Artificial Islands

This article reviews the trajectories of U.S. policy toward Vietnam and Vietnam’s policy toward the United States to understand the underlying forces that have formed the plateau on which the U.S.-Vietnam engagement operates. It recommends a proposal to make both America and Vietnam great again.

This article aims to analyse how cultural heritage is addressed in documents defining the objectives and directions of socioeconomic development in the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, in light of their practical implementation. This paper seeks to determine whether and how these documents and practices acknowledge that, due to the region's complex history, this heritage is characterised as dissonant. The analysis reveals that authorities often manage this awkwardness by remaining silent about much of its ethnic and religious provenance or by employing generic terms, obscuring its meanings. This approach reduces the level of dissonance associated with the heritage, leading to attempts to transform it into a resource in the form of tourist attractions (sites and festivals) to contribute to the region's development, rather than engaging in discussions about its significance or remember traumas that generate social conflicts.

This article aims to analyse how cultural heritage is addressed in documents defining the objectives and directions of socioeconomic development in the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, in light of their practical implementation. This paper seeks to determine whether and how these documents and practices acknowledge that, due to the region's complex history, this heritage is characterised as dissonant. The analysis reveals that authorities often manage this awkwardness by remaining silent about much of its ethnic and religious provenance or by employing generic terms, obscuring its meanings. This approach reduces the level of dissonance associated with the heritage, leading to attempts to transform it into a resource in the form of tourist attractions (sites and festivals) to contribute to the region's development, rather than engaging in discussions about its significance or remember traumas that generate social conflicts.

The artificial islands project is driven by a vision to encourage progress and cooperation in the region. The islands would be connected by causeways and bridges, with room for housing, farmland, and recreational activities. Gaza leaders can make the Strip a flourishing place like Singapore and the Gulf states if they prioritise the economy and the welfare of their citizens over the destruction of Israel. It is in the interest of Gaza to model itself after Bahrain’s Amwaj Islands, for instance, rather than Isis.

The distinction between what is part of the 'natural' world and what is 'artificial' in the sense of having arisen through human activity can be difficult to make given that humans are a part of the natural world and thus human activities are a part of nature in a broad sense. Nevertheless, 'natural' conditions and those created by human industrial activity are normally understood to differ from one another. In this study we introduce an example where a nature reserve, formed as a byproduct of quarrying, provides a useful resource for continued industrial activity, environmental education and scientific research.

There is surprisingly little information and concern within academic literature in the field of coastal or marine planning and management related to the issue of artificial islands. This is particularly noteworthy considering the climate change phenomenon, vis á vis sea-level rise, the urgent need for adaptation, efforts aiming for sustainable use of coastal areas, and the recent focus in academic circles on marine spatial planning. Most literature (including grey literature) on artificial islands appears in the engineering and geology disciplines and is focused on energy extraction, i.e., oil and gas. Yet some coastal nations are intent on solving problems of lack of space and other resource shortages through construction of near-shore artificial islands for myriad uses, including commercial, residential and transportation infrastructure. This paper presents a limited review of the policy literature about planning and construction of artificial islands. It reflects what repercussions artificial islands portend for marine conservation, sustainability and, most importantly, how climate change adaptation is highlighted or neglected in spatial solutions addressed by the building of nearshore artificial islands. The Israeli situation, where tenders have been recently published calling for planning and building of islands in the Mediterranean Sea, serves as an example. In der Literatur zur Küsten-oder Meeresplanung gibt es überraschend wenig Informationen über künstlich aufgeschüttete Inseln. Dies ist insbesondere bemerkenswert im Kontext eines sich wandelnden Klimas, dem einhergehenden Meeresspiegelanstieg und der dringenden Notwendigkeit der Anpassung, sowie der Bemühungen um eine nachhaltige Nutzung der Küstengebiete und der jüngsten Konzentration in akademischen Kreisen auf maritime Raumordnung. Der überwiegende Teil der Literatur (einschließlich grauer Literatur) über künstlich aufgeschüttete Inseln erscheint in den Gebieten Ingenieurswesen und Geologie und konzentriert sich auf die Energiegewinnung von beispielsweise Öl und Gas. Weiterhin gibt es einige Küstenstaaten, die entschlossen sind, Probleme wie Platzmangel und Ressourcenknappheit durch den Bau und die Nutzung (Handel-, Wohn-und Verkehrsinfrastruktur) von küstennahen, künstlich aufgeschütteten Inseln zu lösen. Diese Studie gibt einen Überblick über die einschlägige Fachliteratur zur Planung und Realisierung von künstlichen Inseln. Es werden die Auswirkungen von künstlichen Inseln auf die Nachhaltigkeit von marinen Ökosystemen diskutiert und analysiert, ob Klimaanpassungen in räumlichen Lösungen beim Bau der Inseln integriert werden. Ein aktuelles Fallbeispiel ist Israel, wo kürzlich die Planung und der Bau von Inseln im Mittelmeer ausgeschrieben wurde.

