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Complex Adaptive Resilience And Asymmetrical Balancing: Russia And The 2022 Sanctions Regime, Renny Puspitarini, Sartika Soesilowati, Kacung Marijan, Ahmad Iskandar Rahmansyah Sep 2026

Complex Adaptive Resilience And Asymmetrical Balancing: Russia And The 2022 Sanctions Regime, Renny Puspitarini, Sartika Soesilowati, Kacung Marijan, Ahmad Iskandar Rahmansyah

Journal of Strategic Security

The 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine prompted unprecedented Western sanctions, which amounted to more than 23,000 sanctions during 2022-2024. However, these sanctions failed to fulfill their designated objective of influencing the end of the Russia-Ukraine War. Russian responses to progressively augmented sanctions have sparked debates surrounding microeconomic sovereignty, macroeconomic adaptability, and, foremost, resilience. The article’s findings reveal that while sanctions have not brought the Russian Federation to acquiesce, they have catalyzed a structural, politically induced policy shift into a Complex Adaptive Resilience (CAR) framework. Russia's ability to build resilience against sanctions has been manifested structurally in its strategy to reinforce …

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Was The Us Invasion Of Iraq A Mistake, Or Are We Missing The Emergence Of A Promising Democracy?, Robert Burrell, Arman Mahmoudian, John Pennell Sep 2026

Was The Us Invasion Of Iraq A Mistake, Or Are We Missing The Emergence Of A Promising Democracy?, Robert Burrell, Arman Mahmoudian, John Pennell

Journal of Strategic Security

This study evaluates the long-term impact of the 2003 US invasion of Iraq on its democratic development, social stability, and regional geopolitics. Utilizing a comprehensive data-driven approach, including metrics on governance resilience, national morale, political dynamics, economic indicators, and security sector reforms, the research assesses progress over two decades. Findings indicate gradual improvements in Iraq’s democratic institutions, public confidence, and economic resilience, despite persistent challenges such as corruption, sectarian divisions, and regional influence from Iran and neighboring states. The analysis suggests that Iraq’s resilience and evolving political landscape could foster a nascent democracy capable of regional influence if key reforms …

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Between Markets And Maritime Might: India’S Engagements In The Indo-Pacific’S Emerging Order, Akriti Khajuria, Arushi Anthal Sep 2026

Between Markets And Maritime Might: India’S Engagements In The Indo-Pacific’S Emerging Order, Akriti Khajuria, Arushi Anthal

Journal of Strategic Security

In the strategic landscape of the Indo-Pacific, economic cooperation and security imperatives often converge in complex and sometimes conflicting ways. This strategic region has emerged as a critical arena where global and regional powers alike pursue economic engagement while recalibrating security postures in response to shifting geopolitical currents. Within this dynamic environment, India occupies a pivotal position as an emerging power seeking to reconcile its economic aspirations with evolving security challenges. This article explores how India negotiates the interplay between deepening economic integration, especially with major actors such as China and the US, while maintaining strategic autonomy and sovereignty. Anchored …

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Structural Dependency: Nato, Defense Industry Politics, And Europe’S Stagnation, Diane M. Zorri Sep 2026

Structural Dependency: Nato, Defense Industry Politics, And Europe’S Stagnation, Diane M. Zorri

Journal of Strategic Security

Europe’s defense industrial base (DIB) weaknesses are commonly attributed to underinvestment, fragmented policies, or a lack of European cohesiveness. This article advances an alternative explanation: European defense industrial dependency has emerged through institutionalized alliance structures that systematically privileged US capabilities and incentives, becoming self-reinforcing and difficult for European actors to exit, even as their strategic preferences evolved. Drawing on dependency theory, path dependence, and theories of alliance politics, this article argues that transatlantic security arrangements established during the early Cold War, most notably NATO’s integrated command structures, defense procurement norms, and interoperability requirements, have generated long-lasting asymmetries in production, technology, …

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Reinterpreting The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam Dispute In The Nile Basin Through The Game Theories Of Attrition And Bargaining, Olileanya Amuche Ezugwu, Felix C. Chidozie, Adeola A. Adebajo Sep 2026

