh. In addition, the principal mammal species (buffalo, wildebeest, and kudu) imply a sharply different regional vegetation in which grass and broad-leafed bush were much more common. The artifacts are distributed across the upper buried surface in no apparent pattern, but the large mammal bones tend to occur as clusters of skulls, vertebrae, ribs, and other axial elements, often in near anatomical order. Limb bones are mostly missing, and the clusters appear to mark carcasses from which the limb bones were selectively removed. The bones rarely show marks from stone tools, but marks from carnivore teeth are common. Together with numerous hyena coprolites, the abundant tooth marks suggest that hyenas and perhaps other carnivores were largely responsible for carcass disarticulation. The human role appears to have been insignificant, which suggests that local Acheulean people obtained few large mammals, whether by hunting or scavenging. Among the small number of other Acheulean ‘carcass’ sites for which bone damage observations are available, the best-documented sites suggest the same limited human ability to acquire large mammals, but many additional sites will be necessary to determine if this was the Acheulean norm. Greatly expanded excavation of the lower buried surface at DFT2 can provide an additional, high-quality data point.

Samples of barn owl pellets were collected from the Dundee, Estcourt and Kokstad areas of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, during March 2000 for their micromammalian prey remains. Other material collected from near Pietermaritzburg in 1988/89 by the late J.O.Wirminghaus was also analysed. A minimum of 38 micromammalian species was identified, with notable range extensions being recorded for Crocidura fuscomurina and Tatera leucogaster and new localities for all other species. These samples have also added to the numbers of insectivore and rodent species known to occur in the Drier and Moist Upland bioregions. General diversity appears to be much lower in the Coastal Hinterland bioregion but this is probably due to human disturbance of the vegetation near the collecting sites. The samples further illustrate the usefulness of data collection from barn owls for biodiversity studies in particular.Key words: barn owls, distribution, KwaZulu-Natal, micromammals, South Africa.

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Renewed excavations at Die Kelders Cave 1, South Africa, have confirmed and augmented prior findings. The new excavations focused on the Middle Stone Age (MSA) deposits, but they added seeds, pips, and crayfish to the categories of Later Stone Age (LSA) food debris and artifacts recovered earlier. With respect to the MSA deposits, the principal new findings are: 1) previously unrecognized site formation processes ,including phosphatization by guano, microfaults, and slippage faces, and numerous minor interruptions in sand accumulation that correspond to Short occupation episodes; 2) ESR dates that place the top of the MSA sequence between 80,000 and 60,000 years b.p.; 3) fine-grained rock types, flake-blade sizes and other features that suggest the top of the sequence contains either the Howieson's Poort or a similar silcrete-rich variant of the MSA; 4) a pattern of artifact and bone abundance in newly recognized microstrati-graphic units that suggests that eagle owls (rather than people) accumula...

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Abundant vertebrate fossils have been recorded from the Early Pliocene locality, Langebaanweg, South Africa. This study documents the pathologies evident in the 5 million-year-old fossil phocid seal assemblage. Careful anatomical assessment of the remains revealed that 0.73% showed evidence of disease and/or trauma. The majority of the ailments were forms of osteoarthritis, although periodontitis and osteomyelitis were also evident. Some bones also showed healed fractures, suggesting that the individuals survived the traumatic event. Two cases of dental pathologies were also noted.

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The instruments of temporality played a key role in driving institutional action and political decision in the process of expansion of the European Union (EU) from 15 to 27 members. The Opinions made by the European Commission in 1997 on the countries of Central and Eastern Europe interpreted for the first time the ‘Copenhagen criteria’ for EU membership, and by using a ‘medium-term’ horizon introduced an important time-factor. The ‘roadmap’ developed by the Commission and approved by the Council of Ministers in 2000 effectively structured the decisive stages of the accession negotiations. In the ‘battle of dates’ with the applicant countries concerning the prospective timing of their accession, the EU refused to commit itself to a precise date until the last stages of the negotiations. Overall, it used time-factors in such a way that the existing members and the applicant countries were mobilized to reach a timely conclusion.

Examination of beached corpses of 244 Sooty Shearwaters (Puffinus griseus) from the southwestern Cape, South Africa, showed that simple descendent primary molt occurs from December to June, with most records being in the months of February and March. Based on percentage feather mass grown, primary molt takes a mean of 159 days for completion, with mean estimated starting and completion dates of 2 January and 10 June. Because the completion of breeding extends from late March to early May, the birds studied cannot have bred successfully in the previous austral summer and were probably prebreeders. Unlike the situation in the North Pacific Ocean, Sooty Shearwaters in the North Atlantic Ocean do not undergo primary molt. The hypothesis that Sooty Shearwaters of breeding age migrate preferentially into the North Pacific, whereas young birds first molt in the South Atlantic Ocean before migrating into the North Atlantic, needs to be tested by extensive banding of birds at the breeding localities.