In this first chapter, we will introduce the thesis and our thesis question. Next, we will study the historical background of the region which we are studying. Following that section we will examine the theoretical basis of our thesis before moving on to current literature. Finally, we will explain our methodology before the beginning of the second chapter.

China's construction of artificial islands during last few years has raised concerns about militarisation of the South China Sea threatening stability and security for littoral countries. China claims over 80 per cent of the South China Sea and it is building landing and garrison facilities over geographical features classified as rocks and coral reefs. China's claims are grounded on their supposed discovery and occupation of these features since antiquity. Other claimants, like the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan, Brunei and Indonesia, have their own historical narratives and cite articles of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) to justify their sovereignty over part of this disputed maritime region. This multilateral nature of dispute makes it extremely complicated and China's increasingly assertive policies have further compounded it. Accordingly, several nations, including United States, have raised alarm regarding freedom of navigation across the South China Sea. It in this backdrop of rising tensions that this article examines these multiple narratives and what UNCLOS and the Permanent Court of Arbitration say in clarifying the legality of maritime rights to crystal gaze likely future trajectories. However, this study also recognizes that while UNCLOS remains at the core of maritime dispute settlement, it is the evolving geopolitics of Asia that will go a long way in guiding both the interpretation of UNCLOS as also state responses in terms of their proposals for joint development or unilateral strategies.

Different strains of cyanobacteria were isolated from salt-marsh of Venice Lagoon. One of them was used in the laboratory to colonize artificial substrates to induce a better colonization of eroded sediments. Different materials for cyanobacteria colonization were used from silica, zeolite to sediments. Different tests were made to improve cyanobacteria survival and exo-polysaccharide production under diverse conditions to consolidate sediments.

This thesis analyzes the motivations behind China's decision to conduct extensive land reclamation and outpost construction projects at seven locations in the Spratlys beginning in late 2013. I examined two hypotheses: first, China's actions were mainly undertaken in reaction to the actions of rival claimants and the United States; and second, China acted primarily to extend its power projection capabilities. The evidence shows that China's decision to commence reclamation projects was ultimately driven by a desire to increase its power projection capabilities in the South China Sea. This desire predates the internationalization of the South China Sea dispute in 2009 and was a result of China's military growth and its enhancements to its own power projection capabilities. The proximate cause of China's decision to begin these activities in late 2013 was a perceived need to react to its rivals, which from China's perception had grown increasingly willing to confront China on its South China Sea sovereignty claims. Ultimately, whether China continues pursuit of enhanced power projection capabilities will be determined by how China perceives the threat environment and the actions of others. Continued perceived provocations from China's rivals may drive China toward further enhancement of its military power projection capabilities.

Waders (Charadriiformes) are birds sensitive to change in water levels in wetlands. In this paper, we report a multi-year trend in abundance of adults, nesting pairs and chicks of a biogeographically isolated population of pied avocet (Recurvirostra avosetta L., Aves, Charadriiformes) localized in a salt-water wetland of central Italy where restoration interventions were carried out in 2009. Our hypothesis is that the actions aimed to regulate water levels have allowed the establishment of a stable local population of this rare species. We used a standardized transect methods to obtain values of abundance during the breeding periods (April-July) along the 2006–2022 time range. Comparing data before and after the interventions, we observed an increasing trend in the abundance following the water regulation interventions leading to the establishment of a stable population. The difference in abundance between before and after the restoration was also evident by controlling for rainfall...

Action-oriented citizens can make a difference in protecting the nests of this threatened bird: why leave them alone? Why not use this human resource? Scientists should overcome their“analysis-paralysis”(i.e.,“the unhealthy obsession with numbers, analyses, and reports”), producing fewer reports for field sampling and more freely accessible guidelines for“citizen managers”, training and coordinating them to assign purpose, role, competence, and autonomy: all useful components to improve motivation. This will allowthe definition of effective and pervasive actions on the beach front lines for this charismatic and umbrella species of bird.

This article scrutinises environmental engineering activities in the Maldive Islands over the past four centuries, with a focus on the last six decades. It explores the historic trajectories of environmental transformations in the archipelago to demonstrate how various kinds of human modifications of marine and terrestrial landscapes reflect shifting priorities and preoccupations of the island society at given times. The analytical focus is on construction activities that involve coral and sand mining, dredging of harbours and shipping lanes, land reclamation and beach nourishment, as well as the creation of artificial islands and coral reefs. This paper proposes the notion of 'atoll engineering' to capture these various human-environment entanglements in a comprehensive analytical framework and to account for the particularities of inhabiting a coral island ecosystem. By mapping out historic continuities and discontinuities, this paper argues that scrutiny of atoll engineering displays alterations in islanders' understandings of and relationships with their thalassic environment and enables understanding of the influences of colonialism, modernisation and climate change on Maldivian society and culture.

