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Birds striking aircrafts cause substantial economic loss world-wide and, more worryingly, human and wildlife fatalities. Designing effective measures to mitigate fatal bird strikes requires an in-depth knowledge of the characteristics of this incident type and the flight behaviours of the bird species involved. The characteristics of bird strikes involving aircraft crashes or loss of human life in Spain were studied and compared to flight patterns of birds monitored by GPS. We tracked 210 individuals of the three species that cause the most crashes and human fatalities in Spain: griffon and cinereous vultures Gyps fulvus and Aegypius monachus and white storks Ciconia ciconia. All the crashes involved general aviation aircrafts, while none were recorded in commercial aviation. Most occurred outside airport boundaries, at midday, and in the warmest months, which all correspond with the maximum flight activity of the studied species. Bird flight altitudes overlapped the legal flight altitude limit set for general aviation. Policy implications. Mitigation of fatal bird strikes should especially address the conflict between general aviation and large soaring birds. Air transportation authorities should consider modifying the flight ceiling for general aviation flights above the studied species' maximum flight altitude. Moreover, policymakers should issue pilots with recommendations regarding the dates and times of peak activity of large soaring bird species to improve flight safety.

Disentangling individual- and population-level variation in migratory movements is necessary for understanding migration at the species level. However, very few studies have analyzed these patterns across large portions of species' distributions. We compiled a large telemetry dataset on the globally endangered Egyptian Vulture Neophron percnopterus (94 individuals, 188 completed migratory journeys), tracked across ~70% of the species' global range, to analyze spatial and temporal variability of migratory movements within and among individuals and populations. We found high migratory connectivity at large spatial scales (i.e., different subpopulations showed little overlap in wintering areas), but very diffuse migratory connectivity within subpopulations, with wintering ranges up to 4,000 km apart for birds breeding in the same region and each subpopulation visiting up to 28 countries (44 in total). Additionally, Egyptian Vultures exhibited a high level of variability at the subpopulation level and flexibility at the individual level in basic migration parameters. Subpopulations differed significantly in travel distance and straightness of migratory movements, while differences in migration speed and duration differed as much between seasons and among individuals within subpopulations as between subpopulations. The total distances of the migrations completed by individuals from the Balkans and Caucasus were up to twice as long and less direct than those in Western Europe, and consequently were longer in duration, despite faster migration speeds. These differences appear to be largely attributable to more numerous and wider geographic barriers (water bodies) along the eastern flyway. We also found that adult spring migrations to Western Europe and the Balkans were longer and slower than fall migrations. We encourage further research to assess the underlying mechanisms for these differences and the extent to which environmental change could affect Egyptian Vulture move

Disentangling individual- and population-level variation in migratory movements is necessary for understanding migration at the species level. However, very few studies have analyzed these patterns across large portions of species' distributions. We compiled a large telemetry dataset on the globally endangered egyptian vulture neophron percnopterus (94 individuals, 188 completed migratory journeys), tracked across similar to 70% of the species' global range, to analyze spatial and temporal variability of migratory movements within and among individuals and populations. We found high migratory connectivity at large spatial scales (i.e., different subpopulations showed little overlap in wintering areas), but very diffuse migratory connectivity within subpopulations, with wintering ranges up to 4,000 km apart for birds breeding in the same region and each subpopulation visiting up to 28 countries (44 in total). Additionally, egyptian vultures exhibited a high level of variability at the subpopulation level and flexibility at the individual level in basic migration parameters. Subpopulations differed significantly in travel distance and straightness of migratory movements, while differences in migration speed and duration differed as much between seasons and among individuals within subpopulations as between subpopulations. The total distances of the migrations completed by individuals from the balkans and caucasus were up to twice as long and less direct than those in western europe, and consequently were longer in duration, despite faster migration speeds. These differences appear to be largely attributable to more numerous and wider geographic barriers (water bodies) along the eastern flyway. We also found that adult spring migrations to Western europe and the balkans were longer and slower than fall migrations. We encourage further research to assess the underlying mechanisms for these differences and the extent to which environmental change could affect egyptian vu, Horizon 2020; European Union (European Union); LIFE+ projects; Basque Government; AG Leventis Foundation; MAVA; National Science Foundation (NSF); Christensen Fund; National Geographic Society; Whitley Fund for Nature; State Nature Reserve Dagestanskiy; Russian Raptor Research and Conservation Network; DREAL Nouvelle-Aquitaine-Fondation d'entreprises Barjane; GREFA (Grupo para la Rehabilitacion de la Fauna Autoctona y su habitat)-Endangered Species Monitoring Project; Poison Sentinels Project of WWF/Spain; La Rioja Regional Government in La Rioja; Fundacion Hazi and Diputacion Foral de Gipuzkoa within the Interreg POCTEFA-ECOGYP project in Gipuzkoa; Faruk Yalcin Zoo

Psychological and neuropsychological assessment in South Africa currently faces various challenges, among which, is the prominent need for tests that are standardised for the multi-cultural South African context. The absence of adequate standardisations and normative data currently hamper the confidence with which tests can be used in South Africa. This research project aimed to construct a preliminary standardisation of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) for Setswana-speaking university students. The testing instructions were translated to Setswana and 93 participants were assessed using a computerised version of the WCST. Hypothesis tests showed that some sub-scores significantly differed from the US norms and others did not. The distribution ofWCST performance in the study population does, therefore, not follow the same distribution as the US distribution and a need was identified to construct new normative data. Regression analysis indicated that not gender, age, or level of education influenced participants' WCST scores for all sub-scores, with the exception of the Trials to complete first category score that was influenced by age. One normative table was thus constructed for the entire 18- to 29-year-old age group for the variables Number of categories completed, Total number of correct responses, Total number of errors, Perseverative responses, Perseverative errors, Non-perseverative errors, Failure to maintain set, Learning to learn and Percent conceptual level responses, whilst separate norm tables for the 18- to 19-year-old and 20- to 29-year-old age groups were constructed for the Trials to complete first category sub-score. Furthermore, the WCST displayed adequate internal consistency in the study population. These norms and psychometric properties are, however, subject to certain limitations and it is thus recommended that a full standardisation of the WeST be constructed