Summary Boshoff, A.F., Palmer, N.G., Avery, G., Davies, R.A.G. & Jarvis, M.J.F. 1991. Biogeoraphical and toporaphical variation in the prey of the Black Eagle in the Cape Province, South Africa. Ostrich 62: 58–72. Prey remains collected at or near Black Eagle Aquilu verreauxii nest sites in the Cape Province, South Africa, were analysed according to frequency of occurrence of prey scies in the samples. A total of 5748 prey individuals, collected from 73 sites, was analysed according to tree biome groups and four nest site types. The Rock Hyrax Procuvia capensis is the dominant prey species, but the eagles' diet sctrum vanestypes. The according to its availability. Indices of species richness and diversity of the prey are inverser correlated with the proportion of the prey contributed by P. capenis, which in turn is determined by topography and vegetation. Biome has a greater influence on the indices than has nest site type. The age structure of the P. capensis prey remains closely reflects the juvenile: s...

The Elandsfontein site, Western Cape Province, South Africa, is well known for an archaic hominin skullcap associated with later Acheulean artifacts. The site has also provided nearly 13,000 mammalian bones that can be identified to skeletal part and taxon. The assemblage derives from 49 species, 15 of which have no historic descendants. Comparisons to radiometrically dated faunas in eastern Africa indicate an age between 1 million and 600 thousand years ago. Unique features of the fauna, including the late occurrence of a dirk-toothed cat and a sivathere, may reflect its geographic origin in a region that was notable historically for its distinctive climate and high degree of biotic endemism. Together, taxonomic composition, geomorphic setting, and pollen extracted from coprolites indicate the proximity of a large marsh or pond, maintained by a higher water table. The small average size of the black-backed jackals implies relatively mild temperatures. The sum of the evidence places bone accumulation during one of the mid-Pleistocene interglacials that were longer and cooler than later ones, including the Holocene. The geomorphic context of the fauna presents no evidence for catastrophe, and most deaths probably resulted from attritional factors that disproportionately killed the young and old. However, only the dental-age profile of long-horned buffalo supports this directly. Field collection methods biased skeletal-part representation, but originally, it probably resembled the pattern in the younger, marsh-edge Acheulean occurrence at Duinefontein 2, 45 km to the south. Excavation there exposed multiple vertebral spreads, which probably mark carcasses from which hominins or large carnivores removed the meatier elements. Bone damage at both sites suggests that, despite abundant artifacts, hominins were much less important than carnivores in the bone accumulation. Together with limited observations from other sites, Elandsfontein and Duinefontein provisionally suggest that Acheulean-age hominins obtained few large mammals, whether by hunting or scavenging. 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Die Kelders Cave 1, first excavated under the direction of Franz Schweitzer in 1969-1973, was re-excavated between 1992 and 1995 by a combined team from the South African Museum, SUNY at Stony Brook, and Stanford University. These renewed excavations enlarged the artefactual and faunal samples from the inadequately sampled and less intensively excavated lower Middle Stone Age (MSA) layers, increased our understanding of the complex site formation processes within the cave, enlarged the hominid sample from the MSA deposits, and generated ESR, TL, and OSL dates for the MSA layers. Importantly, these new excavations dramatically improved our comprehension of the vertical and lateral characteristics of the MSA stratigraphy. Surface plotting of the MSA layers has led to the identification of at least two major zones of subsidence that significantly warped the layers, draping some along the eroding surface contours of major blocks of fallen limestone roof rock. A third zone of subsidence is probably present in the older excavations. Dramatic roof falls of very large limestone blocks occurred at least twice-once in the middle of Layer 4/5 where the roof blocks were only slightly weathered after collapse, and at the top of Layer 6 where the blocks weathered heavily after collapse, producing a zone of decomposed rock around the blocks. Many of the sandy strata are cut by small and localized faults and slippages. All of the strata documented by Schweitzer's excavations are present throughout the exposed area to the west of his excavated area, where many of them thicken and become more complex. Layer 6, the thickest MSA layer, becomes less diagenetically altered and compressed to the west.