In its initial incarnation, island studies regarded islands as highly distinct entities that justified a relatively closed discipline. This orientation was first widened by address to issues such as the linkage of (pre-existent) islands to adjacent areas and, over the last decade, has been further modified by consideration of island-like areas. The latter has led to an increasing acknowledgement that, in some contexts, at least, islands form components of complex aquatic and terrestrial systems in which islandness is a less distinctive attribute than in the case of archetypal (usually marine) islands. While neglected by island studies, river systems that include islands, peninsulas and/or engineered waterfront developments are significant for problematising the distinctiveness of islands and thereby merit attention. This article sets out to map some of the complexities around islands and rivers with specific regard to the Richmond River in northern New South Wales, Australia. We pro...

Aux frontières de l’imaginaire politique de la nation, les Outre-mer et leurs habitants sont aussi aux marges des conceptualisations des enjeux écologiques globaux depuis la France. Cette marginalisation est surprenante tant au regard de leurs écosystèmes, abritant 80 % de la biodiversité nationale dont une forêt primaire en Guyane, 20 % des atolls de la planète en Polynésie et la plus grande barrière récifale au monde en Nouvelle-Calédonie, qu’au regard de leurs luttes. Des manifestations contre les pesticides aux Antilles à la quête de justice à la suite des essais nucléaires en Polynésie en passant par les oppositions à l’extractivisme minier en Guyane ou aux politiques de déchets à La Réunion, les habitants des Outre-mer ont produit des conceptualisations de la crise écologique à partir de leurs situations postcoloniales. En collaboration avec l’Observatoire Terre-Monde, ce dossier propose de penser ces écologies politiques depuis les Outre-mer.

The condition of the World Ocean has always been the most important factor living conditions of all Biosphere. For this reason change of its hydrological structure and properties during past geological eras repeatedly led to global ecological crises and extinction of the majority of the organisms existing at that time. The modern technogenesis of the World Ocean can have similar catastrophic consequences. The development of this crisis will take place in a hopping manner. At its first stage, the consequences of technogenic transformation are localized within the boundaries of individual sections of the World Ocean. But their number is constantly increasing. At a certain point in time, the cumulative effect of this process for a relatively short time can cause the destruction of the World Ocean as a single system, and its transition to a new state. This will inevitably disrupt conditions in most parts of the planet, and will cause a global ecological and socio-economic crisis. At the...

The loss of coastal habitats is a widespread problem in Europe. To protect the intertidal salt marshes of the lagoon of Venice from the erosion due to natural and human causes which is diffusely and intensely impacting them, the European Commission has funded the demonstrative project LIFE VIMINE. LIFE VIMINE aims to protect the most interior, hard-to-access salt marshes in the northern lagoon of Venice through an integrated approach, whose core is the prevention of erosion through numerous, small but spatially-diffuse soil-bioengineering protections works, mainly placed through semi-manual labour and with low impact on the environment and the landscape. The effectiveness of protection works in the long term is ensured through routine, temporally-continuous and spatially-diffuse actions of monitoring and maintenance. This method contrasts the common approach to managing hydraulic risk and erosion in Italy which is based on large, one-off and irreversible protection actions. The sust...

Sundown Island is on the mid-coast of Texas in Matagorda Bay, Texas, approximately 1.3-miles west of the Matagorda Peninsula, north of the Matagorda Ship Channel and southeast of the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway (GIWW). The island has been an official Texas Audubon Society bird sanctuary since 1973, but was formed in 1962. The island hosts substantial numbers of nesting Brown Pelicans, Gull-billed tern, Royal tern, Sandwich tern, Black skimmer and other birds. To gain a better understanding of how dredge placement actions may influence avian use of the island, nesting bird census data were analyzed from 1973-2013. The analysis attempted to identify avian numerical responses following placement actions. Understanding the potential response of particular species or species guilds (i.e., bare ground nesting birds) following placement actions is important for proper management of the island and its ecological function and to direct sediment placement for targeted priority species.

99 Abstract: In 2018 we positioned decoys in two selected and fenced areas and we induced the settlement of a colony of Little Terns, with the aim to bring a “guardian” species back and to restore the bird community, in order to reduce predation on nests and broods of Kentish Plovers nesting on Venetian beaches. Surveys for individuals, pairs and nests checking of both Little Tern and Kentish Plover were conducted every 1-3 days from March to mid August. The abundance of predators and stranded deposits were surveyed too. Little Tern settled a colony of 28 simultaneously active nests, and almost 25 young fledged. The settlement of the Little Tern colony determined an increase of 73% in the number of both pairs and nests of Kentish Plover in comparison with 2016-2017, with an increase of nests starting brood in late May and June, following the settlement of terns. The hatching trend of Kentish Plovers nests was strongly related to the trend in size of the tern colony suggesting an ada...