Reinterpreting The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam Dispute In The Nile Basin Through The Game Theories Of Attrition And Bargaining, Olileanya Amuche Ezugwu, Felix C. Chidozie, Adeola A. Adebajo

Journal of Strategic Security

Why have more than a decade of negotiations, mediation efforts, and diplomatic interventions failed to produce a binding agreement on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD)? This article examines the hydro-politics of the Nile Basin through the lens of game theory, focusing on how bargaining behavior, strategic persistence, and competing perceptions of gains and losses shape state interactions. Drawing on the game of attrition and the bargaining game, the study analyzes the evolving strategies of Ethiopia, Egypt, and Sudan in the context of dam construction, filling, and operation. Rather than viewing the dispute solely as a contest over water allocation, …

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Teaching Strategic Intelligence In Political Transition, Henry W. Prunckun Sep 2026

Teaching Strategic Intelligence In Political Transition, Henry W. Prunckun

Journal of Strategic Security

Scholarship on intelligence ethics centers on operations, leaving the ethics of intelligence education and capacity-building under-theorized. This article develops retrospective moral reappraisal (RMR): the delayed moral reclassification of earlier teaching as ethically compromised when political transition and new public knowledge recontextualize what that teaching may have enabled. It argues that RMR is a pathway to moral injury because the injurious event is later learning—not the original classroom act—that one’s contribution is now plausibly implicated in harm. Linking RMR to complicity and enabling under uncertainty, the article clarifies how foreseeability, professional role morality, and leverage shape responsibility without requiring causal certainty …

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Using Social Vulnerability And Coastal Flooding Risk To Inform Preparedness Interventions In Hillsborough County, Bessan Abuaish Aug 2026

Using Social Vulnerability And Coastal Flooding Risk To Inform Preparedness Interventions In Hillsborough County, Bessan Abuaish

OneUSF Summer Undergraduate Research Symposium

Traditional disaster planning strategies often rely on broad countywide approaches that fail to address neighborhood level needs. Identifying communities with overlapping social vulnerability and physical risks can inform more equitable preparedness interventions. To identify neighborhoods with overlapping social vulnerability and coastal flooding risk in Hillsborough County and inform targeted preparedness interventions for vulnerable populations based on physical and socioeconomic risks, Geographic Information Systems mapping was used to overlay 16 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Social Vulnerability Index indicators with coastal flooding risks to isolate 36 high priority census tracts. Socioeconomic factors, age, limited English proficiency, vehicle access, and housing …

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Effects Of A Low-Dosage Bilingual Oral Language Intervention On Language Outcomes Among Dual Language Learners, Dana S. Melik Aug 2026

Effects Of A Low-Dosage Bilingual Oral Language Intervention On Language Outcomes Among Dual Language Learners, Dana S. Melik

OneUSF Summer Undergraduate Research Symposium

Dual language learners (DLLs) represent one of the fastest-growing populations in the United States, and many continue to receive English-language instruction with limited bilingual language support (Lindholm-Leary, 2022). Because oral language development is associated with later academic outcomes (Spencer & Petersen, 2020), evidence-based bilingual oral language interventions are needed, particularly in underserved schools where staffing and resources are limited. The present study examined the effects of Story Champs Bilingual Edition 2.0 (SCBE2.0), a narrative-based Spanish-English oral language intervention, on language outcomes among Spanish-English DLLs when delivered by trained nonteacher personnel at a low dosage. English and Spanish oral language outcomes …

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Digitizing An Assessment Protocol To Screen Bilingual Children For Developmental Language Disorder Risk, Ava De La Cruz, Anna Soares M.S., M. Adelaida Restrepo Phd Aug 2026

Digitizing An Assessment Protocol To Screen Bilingual Children For Developmental Language Disorder Risk, Ava De La Cruz, Anna Soares M.S., M. Adelaida Restrepo Phd

OneUSF Summer Undergraduate Research Symposium

By integrating technology into assessment protocols, administration becomes more streamlined and scores become quicker to calculate. It opens doors for portable evaluations and data, efficient result analysis, and easily searchable records. To take advantage of these benefits, this project developed a digital version of the form used in the Spanish Screener for Language Impairment in Children (SSLIC). SSLIC screens Spanish-English bilingual children for the risk of DLD, utilizing subtests focused on morphology, sentence repetition, and other language-specific measures. Through the survey and database management tool REDCap, each section of SSLIC’s protocol was converted into a digital survey for researchers to …