Excavations at Duinefontein (DFT) 2 near Cape Town, South Africa have recovered numerous stone artefacts and animal bones on an ancient surface sealed within iron-stained eolian sands. U-series analysis of an overlying calcrete places the sands before 150 ka ago, while the large mammal taxa imply an age between 400 and 200 ka ago. The artefacts include a classic Acheulean handaxe and probable biface shaping flakes that support this age estimate. The principal mammalian species are long-horned buffalo, black wildebeest, greater kudu, Cape zebra, and grysbok/steenbok, which imply a grass-and-bush mosaic instead of the historic small-leafed shrubland. Hippopotamus and reedbuck indicate that water stood nearby, probably in dune swales. The large mammal bones are mostly vertebrae and other axial elements, often in near-anatomical order. Both proximal and distal appendicular elements are rare. Bones with carnivore damage are common, but ones with stone tool marks are scarce. The sum suggests a water-edge attritional death site where people played a minimal role and carcasses were disarticulated mainly by carnivore feeding and by trampling. Stone tool marks tend to be equally rare at other Acheulean attritional death sites, and the implication may be that Acheulean people rarely obtained large mammals, whether by hunting or scavenging. Human scavengers at DFT2 would not have encountered a disproportionate number of distal (versus proximal) limb elements, and it follows that the tendency for distal elements to dominate many archeological assemblages need not reflect scavenging versus hunting. Even if DFT2 was not itself a locus of intense human activity, it provides a useful baseline for evaluating bone damage, skeletal part representation, and other variables at sites where people were deeply involved.

Roger Summers was born in 1907 in England. He died in his sleep on 26 June 2003 just six days before his 96th birthday. He started his professional career in Life Insurance. However, after studying at the Institute of Actuaries in London and serving in the Royal Regiment of Artillery and on the British General Staff during World War II, he changed careers, and studied archaeology at the London University Institute of Archaeology.

The known effects of protein poisoning and the safe limits of protein intake are described. Attention is drawn to the need for consideration of the implications of the debilitating and potentially serious consequences of excess protein consumption when reconstructing palaeodiets and subsistence strategies. In spite of the ready availability of a stable source of protein-rich marine foods, the limits to protein utilization for energy (20–50% of daily needs) would have forced coastal hunter-gatherers to provide for a nutritional balance between protein and fat- or carbohydrate-rich sources of food. Current hypotheses concerning coastal palaeodiets are based on excessive protein intake and do not deal adequately with this problem. The concept of a largely protein marine diet as an economic strategy over more than a few days is questioned.

At breakfast-time on 31 March 1984, ten ministers emerged wearily from the Charlemagne building in Brussels. The European Community's Council of Ministers had just completed another all-night session of negotiation, and had reached agreement on a wide-ranging package of decisions on agricultural policy. What had these ten ministers of agriculture decided, how was it decided, why was it necessary, and did it constitute a reform of the Common Agricultural Policy? This article tries to give plain answers to those questions. Plain language is important, for one of the problems of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is that its operations are too often couched in impenetrable jargon. For most political commentators, and for many professional economists, it is a territory where the language cannot be understood, and which therefore provokes hostility or distrust. Since the issues at stake are important not only for agriculture but for the future of the Community as a political enterprise, the territory deserves to be better mapped and better understood.'

In recent years an important development in the Common Agricultural Policy of the European Community has been the acceptance of the principle that the price guarantees can no longer be unlimited in nature, and that, if production exceeds a certain level, action should be taken to ensure that producers share in the responsibility for additional production. In 1981 the term ‘guarantee threshold’ was introduced to denote this level of production. Different mechanisms have been introduced in the various market regulations to give effect to the guarantee thresholds, and it is necessary for policy makers to realise that these mechanisms have different economic consequences. The case of milk is particularly instructive, for here the European Community in 1984 made a radical change by switching from the mechanism of reducing price support, if the guarantee threshold is exceeded, to a system of quotas for milk deliveries. Guarantee thresholds also exist for other products (cereals, processed fruit and vegetables, oilseeds) and in other cases there are analogous measures (sugar, wine, fruit in syrup, cotton). In the future development of the CAP, guarantee thresholds will continue to play an important role. How far can the Community expect to succeed in controlling its agricultural production by price or quantitative action, and what accompanying measures will be necessary?

A new method for deriving information on seasonal exploitation of seabirds is presented and tested. Monthly surveys of beached seabirds conducted over 6 years are used to provide a database for comparison with Late Holocene open shell midden samples from the western Cape, South Africa. Correspondence analyses of the monthly occurrence of seabird species and age classes which could be recognized osteologically revealed a strong seasonality, splitting the year into three periods: February–April, June–August and October–December, with January, May and September as intermediates. Both conventional and correspondence analyses indicate that the archaeological samples are compatible with an October–January period of seabird exploitation.

The purchaser/provider system has brought the dynamic association between quality, volume and cost into clear focus. Any consideration of this tri-partite relationship is incomplete, however, unless the additional dimensions of research and ritual are also included. This article analyses how the monitoring systems now in place offer nurses a unique opportunity to drive for the replacement of ritualised practice by research-based practice.

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