Six species of waterbirds nested colonially on small islands in the Drana saltwater lagoon in the Evros Delta from 1980 to 1986 and in the freshwater lake created in 1989, namely avocet Recurvirostra avosetta, collared pratincole Glareola pratincola, common tern Sterna hirundo, little tern Sterna albifrons, gull-billed tern Sterna nilotica and Mediterranean gull Larus melanocephalus. The favoured islands provided greater isolation, were larger, and had greater cover of plant species preferred by the birds. The most important habitat factor affecting the choice of bird populations in general was isolation of islands. The gradual concentration of most species in the Drana lagoon was due to habitat alteration, predation and disturbance in coastal habitats resulting in scarcity of suitable breeding habitat. The Drana lagoon had a prominent conservation, scientific and economic value and thereJore its restoration is recommended by reflooding with sea water, which would better ensure the preservation of the values of the area.

In its initial incarnation, island studies regarded islands as highly distinct entities that justified a relatively closed discipline. This orientation was first widened by address to issues such as the linkage of (pre-existent) islands to adjacent areas and, over the last decade, has been further modified by consideration of island-like areas. The latter has led to an increasing acknowledgement that, in some contexts, at least, islands form components of complex aquatic and terrestrial systems in which islandness is a less distinctive attribute than in the case of archetypal (usually marine) islands. While neglected by island studies, river systems that include islands, peninsulas and/or engineered waterfront developments are significant for problematising the distinctiveness of islands and thereby merit attention. This article sets out to map some of the complexities around islands and rivers with specific regard to the Richmond River in northern New South Wales, Australia. We pro...

We report the results of monitoring two species of Laridae, Slender-billed Gull (Larus genei) and Sandwich Tern (Thalasseus sandvicensis), collected during their colonization of the northern Po Delta (Province of Rovigo, NE Italy), in the years 2018-2021. Counts were conducted through both traditional ground surveys and drone flights .

La Regione Friuli Venezia Giulia ha avviato nel 2005, in qualità di Lead Partner, il progetto ANSER, che mira a valutare il ruolo ecologico delle zone umide per la sosta e lo svernamento degli uccelli acquatici nell’Adriatico settentrionale ed a definire linee guida per la conservazione del patrimonio naturale marino costiero. Il progetto viene realizzato in partenariato con le Università degli Studi di Udine e Trieste, la Regione Emilia- Romagna, l’ Ente pubblico per la gestione delle aree protette nella contea di Spalato e Dalmazia (Croazia) ed il Museo di Scienze Naturali di Tirana (Albania). L’esigenza di mettere in atto tale progetto deriva dalla considerazione dell’eccezionale importanza dell’area adriatica per la nidificazione, la sosta e lo svernamento di molte specie di uccelli, della contestuale fragilità delle zone umide costiere, tradottasi spesso in degrado degli habitat, e della odierna necessità di conciliare le esigenze di conservazione con il diritto, per gli abitan...

tient à remercier la professeure Suzanne Lalonde pour son soutien précieux. Toute erreur ou omission demeure toutefois entièrement attribuable à l'auteure. 26.2 (2013) Revue québécoise de droit international L'augmentation progressive de la température mondiale prévue par les scientifiques aura entre autres comme conséquences la fonte des glaciers et la dilatation de l'eau déjà à l'état liquide 1 . Il en résultera une accentuation de l'érosion des côtes et la submersion de territoires terrestres de faible altitude 2 . Au-delà des importants enjeux environnementaux et humains que soulève cette situation, elle est également susceptible d'avoir un impact majeur sur la délimitation des territoires maritimes des États côtiers à travers le monde. D'après la Convention des Nations Unies sur le droit de la mer 3 (ci-après « CNUDM »), les États peuvent revendiquer un territoire maritime se divisant en différentes zones au large de leurs côtes. La largeur maximale de celles-ci se calcule à partir de lignes de base correspondant à des structures naturelles émergées du territoire de l'État 4 . Dans le contexte actuel où l'élévation du niveau des océans est une conséquence certaine des changements climatiques, il convient de se poser la question suivante : qu'advient-t-il des frontières maritimes d'un État quand les points du territoire terrestre qui les justifiaient viennent à être submergés? Face à cette situation, il est possible d'envisager deux solutions : les États peuvent soit adapter leurs revendications maritimes à leur nouvelle réalité géographique, soit conserver leurs anciennes lignes de base sans tenir compte du changement. Or, le premier constat à faire est qu'il n'existe pas de consensus sur la question dans la communauté internationale. Dans le présent texte, nous prendrons position en faveur de la conservation des lignes de base déjà établies. Si la thèse inverse est soutenue par la doctrine dominante 5 , nous estimons toutefois que l'état du droit international sur la question