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Prologue To Special Section, David Ainley Aug 2026

Prologue To Special Section, David Ainley

Marine Ornithology

In 1972, the Pacific Seabird Group, “dedicated to the study and conservation of Pacific seabirds and their environment,” was founded by a group of idealistic US and Canadian Early Career Scientists (led by George Divoky, and egged-on by some older mentors) (Fig. 1). It was a heady time, with publication of Rachael Carson's Silent Spring, the first Earth Day, and the enactments of the Endangered Species Act, National Environmental Policy Act, and Clean Water Act. During this time, besides DDT and its effects on marine birds, major marine oil spills occurred in waters off Santa Barabara and San Francisco. …

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Conserving Seabirds: Actions Of The Pacific Seabird Group During Its First 40 Years., Craig S. Harrison Aug 2026

Conserving Seabirds: Actions Of The Pacific Seabird Group During Its First 40 Years., Craig S. Harrison

Marine Ornithology

The Pacific Seabird Group (PSG), founded in 1972, is “dedicated to the study and conservation of Pacific seabirds and their environment.” During its first 40 years, PSG undertook scores of conservation actions, although as an all-volunteer organization, PSG lacked the capacity to implement many programs or projects. It achieved its conservation goals through leadership, raising issues, bringing the best science to decision makers, and serving as a catalyst for others to act. PSG has been especially influential in six areas: (1) eradicating invasive alien animals from seabird colonies; (2) conserving Marbled Murrelets Brachyramphus marmoratus; (3) protecting seabird colonies in …

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Reviews: Where The Earth Meets The Sky: A Story Of Penguins, People, And Place In Antarctica (Blight, L.); The Great Auk: Its Extraordinary Life, Hideous Death And Mysterious Afterlife (Birkead, T.); The Last Of Its Kind: The Search For The Great Auk And The Discovery Of Extinction (Pálsson, G.); No Island Too Far: The History Of Seabirds And Their Remote Islands (Brooke, M.), Rachel Buxton, Eric Wagner Aug 2026

Reviews: Where The Earth Meets The Sky: A Story Of Penguins, People, And Place In Antarctica (Blight, L.); The Great Auk: Its Extraordinary Life, Hideous Death And Mysterious Afterlife (Birkead, T.); The Last Of Its Kind: The Search For The Great Auk And The Discovery Of Extinction (Pálsson, G.); No Island Too Far: The History Of Seabirds And Their Remote Islands (Brooke, M.), Rachel Buxton, Eric Wagner

Marine Ornithology

No abstract provided.

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Behavioral Insights Into The Galapagos Penguin Spheniscus Mendiculus: A Day In His Life—An Ethological Portrait., Jonathan Cueva, Wilson Iñiguez, Gregory Marshall, Christian Sevilla, Andrea Coloma, Lorena Venegas, Gustavo Jiménez-Uzcátegui Aug 2026

Behavioral Insights Into The Galapagos Penguin Spheniscus Mendiculus: A Day In His Life—An Ethological Portrait., Jonathan Cueva, Wilson Iñiguez, Gregory Marshall, Christian Sevilla, Andrea Coloma, Lorena Venegas, Gustavo Jiménez-Uzcátegui

Marine Ornithology

The Galapagos Penguin Spheniscus mendiculus, endemic to the Galápagos Archipelago, faces increasing ecological pressures threatening its population. This study aimed to characterize its daily behavioral patterns to better understand its adaptations and vulnerability to ecosystem changes. In one breeding locality, the Marielas Islets, we mounted a Crittercam on a male penguin to assess interactions with its mate and its behavior over a 24-hr period. Behaviors were classified as Diving, Foraging, Grooming, Intraspecific Interaction, Interspecific Interaction, Loafing, Prospecting, Resting, Surface Dipping, and Swimming. We analyzed behavioral data using chi-square tests and transition heat-maps. Results revealed predominantly surface behaviors—Prospecting (41.2% of …

