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Alloparental behavior includes a wide range of situations, from occasional fostering to adoption. It is usually the result of brood parasitism, brood adoption or brood mixing, but also due to nest switching. Interspecific alloparental behaviors are less widespread, but there are no key differences in mechanism of underlying behaviors. Some South American grebes are found sympatrically, and some of them usually reproduce on mixed colonies. Here we describe different conspecific and interspecific alloparental behaviors involving Silvery Grebe (Podiceps occipitalis), White-tufted Grebe (Rollandia rolland) and the critically endangered Hooded Grebe (Podiceps gallardoi). We discuss the implications of temporary adoption and potentially ‘true’ adoption, in particular for Hooded Grebes. Our observations show that alloparental behavior is possibly widespread among Neotropical grebes, and in the case of the Hooded Grebe we hypothesize that alloparental intraspecific feeding of non-related juveniles prior to migration could help to increase juvenile survival.

Three migratory species of sheldgeese (Chloephaga spp.) make seasonal movements across a large portion of the Argentine territory. All three of these species have been affected by anthropogenic actions which have caused dramatic population drops, especially for the Ruddy-headed Goose (Chloephaga rubidiceps). Although telemetry techniques have rapidly advanced, knowledge of the migratory routes of many Neotropical birds is still incipient. The study of migration routes should be a top priority, especially when conservation and management actions are necessary along the main migratory routes. The goal of this work is to present new evidence of important stopover sites and concentration areas of migratory sheldgeese in eastern Patagonia. We conducted fieldwork during the fall, winter and spring of 2017, all of 2018 and the summer of 2019 in Chubut province, Argentina. We identified one stopover area for sheldgeese within a recently created protected area, the Parque Interjurisdiccional Marino Costero Patagonia Austral (PIMCPA), that could be a key site for the protection of the three species, in particular for the Ruddy-headed Goose. Results will provide input for decision-making processes during the design of future infrastructure projects already planned in eastern Patagonia along the migratory route of several species.

[ES]El consentimiento informado es un tema muy discutido hoy en día. Al principio, se trataba simplemente de un consentimiento que autorizaba a las partes a prestar el servicio. Sin embargo, con el paso del tiempo, se ha tomado conciencia de la necesidad de tener conocimientos cada vez más específicos, que a veces son demasiado técnicos. El deseo de saber ha ido más allá, hasta el punto de querer informarse no sólo sobre el servicio, sino también sobre aspectos tan especiales, relacionados con la profesión, el trabajo, que son difíciles de transmitir, pero sobre todo son de complicada preocupación. Aunque se puede intentar informar lo máximo posible, hoy se sabe que nunca se obtendrá una información subjetivamente completa. El servicio, ya sea médico o de cualquier otra naturaleza, no sólo debe cumplir su objetivo, sino que debe ser perfecto; no se permiten defectos de cualquier naturaleza o tipo, incontrolados o, debido a la naturaleza particular del caso, incontrolables. En todo esto se invierte el consentimiento informado. Es obvio que la consecuencia fisiológica del servicio es y debe ser siempre garantizada a través de la información y el consentimiento, pero sólo eso. Con la ley sobre el consentimiento informado, el legislador ha tratado de estructurarlo, sin embargo, sobre todo en el ámbito médico, proporcionar indicaciones claras, ciertos límites más allá de los cuales no hay lugar, por lo que cualquier interés está destinado a decaer. Adecuación, equilibrio, orden: estos son los valores a los que el legislador, el juez, el abogado o el jurista deben mirar para juzgar si el consentimiento informado es o no conforme. Es necesario evitar dar espacio a los daños de la bagatela, pero encontrar las pautas a seguir en la elaboración del consentimiento para esa zona en particular. Por lo tanto, es necesario bajar a la practicidad, entender ese sistema y ordenarlo. Antes de clasificar un fenómeno, es esencial comprenderlo, estudiarlo. Es imprescindible entrar en el sistema de regulación o autorregulación de las estructuras hospitalarias para que este sistema encuentre finalmente la dimensión jurídica adecuada.

SummarySince its rediscovery in 1998, two major threats have been mentioned for the enigmatic Austral RailRallus antarcticus: cattle management by burning grass and rushes and predation by American minkNeovison vison. Added to the lack of a protocol to monitor this secretive bird, ever-growing threats make it necessary to study its global situation in depth to take accurate and urgent management decisions. We firstly studied how threats to the Austral Rail currently impact their occupancy and relative density (RD) at a wetland scale and habitat features associated with its presence at survey site scale inside wetlands in Santa Cruz province, Argentina. We additionally developed a monitoring protocol to detect the rail effectively and promptly by studying responses to playback with two different vocalisations at different times of the day and season. Both threats evaluated were negatively related to occupancy and RD of the Austral Rail, especially mink presence appearing to have an additive effect. We propose American mink control as crucial for Austral Rail conservation, while it would also be necessary to conserve a portion of wetlands exempt from burning and cattle presence. At survey sites, its presence was positively related with c.1–1.5 m tall rushes, whilst rails avoided low- density rush areas that resulted after management of rushes with fire to create pasture. To detect rails, both vocalisations can be confidently used at any time of the day and season. The poor knowledge about species ecology, mismanagement of vegetation in wetlands, expansion of American mink in Patagonia, construction on two dams in the Santa Cruz river basin, added to the already modified humidity conditions due to global climate change, force us to suggest that the Austral Rail should be considered as globally ‘Endangered’ (EN), to ensure the consideration of the species in management decisions.