Soaring landbirds typically exploit atmospheric uplift as they fly overland, displaying a highly effective energy-saving locomotion. However, large water bodies lack thermal updrafts, potentially becoming ecological barriers that hamper migration. The effects of a sea surface on the migratory performance of GPS-tagged white storks (Ciconia ciconia) were assessed before, during and after they crossed the straits of Gibraltar. Oversea movements involved only flapping and gliding and were...

Research into the dispersal of plants lacking a fleshy fruit by avian endozoochory remains limited, particularly regarding the different roles of specific vectors in the same habitat. Plants dispersed by endozoochory were compared between two migratory waterbirds differing in body size: the lesser black-backed gull, and the white stork. Faeces and pellets were collected from roosting flocks on dykes in the Doñana rice fields, and extracted intact seeds. 424 intact seeds from 21 plant taxa...

Modern death assemblages provide insights about the early stages of fossilization and useful ecological information about the species inhabiting the ecosystem. The results of taphonomic monitoring of modern vertebrate carcasses and bones from Doñana National Park, a Mediterranean coastal ecosystem in Andalusia, Spain, are presented. Ten different habitats were surveyed. Half of them occur in active depositional environments (marshland, lake margin, river margin, beach and dunes).

Humans accumulate porphyrins in the body mostly during the course of porphyrias, diseases caused by defects in the enzymes of the heme biosynthesis pathway and that produce acute attacks, skin lesions and liver cancer. In contrast, some wild mammals and birds are adapted to accumulate porphyrins without injurious consequences. This study proposes to view such physiological adaptations as potential solutions to human porphyrias, and suggest certain wild animals as models.

The decline in bee populations has recently attracted much attention from researchers, conservationists and the general public, with insect-mediated pollination being a key process for terrestrial ecosystems as well as for crop production. The conclusions of different studies suggest that this decline is the result of pressures from different drivers of global change such as habitat destruction, pesticide use and climate warming. However, there is increasing evidence that these pressures do...