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Breeding Parameters Of The Gull-Billed Tern Gelochelidon Nilotica In Boughrara Lagoon, Southeast Tunisia., Amel Neb, Slaheddine Selmi Aug 2026

Breeding Parameters Of The Gull-Billed Tern Gelochelidon Nilotica In Boughrara Lagoon, Southeast Tunisia., Amel Neb, Slaheddine Selmi

Marine Ornithology

We provide, for the first time, data on the breeding parameters of the Gull-billed Tern Gelochelidon nilotica in Tunisia, at Boughrara Lagoon. From May to July 2024, we monitored a breeding colony located on a small islet in the northern part of the lagoon. In total, 112 nests were monitored: 71 nests initiated in mid-May (early clutches) and 41 in early June (late nests). Clutch size ranged from one to four eggs (mean ± standard deviation [SD] = 2.51 ± 0.06), with no significant difference between early and late nesters. Egg volume ranged from 14.65 to 49.23 cm3 (mean ± …

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Sex And Age Characteristics Of Northern Fulmars Fulmarus Glacialis Used In Programs To Monitor Plastic Ingestion., Jan A. Van Franeker, Susanne Kühn Aug 2026

Sex And Age Characteristics Of Northern Fulmars Fulmarus Glacialis Used In Programs To Monitor Plastic Ingestion., Jan A. Van Franeker, Susanne Kühn

Marine Ornithology

Carcasses of beached or accidentally killed Northern Fulmars Fulmarus glacialis, collected for monitoring plastic ingestion, have shown that the incidence of litter may vary over time and by region. Age, sex, and season of fulmar collection appear to affect the quantity of plastics ingested. More detailed analyses of monitoring data thus require reliable and consistent methods for assessing age and sex. Methods were first described in a monitoring manual in 2004 and later in international guidelines, but age and sex definition required further clarification. A large dataset of 3,790 dissected birds now allows for detailed descriptions of sex and …

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Seabirds As Ecosystem Engineers: Providing Arthropod Habitat On Oceanic Islands., Kanon Mizukoshi, Kazuto Kawakami, Takashi Kamijo Aug 2026

Seabirds As Ecosystem Engineers: Providing Arthropod Habitat On Oceanic Islands., Kanon Mizukoshi, Kazuto Kawakami, Takashi Kamijo

Marine Ornithology

Seabirds play several important ecological roles on oceanic islands through their high-density breeding. Their ecosystem functions—such as nutrient cycling through excretion or terrestrial vegetation disturbance through trampling—are well known; however, little is known of their roles as ecosystem engineers. Nests and burrows can be densely concentrated in seabird colonies, by which seabirds can affect adjacent terrestrial ecosystems, especially affecting arthropods that use these structures as food or habitats. However, studies investigating the species composition of arthropods that inhabit seabird nests are limited. To characterize the arthropod faunas in seabird nests, this study surveyed and analyzed 90 nests of three seabird …

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Comparing Counts Made From Drone-Based And Boat-Based Photography For Surveying Thick-Billed Murre Uria Lomvia Cliff Colonies., Ewan Macdonnell, Sarah E. Gutowsky, Kyle H. Elliott Aug 2026

Comparing Counts Made From Drone-Based And Boat-Based Photography For Surveying Thick-Billed Murre Uria Lomvia Cliff Colonies., Ewan Macdonnell, Sarah E. Gutowsky, Kyle H. Elliott

Marine Ornithology

Surveys of cliff-nesting seabirds from sea level or ground level often miss individuals hidden by topography, leading to underestimates of abundance. Thick-billed Murres Uria lomvia are especially challenging to survey accurately due to their dense nesting on vertical cliff ledges in remote northern regions. In Canada, updated colony surveys are needed, as currently used population estimates, done from boats, are outdated. Drones offer better vantage points and may reduce availability bias (i.e., the proportion of birds present but not visible), but direct comparisons with boat-based counts are essential. We compared murre counts from drone- and boat-based photographs of six vertical …

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Foraging Areas Of Breeding Adult Sooty Terns Onychoprion Fuscatus On Bird Island, Seychelles., Jessica L. Neumann, Ruth E. Dunn, Malcolm A. C. Nicoll, Christine S. Larose, Chris Foster, Gary Brodin, Chris J. Feare Aug 2026