Between 2001 and 2018 colonies of Gull-billed Tern were monitored in large wetland complexes of Veneto (lagoon of Venice and the Northern Po Delta) and Sardinia (western and southern) regions. Most of the colonies settled in man-made structures such as islets, levees, dams, located inside fish farms, fish ponds and salt pans. Laying took place around half May until early June (Veneto), with eggs occurring in the nests until half July (Sardinia). Colonies had 3-230 pairs, with several instances of isolated pairs; colonies were mono- or plurispecific, with other Charadriiformes. The number of eggs per clutch was 2.6±0.6 (N=111, 1 SD) in the Venice lagoon, 2.6±0.6 (N=182) in the Po delta, 2.3±0.70 (N=1007) in Sardinia; hatched eggs were 2.2±0.6 (N=111), 2.0±0.7 (N=182) and 1.7±0.67 (N=40) per nest, respectively. The most important cause of breeding failure was due to flooding of nesting sites, due to the rapid increase of water levels inside fish farms and salt pans. During the 2001-20...

dr hab. Mateusz Bogucki, prof. IAiE PAN dr hab. Maciej Karczewski, prof. UwB dr Piotr Kotowicz dr hab. Grzegorz Kowalski prof. dr hab. Kazimierz Lewartowski dr Henryk Meyza prof. dr hab. Krzysztof Misiewicz dr hab. Tomasz Nowakiewicz dr hab. Agnieszka Tomas prof. dr hab. Przemysław Urbańczyk prof. dr hab. Mariusz Ziółkowski dr hab. Jarosław Źrałka

Since 2005 the Region Friuli Venezia Giulia has started, as Lead Partner, the project ANSER, aimed at evaluating the ecological role of wetlands for waterbird resting and wintering in Northern Adriatic, and at defining the guidelines for the conservation of coastal marine natural heritage. The project is carried out in association with the universitites of Trieste and Udine, Region Emilia-Romagna, the institutional bodies for protected area management of Spalato and Dalmazia (Croatia) and Tirana Natural History Museum (Albania). At the local level, the project will be carried out until december 2008 and will involve all wetlands of Friuli Venezia Giulia. Such a project was planned in consideration of (i) the great importance of Northern Adriatic wetlands for bird breeding, resting and wintering, (ii) the fragility of wetland ecosystems, that are often characterized by habitat degradation, (iii) the need to take into account both conservation requirements and socioeconomic needs of t...

The problem of the mathematical analysis of the number dynamics of the nesting waterbirds for the islands of the south of Ukraine is examined. The algorithm of the evaluation of changes in the number of island birds is proposed. Data of the long-term monitoring of the number of birds were analyzed according to this algorithm. The necessity of the implementation of the statistical indices together with the graphic representation of island birds' turnover is proved. The trends of population dynamics are determined for the key species. The discussed procedure of the complex evaluation is proposed for the management planning of the island bird species and their habitats. The performed analysis of the number dynamics of the key-stone breeding island birds showed that, with the exception of little tern, the population status and the prognosis of number are sufficiently favorable. From the data of long-term monitoring we came up with the conclusion about the existence of island habitats with carrying capacity to maintain the additional number of breeding birds. In the case of unfavorable conditions like strengthening of anthropogenic press, concurrent interrelations, deficiency of feed resources or drastic reduction of breeding biotopes, the birds due to turnover are capable to successfully react even without reducing their number and breeding success. The extinction rate of the breeding bird species from the island sites directly correlates with the number of breeding species. For the species with equal abundance, the extinction probability is higher for birds, whose numbers are unstable and characterized by significant fluctuations. This testifies the urgency of the constant monitoring and analysis of the number dynamics of breeding bird species in region. The suggested procedure of analysis is recommended for drawing up of management plans and performing of prognoses of number of breeding island bird species. More detail analysis with use of quantitative data on breeding birds will be the next step of the study of the island birds' turnover. The results of the analysis of population dynamics assist to count the minimal population size for the colonization of new islands and stable existence of bird communities. Detailed analysis will allow to estimate the effect of competition on population and to determine the competitive variability inside and between the species breeding on islands.

The loss of coastal habitats is a widespread problem in Europe. To protect the intertidal salt marshes of the lagoon of Venice from the erosion due to natural and human causes which is diffusely and intensely impacting them, the European Commission has funded the demonstrative project LIFE VIMINE. LIFE VIMINE aims to protect the most interior, hard-to-access salt marshes in the northern lagoon of Venice through an integrated approach, whose core is the prevention of erosion through numerous, small but spatially-diffuse soil-bioengineering protections works, mainly placed through semi-manual labour and with low impact on the environment and the landscape. The effectiveness of protection works in the long term is ensured through routine, temporally-continuous and spatially-diffuse actions of monitoring and maintenance. This method contrasts the common approach to managing hydraulic risk and erosion in Italy which is based on large, one-off and irreversible protection actions. The sust...

