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There are currently four world bird lists referenced by different stakeholders including governments, academic journals, museums and citizen scientists. Consolidation of these lists is a conservation and research priority. In reconciling lists, care must be taken to ensure agreement in taxonomic concepts—the actual groups of individual organisms circumscribed by a given scientific epithet. Here, we compare species-level taxonomic concepts for raptors across the four lists, highlighting areas of disagreement. Of the 665 species-level raptor taxa observed at least once among the four lists, only 453 (68%) were consistent across all four lists. The Howard and Moore Checklist of the Birds of the World contains the fewest raptor species (528), whereas the International Ornithological Community World Bird List contains the most (580) and these two lists are in the most disagreement. Of the disagreements, 67% involved owls, and Indonesia was the country containing the most disagreed upon species (169). Finally, we calculated the amount of species-level agreement across lists for each avian order and found raptor orders spread throughout the rankings of agreement. Our results emphasize the need to reconcile the four world bird lists for all avian orders, highlight broad disagreements across lists and identify hotspots of disagreement for raptors, in particular.

BioOne Complete (complete.BioOne.org) is a full-text database of 200 subscribed and open-access titles in the biological, ecological, and environmental sciences published by nonprofit societies, associations, museums, institutions, and presses.

Triclosan and triclocarban are antimicrobial compounds added to a variety of consumer products that are commonly detected in waste water effluent. The focus of this study was to determine whether the bioconcentration of these compounds in wetland plants and sediments exhibited species specific and site specific differences by collecting field samples from a constructed wetland in Denton, Texas. The study showed that species-specific differences in bioconcentration exist for triclosan and triclocarban. Site-specific differences in bioconcentration were observed for triclosan and triclocarban in roots tissues and sediments. These results suggest that species selection is important for optimizing the removal of triclosan and triclocarban in constructed wetlands and raises concerns about the long term exposure of wetland ecosystems to these compounds. (2010), I also hypothesized that the bioconcentration of TCS, MTCS, and TCC by P. cordata would be greater than S. graminea. Analyte Concentration Patterns in Plants and Sediment at Different LocationsThe ability of constructed wetlands to effectively treat organic contaminants, such 5 as PPCPs, is generally related to the multiple destructive (e.g. phyto-and microbial degradation) and non-destructive (e.g. sorption, volatilization, plant uptake) processes that are simultaneously ongoing in constructed wetlands systems (Imfeld et al., 2009).Although the contribution of individual processes to overall treatment efficacy is hard to quantify, longer exposure of the pollutant load to the constructed wetland environment (i.e. hydraulic retention time) has been associated with increased removal efficiencies (Matamoros et al., 2008). Thus, the exposure concentrations and, by extension, the amount of contaminants available for bioconcentration in wetland plants and sediments would also be expected to decrease as the plug of effluent water travels through the constructed wetland. As part of my study, I conducted an experiment to test the theory that wetland plants and sediments are exposed to progressively lower concentrations of the target contaminants by comparing the bioconcentration of TCS, MTCS, and TCC in plant tissues and sediments at different locations within an operational constructed wetland. The practical implications of this research include 1) the documentation constructed wetland PPCPs removal efficiency via bioconcentration patterns in wetland plants tissues and sediments. I hypothesized that analyte concentrations in plant tissues and sediments at the wetland inflow would be greater than the wetland outflow. Relationship between Analyte Concentrations in Tissues and SedimentsExisting models concerning the ability of plants to uptake organic contaminants is SamplingCollection sites were located at the inflow (Site 1), outflow (Site 3), and a third site (Site 2) representing the midpoint of the flow path between the inflow and outflow. 10Each site consisted of a rectangular plot measuring 3.1m x 6.1m (10ft x 20ft) oriented parallel to the flow of water. Do...

Most raptor populations are declining and nearly a fifth are threatened with extinction; thus there is a need to increase collaboration to ensure efficient and effective research, management, and conservation. Here, we introduce the Global Raptor Impact Network (GRIN; www.globalraptors.org), a tool to enhance collaboration and conservation impact of the raptor research community. We provide an overview of the history and current state of GRIN, including plans for expansion. Predecessors to GRIN include The African Raptor DataBank, which was launched in 2012 to ascertain the conservation status of raptors across Africa; and the Global Raptor Information Network, which was launched in the late 1990s as a website to provide information regarding diurnal raptors and facilitate communication among researchers. GRIN expands the data collection and storage capabilities of the African Raptor DataBank to a global scale via mobile application. We have implemented data-sharing rules to ensure the safety of sensitive species, and users of the GRIN mobile app can designate their records as confidential. GRIN staff and partners are developing analyses of species' population trends and geographic distributions to aid in conservation assessments. GRIN is also developing systematic reviews, detailed bibliographies, and online accounts that will summarize the state of knowledge for each raptor species. We hope that GRIN will benefit the entire raptor research community and aid in the collaboration necessary to help raptor populations thrive in the Anthropocene.

Demographic differences between stable and declining populations can lend insight into drivers of population decline. The American Kestrel Falco sparverius is a widespread and often‐studied falcon, yet its demography is poorly understood, and the causes of observed population declines across much of North America remain unknown. Using integrated population models and sensitivity analysis, we examine how vital rates drive growth in population levels of American Kestrels at four discrete study sites – Florida, Idaho and Pennsylvania with stable nestbox occupancy, and New Jersey, where occupancy is declining. Population growth was most sensitive to changes in adult survival, yet was most correlated with immigration, in all populations. Additionally, population growth was positively correlated with survival rates of juveniles in Pennsylvania. We found evidence for density‐dependence in at least one vital rate for all populations except Florida. Fecundity was density‐dependent in New Jersey and Idaho, and the population growth rate was density‐dependent in Idaho. Adult survival, immigration and the population growth rate were density‐dependent in Pennsylvania. The New Jersey population had the highest rate of fecundity, suggesting that declines there are probably not caused by reproductive failure. Our study demonstrates that two principal demographic processes, adult survival and immigration, drive population dynamics of American Kestrels – both of which are understudied.

Identifying population genetic structure is useful for inferring evolutionary process and comparing the resulting structure with subspecies boundaries can aid in species management. The American Kestrel (Falco sparverius) is a widespread and highly diverse species with 17 total subspecies, only 2 of which are found north of U.S./Mexico border (F. s. paulus is restricted to southeastern United States, while F. s. sparverius breeds across the remainder of the U.S. and Canadian distribution). In many parts of their U.S. and Canadian range, American Kestrels have been declining, but it has been difficult to interpret demographic trends without a clearer understanding of gene flow among populations. Here we sequence the first American Kestrel genome and scan the genome of 197 individuals from 12 sampling locations across the United States and Canada in order to identify population structure. To validate signatures of population structure and fill in sampling gaps across the U.S. and Canadian range, we screened 192 outlier loci in an additional 376 samples from 34 sampling locations. Overall, our analyses support the existence of 5 genetically distinct populations of American Kestrels—eastern, western, Texas, Florida, and Alaska. Interestingly, we found that while our genome-wide genetic data support the existence of previously described subspecies boundaries in the United States and Canada, genetic differences across the sampled range correlate more with putative migratory phenotypes (resident, long-distance, and short-distance migrants) rather than a priori described subspecies boundaries per se. Based on our results, we suggest the resulting 5 genetically distinct populations serve as the foundation for American Kestrel conservation and management in the face of future threats.