Foraging Areas Of Breeding Adult Sooty Terns Onychoprion Fuscatus On Bird Island, Seychelles., Jessica L. Neumann, Ruth E. Dunn, Malcolm A. C. Nicoll, Christine S. Larose, Chris Foster, Gary Brodin, Chris J. Feare

Marine Ornithology

The foraging areas used by adult Sooty Terns Onychoprion fuscatus during incubation and early chick-rearing on Bird Island, Seychelles, were investigated using small GPS loggers. Birds departed the colony mainly during the night and foraged by day. Most foraging trips were completed within 24 hr, but during incubation the longest duration recorded was seven days and 14 hr (during which the bird travelled 2,783 km and reached a maximum of 692 km from the colony). Departures were generally in an arc from south (180°) through westerly to 40°. Sooty Terns foraged frequently in waters over the Seychelles Bank shelf break, …

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First Gps Tracking Of The Black Storm Petrel Hydrobates Melania., Jorge Cristerna, Gemma Abaunza, Joel Aarón López-Hernández, Cecilia Soldatini, Yuri Vladimir Albores-Barajas, Federico De Pascalis, Jacopo G. Cecere Aug 2026

First Gps Tracking Of The Black Storm Petrel Hydrobates Melania., Jorge Cristerna, Gemma Abaunza, Joel Aarón López-Hernández, Cecilia Soldatini, Yuri Vladimir Albores-Barajas, Federico De Pascalis, Jacopo G. Cecere

Marine Ornithology

The research reported here, conducted at Archipiélago de Espíritu Santo National Park, Baja California Sur, Mexico, establishes the first successful application of biologging on a Black Storm Petrel Hydrobates melania. Results yielded preliminary insights into this population's marine movements during nesting. The device used, weighing less than 3% of the bird's body mass, recorded a 181-km foraging trip. Subsequent trajectory analysis indicated navigation behavior that potentially was optimized to use crosswind assistance. The individual showed no weight loss post-retrieval, a finding that suggests this method is viable and unharmful, demonstrating the feasibility of using miniaturized tracking devices to unravel …

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Predicting Suitable Marine Habitat For Pink-Footed Shearwaters Ardenna Creatopus In The Waters Along The Pacific Coast Of Canada., Sonya A. Pastran, Patrick D. O’Hara, Kenneth H. Morgan, Caroline H. Fox, W. Eric Gross Aug 2026

Predicting Suitable Marine Habitat For Pink-Footed Shearwaters Ardenna Creatopus In The Waters Along The Pacific Coast Of Canada., Sonya A. Pastran, Patrick D. O’Hara, Kenneth H. Morgan, Caroline H. Fox, W. Eric Gross

Marine Ornithology

Anthropogenic activities are threatening global marine ecosystems, with seabirds representing a vulnerable group that has experienced pronounced population declines in recent decades. The ability to identify important marine areas for vulnerable seabirds is fundamental to conservation initiatives. The Pink-footed Shearwater Ardenna creatopus (listed as Endangered in Canada) breeds only in Chile, but during the non-breeding season, it ranges northward to waters off Canada's Pacific coast and the northern Gulf of Alaska. Using at-sea survey data spanning from 1992 to 2019, we examined the relationship between the species' distribution and environmental variables using a two-step generalized additive model approach. Cross-validation with …

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Tasmanian Records Of Vagrant Penguins, 1991–2025., Eric J. Woehler Aug 2026

Tasmanian Records Of Vagrant Penguins, 1991–2025., Eric J. Woehler

Marine Ornithology

During the period 01 January 1991 to 31 August 2025, there were 274 records of vagrant penguins in Tasmania. These records represented three genera: Aptenodytes, Pygoscelis, and Eudyptes. The most frequently reported species were Fiordland Penguin E. pachyrhynchus, Royal Penguin E. schlegeli, and King Penguin A. patagonicus. High numbers of records were reported from 10 years, with a peak in 1999 and a lower peak in 2023. Records from January to March accounted for approximately 42% of all vagrant penguin occurrences and corresponded with the arrival of pre-moult birds of all ages. A range …