Article IV of the Agreement text introduces the AEWA Action Plan, which is attached as Annex 3 to the Agreement. Paragraph 7.4 of the AEWA Action Plan requires the Agreement Secretariat, in coordination with the Technical Committee and the Parties, to prepare a series of seven international reviews on the implementation of the Action Plan. These reviews shall be prepared at different frequencies, as per paragraph 7.5, and shall be submitted to the Meeting for the Parties (MOP) for consideration.

One of the expected effects of the global warming is changing coastal habitats by accelerating the rate of sea level rise. Coastal habitats support large number of marine and wetland species including shorebirds (plovers, sandpipers and allies). In this study, we investigate how coastal habitats may be impacted by sea level rise in the Farasan Islands, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. We use Kentish plover Charadrius alexandrinus – a common coastal breeding shorebird – as an ecological model species to predict the influence of sea level rise. We found that any rise of sea level likely to inundate 11% of Kentish plover nests. In addition, 5% of the coastal areas of Farasan Islands, which supports 26% of Kentish plover nests, will be flooded, if sea level rises by one metre. Our results are constrained by the availability of data on both elevation and bird populations. Therefore, we recommend follow-up studies to model the impacts of sea level rise using different elevation scenarios, and the...

One of the expected effects of the global warming is changing coastal habitats by accelerating the rate of sea level rise. Coastal habitats support large number of marine and wetland species including shorebirds (plovers, sandpipers and allies). In this study, we investigate how coastal habitats may be impacted by sea level rise in the Farasan Islands, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. We use Kentish plover Charadrius alexandrinus-a common coastal breeding shorebird-as an ecological model species to predict the influence of sea level rise. We found that any rise of sea level is likely to inundate 11% of Kentish plover nests. In addition, 5% of the coastal areas of Farasan Islands, which support 26% of Kentish plover nests, will be flooded, if sea level rises by one metre. Our results are constrained by the availability of data on both elevation and bird populations. Therefore, we recommend follow-up studies to model the impacts of sea level rise using different elevation

One of the expected effects of the global warming is changing coastal habitats by accelerating the rate of sea level rise. Coastal habitats support large number of marine and wetland species including shorebirds (plovers, sandpipers and allies). In this study, we investigate how coastal habitats may be impacted by sea level rise in the Farasan Islands, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. We use Kentish plover Charadrius alexandrinus-a common coastal breeding shorebird-as an ecological model species to predict the influence of sea level rise. We found that any rise of sea level is likely to inundate 11% of Kentish plover nests. In addition, 5% of the coastal areas of Farasan Islands, which support 26% of Kentish plover nests, will be flooded, if sea level rises by one metre. Our results are constrained by the availability of data on both elevation and bird populations. Therefore, we recommend follow-up studies to model the impacts of sea level rise using different elevation

SummaryCoastal wader species are sensitive to anthropogenic activity and habitat change along the coastal edge, which has been responsible for the decline in the populations of these birds. Correct management requires knowledge of the pattern and scale of genetic variation within and among populations as well as the relationships between population dynamics and genetic structure. We investigated these factors in the Kentish PloverCharadrius alexandrinusfrom the Iberian coast to determine the degree of vulnerability of the endangered north-western population. We analysed the genetic structure and gene flow using a 631-bp fragment of the mitochondrial (mtDNA) control region and eight microsatellite markers in 113 unrelated individuals from 31 Iberian beaches. The results do not support the recent decline hypothesis because there was no evidence of a bottleneck, but they do support a population expansion along the Atlantic coast. We found no genetic structure or isolation-by-distance, ...

Both the high-level strategies promoted by experts of public Conservation Agencies, and the smallscale tactics implemented by local conservation groups show strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats that can affect the effectiveness of the efforts aimed at the conservation of plovers nesting on sand dunes (Charadrius alexandrinus and Charadrius dubius). Here we propose a SWOT analysis, focusing on critical conditioning factors that should contribute towards rendering effective the local conservation strategies: (1) experts
should learn the tools of project management, thus avoiding both ‘analysis-paralysis’ and ‘epistemic arrogance’ towards local volunteers, and using a simplified scientific language to communicate smart operational guidelines to the people; (2) editorial times necessary to draft guidelines should be shortened because sand-dune bird species urgently need tools for rapid actions; (3) in conservation strategies, ‘monitoring’ means verifying changes in an environmental target in the expected direction defined by specific project objectives (it is not only a periodical field sampling of biodiversity targets). In this regard, experts should monitor not only the status of plovers (pairs, nests and chicks) but above all the effectiveness of conservation actions carried out; (4) local volunteers, often highly motivated towards these charismatic species, have scarce knowledge, lack skill and funding availability; therefore constituting an underutilized human potential which should be supported and adequately trained by technicians in order to allow a fine-grained pervasive conservation of these declining species.