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Comparative Diet Analysis Of Three Larid Species Nesting At Isla Rasa, Gulf Of California, Mexico., Enriqueta Velarde, Lloyd T. Findley Aug 2026

Comparative Diet Analysis Of Three Larid Species Nesting At Isla Rasa, Gulf Of California, Mexico., Enriqueta Velarde, Lloyd T. Findley

Marine Ornithology

Isla Rasa, situated in highly productive waters of the Gulf of California, has the largest nesting colony of Royal Terns Thalasseus maximus (as many as 17,000 individuals) in the Mexican Pacific, sharing this site with 300,000 Elegant Terns T. elegans and 260,000 Heermann's Gulls Larus heermanni. During eight breeding seasons between 1996 and 2011, we found that the Royal Tern diet contained over twice the number of prey species as the other two seabirds' diets: the Royal Tern's diet included 36 species of fishes, in 20 families, and pelagic squat lobster Grimothea planipes, whereas the Elegant Tern and …

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Evidence For Colony Attendance By Immature Streaked Shearwaters Calonectris Leucomelas During The Chick-Rearing Period., Helen M. Pružina, Akiko Shoji, Masaki Shirai, Sakiko Matsumoto, Ken Yoda, Annette L. Fayet Aug 2026

Evidence For Colony Attendance By Immature Streaked Shearwaters Calonectris Leucomelas During The Chick-Rearing Period., Helen M. Pružina, Akiko Shoji, Masaki Shirai, Sakiko Matsumoto, Ken Yoda, Annette L. Fayet

Marine Ornithology

Many seabird species have a long breeding-deferral period, during which individuals mature and spend most of their time at sea, making them particularly difficult to study. In some species, immatures are known to start visiting colonies before reaching adulthood, presumably to learn the behaviours required to secure a nest and mate for future breeding. However, immature colony attendance remains undocumented in many species, particularly those that are difficult to observe, such as nocturnal, cavity-nesting species and species in which immatures are indistinguishable from adults. Here, we studied the attendance patterns and behaviour of Streaked Shearwaters Calonectris leucomelas on Awashima Island, …

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First Record Of Leucism In Kerguelen Shag Leucocarbo Verrucosus, Kevin Guille Aug 2026

First Record Of Leucism In Kerguelen Shag Leucocarbo Verrucosus, Kevin Guille

Marine Ornithology

The first case of leucism in the Kerguelen Shag Leucocarbo verrucosus was observed on Mayes Island, Kerguelen Archipelago, in the southern Indian Ocean between October 2021 and November 2022. The individual exhibited extensive white plumage with scattered black feathers while maintaining normal eye pigmentation, consistent with leucism rather than albinism. Despite exhibiting typical behavior and social interactions, no breeding activity was recorded. This observation highlights the occurrence of pigment abnormalities in sub-Antarctic seabirds and underscores the importance of continued monitoring to better understand their ecological or genetic implications.

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Satellite Tracking Of Galapagos Petrel Pterodroma Phaeopygia Reveals Distribution And Movements During Chick Rearing., Carolina B. Proaño, Sebastian M. Cruz, Josh Adams, Martin Wikelski Aug 2026

Satellite Tracking Of Galapagos Petrel Pterodroma Phaeopygia Reveals Distribution And Movements During Chick Rearing., Carolina B. Proaño, Sebastian M. Cruz, Josh Adams, Martin Wikelski

Marine Ornithology

We tracked 19 adult Galapagos Petrels Pterodroma phaeopygia during the chick-rearing seasons in 2009 and 2010 (Santa Cruz Island [n = 16] and Floreana Island [n = 3]) in the Galápagos Islands, Ecuador. Eight petrels performed 27 complete foraging trips lasting 0.6 to 18.8 days. Short trips (3.2 ± 2.1 days; 785 km; max displacement 671 km) and long trips (10.8 ± 3.9 days; 2,856 km; max displacement 1,034 km) resulted in concentrated use of waters off southern and western Isabela Island and within the Galápagos Marine Reserve (GMR). Less concentrated time extended farther southwest and eastward, in …

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Unfamiliar Plumage Aberration Observed On A Razorbill Alca Torda At Machias Seal Island., Daniel Oliker, Antony W. Diamond, Heather L. Major Aug 2026

Unfamiliar Plumage Aberration Observed On A Razorbill Alca Torda At Machias Seal Island., Daniel Oliker, Antony W. Diamond, Heather L. Major

Marine Ornithology

Aberrant plumage variation in seabirds can be caused by both heritable genetic mutations and non-heritable somatic mutations due to environmental stressors. In Razorbills Alca torda, aberrant colouration has been documented four times: three as cases of melanism and one seemingly of leucism, both heritable mutations. Here, we describe the observation and subsequent capture of a Razorbill with an unfamiliar plumage phenotype we hypothesize to be caused by a somatic mutation. To our knowledge, this is the first reported instance of a somatic mutation affecting the plumage of a Razorbill in the primary literature.

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Seasonal Variation In Trophic Niche And Resource Use In Great Black-Backed Gulls Larus Marinus., Samuel Langlois Lopez, Nina J. O’Hanlon, Jared Wilson, Rona A. R. Mcgill, Francis Daunt, Elizabeth A. Masden Aug 2026

Seasonal Variation In Trophic Niche And Resource Use In Great Black-Backed Gulls Larus Marinus., Samuel Langlois Lopez, Nina J. O’Hanlon, Jared Wilson, Rona A. R. Mcgill, Francis Daunt, Elizabeth A. Masden

Marine Ornithology

Seabirds experience variable extrinsic and intrinsic pressures throughout the annual cycle that affect their ability to forage. Consequently, their foraging strategies may vary between breeding and non-breeding seasons due to the constraints of central-place foraging during the former. Here, we studied a population of a generalist seabird, the Great Black-backed Gull Larus marinus, breeding at a colony on the Isle of May, Scotland. We quantified seasonal variation in sexual segregation, trophic position, trophic niche width, and resource use by examining stable isotopes in feathers collected from adults. We found no sexual segregation, but we detected population- and individual-level shifts …

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Observation Of Black Noddies Anous Minutus Swallowing Coral Pebbles On A Polynesian Atoll., Simon Ducatez, Jayna L. Devore Aug 2026

Observation Of Black Noddies Anous Minutus Swallowing Coral Pebbles On A Polynesian Atoll., Simon Ducatez, Jayna L. Devore

Marine Ornithology

We report the observation of Black Noddies Anous minutus ingurgitating small pieces of coral debris on top of beachrock on the atoll of Tetiʻaroa, 50 km north of Tahiti in French Polynesia.

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Assessing The Impact Of Coordinated Mink Culling On Bird Populations On Coastal Islands In Norway., Fredrik R. Staven, Torgeir Nygård Aug 2026

Assessing The Impact Of Coordinated Mink Culling On Bird Populations On Coastal Islands In Norway., Fredrik R. Staven, Torgeir Nygård

Marine Ornithology

The introduction of the non-native American Mink Neogale vison (syn. Neovison vison), a predator of birds and their chicks and eggs, is one of many anthropogenic factors that may be driving the decline of seabird populations in areas where mink are prevalent. Previous studies have shown that ground-nesting birds utilising coastal ecosystems are especially vulnerable. In this study, we investigated changes in seabird and coastal-bound bird populations, focusing on ground-nesting species, and the potential effect from mink culling. Ten locations in the archipelago of Flatanger, a coastal municipality in central Norway, were surveyed, and bird counts from 1991, 2016, …

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Important Bird Area Ant 110 Muskegbukta, Queen Maud Land, East Antarctica: A Case Study., Barbara Wienecke Aug 2026

Important Bird Area Ant 110 Muskegbukta, Queen Maud Land, East Antarctica: A Case Study., Barbara Wienecke

Marine Ornithology

The nomination of Important Bird Areas (IBAs) is a useful approach to determine where valuable biodiversity areas occur. In Antarctica, 204 areas have been designated as IBAs, 34 of which contain Emperor Penguin Aptenodytes forsteri colonies. The dynamic nature of the Antarctic environment presents challenges to IBA nominations, particularly for a species such as the Emperor Penguin, whose colonies can shift markedly in location across years. This paper uses IBA ANT 110 Muskegbukta as a case study to explore how changes in local and regional fast ice conditions result in relocation of a colony beyond the nominated IBA boundary. Because …

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