The loss of coastal habitats is a widespread problem in Europe. To protect the intertidal salt marshes of the lagoon of Venice from the erosion due to natural and human causes which is diffusely and intensely impacting them, the European Commission has funded the demonstrative project LIFE VIMINE. LIFE VIMINE aims to protect the most interior, hard-to-access salt marshes in the northern lagoon of Venice through an integrated approach, whose core is the prevention of erosion through numerous, small but spatially-diffuse soil-bioengineering protections works, mainly placed through semi-manual labour and with low impact on the environment and the landscape. The effectiveness of protection works in the long term is ensured through routine, temporally-continuous and spatially-diffuse actions of monitoring and maintenance. This method contrasts the common approach to managing hydraulic risk and erosion in Italy which is based on large, one-off and irreversible protection actions. The sust...

Surveys of the American Oystercatcher (Haematopus palliatus) were conducted in all suitable nesting habitat in coastal Virginia, USA during the 2003 breeding season. The total of 588 pairs more than doubles previous estimates for the state, and provides a benchmark for the comparison of future surveys. These results suggest that Virginia supports the largest number of oystercatchers in the breeding season relative to other east coast states. Previous surveys in Virginia focused only on one coastal area, the barrier islands. Over two hundred pairs recorded in the seaside lagoon system of the Delmarva Peninsula in 2003 accounted for the large discrepancy between previous estimates for the state and the results of this survey. Over 89% of the total number of pairs was observed on the islands and in the lagoon system of the Delmarva Peninsula. Approximately 87% of the pairs were on land that is managed or regulated to some degree for the conservation of nesting birds by federal, state, municipal and nongovernmental organizations, including 20% that occurred on land closed to public use during the bird-breeding season. Only 13% of the pairs were on land that affords no protection to breeding birds.

Camouflage is a widespread strategy to avoid predation and is of particular importance for animals with reduced mobility, or those in exposed habitats. Camouflage often relies on matching the visual appearance of the background, and selecting fine-scale backgrounds that complement an individual's appearance is an effective means of optimising camouflage. We investigated whether there was an active selection of microhabitats and nest materials in three ground-nesting birds (pied avocet, Kentish plover and little tern) to camouflage their eggs using avian visual modelling. Plovers and avocets selected substrates in which their eggs were better camouflaged, and that choice was done at an individual level. Terns have lighter, less spotted eggs, and while they did select lighter background than the other species, their eggs were a poor match to their backgrounds. The worse matching of the tern eggs was likely due to a compromise between thermal protection and camouflage because they breed later, when temperatures are higher. Finally, the addition of nest materials improved egg camouflage in terms of luminance, although the materials reduced pattern matching, which may be associated with the different roles that the nest materials play. Active selection of substrates at an individual level may be crucial to improve nest success in species that nest in exposed sites. Gómez et al.-3 Significance statement Many bird species nest on the ground at sites with no vegetation cover where their nests are exposed to visual predators. We studied whether individual females chose nest substrates that improved the camouflage of their eggs. Using images of nests and avian vision modelling, we found that the choice of nesting substrates in two species was done at the individual level, so that egg camouflage was optimised. In addition, such species were even able to improve egg camouflage by the addition of materials into the nests. However, this pattern was not observed in another species with paler and less spotted eggs, which may reflect a trade-off between camouflage and overheating of eggs because it breeds later in the season. Although individuals may try to choose substrates in which their eggs are better camouflaged, other factors that compromise offspring survival may hamper this.

We studied reuse of nesting scrapes within breeding seasons by Kentish Plovers (Charadrius alexandrinus) in an inland lake of southern Spain over six years. Overall, 5.6% of original nests were reused at least once. We tested whether nest reuse is adaptive, but found no differences in breeding success between those pairs that reused nests and those that did not. We also tested whether nest reuse should be more frequent when scrapes are difficult to excavate than when it is easier to excavate them, and found that nests on hard substrates were more frequently reused than nests on soft substrates, and that nest reuse was more frequent in the second half of the season, when the nesting substrate is harder, than in the first half of the season. This suggests that nest reuse may save Kentish Plovers some energy.

The breeding distribution of the Eurasian Curlew Numenius arquata (hereafter 'Curlew') ranges from northern Spain in the southwest to northern China in the northeast (Delany et al. 2009). To the south of this range in Europe, only a few sites have been used irregularly; in Hagemeijer & Blair (1997) only two sites are marked, one in Slovenia and another in Croatia. The latter site, along the Croatian coast, was at that time the only known breeding site in the Mediterranean, but Curlews no longer nest in Croatia (BirdLife International 2004; Stroud 2004; A. Radović pers. comm.). Thorup (2006) and Delany et al. (2009) both sug-gested that the species does not breed in the Mediterranean. In the lagoon of Venice (Italy), Curlews occur throughout the year; midwinter counts during 2002–07 gave an average total of 1,791 birds (Scarton & Bon 2009), and hundreds of birds are recorded regularly in late spring and summer, but breeding evidence has not pre-viously been reported. Over the...

Nest and chick census data gathered from 1975-2005 at all known breeding colonies of Royal (Sterna maxima) and Sandwich (S. sandivicensis) Terns in three mid-Atlantic States are reported. Nest census data were gathered sporadically in North Carolina, Virginia, and Maryland throughout this period. Royal Tern chick counts based on annual banding efforts were obtained in Maryland since 1975 and North Carolina and Virginia since 1977, while Sandwich Tern chick counts date from 1977 in North Carolina and 1980 in Virginia. Royal Tern chick counts show significant annual variation by state, and are positively correlated between North Carolina and Virginia, but negatively correlated between Maryland and both North Carolina and Virginia. Sandwich Tern nest counts showed significant annual variation in North Carolina, as did chick counts in North Carolina and Virginia. These results suggest regional, rather than local, trends in Royal Tern numbers over time. While Royal Tern numbers indicate a gradual decline in nests and chick production since the 1980s, followed by an increase in recent years, Sandwich Tern numbers have remained consistently lower than Royal Terns but stable over the entire study period. Causes for the decline in Royal Tern numbers are attributed primarily to loss of open sandy habitat from vegetational succession at breeding sites on dredged material islands and to invasive species at nesting sites, including quadraped predators. Increased habitat management and regular censusing with consistent methodology are recommended to help maintain these species at sustainable levels.

The ERDC and ABC hosted a series of three workshops dealing with coastal Corps activities and bird conservation. The Jekyll Island workshop covered the South Atlantic Coast, essentially from the Virginia-North Carolina border to south Florida. Subsequent workshops covered the North Atlantic and Gulf Coasts. Workshop objectives were to expand capabilities of the Corps to contribute to various bird conservation plans, to make the bird conservation community aware of opportunities that exist through working with the Corps, to address and hopefully reduce some areas of conflict, and to improve interagency and organization cooperation for bird conservation in these coastal regions. This report, which provides guidance on how to create and manage dredged-material islands as early-successional bird habitat, supports the objectives and was funded from a research work unit under the Corps of Engineers Dredging Operations and Environmental Research (DOER) Program titled, "Reducing conflicts between coastal engineering projects and bird habitat needs." (http://el.erdc.usace.army.mil/dots/ coastalbirds.html). BACKGROUND: Navigable waterways and channels in the United States are maintained at appropriate depths through the process of dredging. This is primarily the responsibility of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), and to a lesser extent the State Ports and Departments of Transportation. The material removed during dredging projects can be used to create, restore, and maintain early successional habitats preferred by most species of terns and some solitary beach-nesting shorebirds (e.g., plovers and American Oystercatcher [Haematopus palliates]). In most cases, dredged material placed on islands can provide nesting habitat that is equal to or even better than natural sites. Conservancy, and Dr. R. Michael Erwin (U.S. Geological Survey, Patuxent Wildlife Research Center) for their external review and helpful comments on this manuscript. In-house Technical Reviews were provided by Drs. Richard A. Fischer and Michael P. Guilfoyle of the Environmental Laboratory, ERDC.

The paper presents a Sea Forest Island Project, an artificial island created with the use of city waste, which is to be an important public park in Tokyo. A 30 year project is one of the most outstanding examples of an advanced recycling, held on the territory of the metropolis, additionally foreseen to secure the wind corridor for the city.

One of the expected effects of the global warming is changing coastal habitats by accelerating the rate of sea level rise. Coastal habitats support large number of marine and wetland species including shorebirds (plovers, sandpipers and allies). In this study, we investigate how coastal habitats may be impacted by sea level rise in the Farasan Islands, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. We use Kentish plover Charadrius alexandrinus-a common coastal breeding shorebird-as an ecological model species to predict the influence of sea level rise. We found that any rise of sea level is likely to inundate 11% of Kentish plover nests. In addition, 5% of the coastal areas of Farasan Islands, which support 26% of Kentish plover nests, will be flooded, if sea level rises by one metre. Our results are constrained by the availability of data on both elevation and bird populations. Therefore, we recommend follow-up studies to model the impacts of sea level rise using different elevation