NINETEENTH RINGING REPORT FOR SOUTHERN AFRICA

Vernon, C. J. 1977. Nineteenth ringing report for southern Africa. Ostrich 48:106-109. A report on ringing activities for southern Africa from July 1975 to June 1976 is presented. A total of 36 016 birds of 419 species was ringed. The trends follow the general decline in ringing activities sinze a peak in 1970/71.     

EIGHTEENTH RINGING REPORT FOR SOUTHERN AFRICA

Vernon, C. J. 1976. Eighteenth ringing report for southern Africa. Ostrich 47:89-94. A report on ringing activities in southern Africa from July 1974 to June 1975 is presented. A total of 47 777 birds of 475 species were ringed. This information is examined according to distribution of ringers, species ringed and recovery rates.     

5. A NOTE ON THE PARADISE WHYDAHS

Vernon, C. J. 1975. Seventeenth ringing report for southern African. Ostrich 46:125-128.

A report on ringing activities in southern Africa from July 1973 to June 1974 is presented. A total of 51 561 birds of 451 species were ringed and are analysed according to distribution of ringers, groups of species and recovery rates. A list of those birds living longer than ten years is given. Analyses are needed of the most frequently ringed species in order to give greater purpose to future ringing.     

TWENTY-FIRST RINGING REPORT FOR SOUTHERN AFRICA

Morant, P. D. 1980. Twenty-first ringing report for southern Africa. Ostrich 51:204-214. A report on ringing activities for southern Africa from July 1977 to June 1978 is presented. A total of 16 830 birds of 346 species was ringed. This is a continuation of the trend established by emphasis being placed on project-orientated rather than indiscriminate ringing.     

Seasonal comparisons of Barn Owl diets in an agricultural and natural area in central South Africa

Longevity and displacement records aid in the understanding of animal senescence and the possible range of a species. Within wild populations this information is infrequent with most longevity reports being based on captive individuals and displacements being calculated from few monitored individuals within the population. Ringing offers a means of calculating these values and for avian species SAFRING and other bird ringing schemes are critically important. As many vulture populations are under threat, it has become ever more important to analyse all aspects of their demography to understand what can be done to aid the conservation of these species. Southern Africa’s eight vulture species are almost all listed as globally threatened and as a result many studies incorporate this ringing information. This has allowed for longevity records to be calculated for most of the species with the Cape Vulture obtaining the greatest reported longevity of 31 years 2 months and 14 days. In addition to the longevity records, ringing also produces maximum displacement records with the greatest vulture displacement being 2 530 km (White-backed Vulture). Although vulture ringing effort has improved in recent years very few new longevity records appear to be produced with most recent recoveries being under 10 years.     

REMARKS ON THE DISTRIBUTION OF BIRDS COLLECTED IN MASHONALAND AND EASTERN SOUTHERN RHODESIA (Part I)

Oatley, T. B. 1983. Twenty-third ringing report for southern Africa. Ostrich. 54:141-149.

Bird ringing activities in southern Africa are summarized for a two-year period from July 1979 to June 1981. A total of 42 374 birds were ringed. Much ringing effort was devoted to marine buds. Palaearctic migrants comprised nearly 12% of the birds ringed, with waders, swallows and warblers being the most frequently ringed families. There were 747 recoveries or recaptures reported during the reviey period, of which 73 were foreign-ringed birds. The remainder involved 103 species of birds, only nine of which contributed 10 or more recoveries to the total. Five of the nine are marine birds and collectively account for 55% of all recoveries and recaptures. A selected list of recoveries and recaptures of southern African-ringed birds is given.     

Migration routes from Lombardy,Northern Italy,to Africa,covered by birds ringed during eighteen years of ringing activity in five Pre-alpine Ornithological stations

Vigorita, V. 2000. Migration routes from Lombardy, Northern Italy, to Africa, covered by birds ringed during eighteen years of ringing activity in five Pre-alpine Ornithological stations. Ostrich 71 (1 & 2): 341.

Systematic bird ringing in Lombardy, northern Italy, was started in 1977. In total 661 979 birds of 168 species were ringed in the period 1977–1994. The recoveries were 3 660. The ringed species in five Prealpine Ornithological stations wintering and recovered in Africa, during eighteen years were 14: Anthus trivialis, Anthus pmtensis, Motacilla Java, Motacilla alba. Erithacus rubecula. Phoenicum phoenicurus, Turdus merula. Turdus philomelos, Sylvia borin, Sylvia atricapilla, Ficedula hypoleuca, Sturnus vulgaris, Fnngilla coelebs, Carduelis spinus. Accordingly, with ringing and recoveries data in Lombardy and recoveries data in Africa, we can get some more detailed information on migration routes. A better knowledge of migration routes allows the study of correlation among trends of populations and quality- quantity variation of habitats and meteorological dynamics in Afiica. The collection of data is expected to continue with more standardised methods for field research, data storage and their processing. Detailed migration routes, based on analysis of ringing data, are shown.     

Stable isotopes examined across a migratory divide in Scandinavian willow warblers (Phylloscopus trochilus trochilus and Phylloscopus trochilus acredula) reflect their African winter quarters

The C and N isotopes of feathers from two subspecies of willow warblers Phylloscopus trochilus trochilus and Phylloscopus trochilus acredula) are isotopically distinct. Our analysis of 138 adult males from 14 sites distributed across Sweden shows that the mean delta15N and delta13C values of subspecies acredula (from latitudes above 63 degrees N) were significantly higher than the mean delta15N and delta13C values of subspecies trochilus (from latitudes below 61 degrees N). The analysed willow warbler feathers had been moulted in the winter quarters and the observed isotopic signatures should thus reflect the isotopic pattern of food assimilated in Africa. The isotopic data observed in Sweden match the cline in morphology, both showing abrupt changes around 62 degrees N. This result agrees with data from ringing recoveries indicating that the two subspecies occupy geographically and isotopically distinct wintering grounds in Africa. Our isotopic data suggest that analysis of stable isotopes of C and N is a promising method to track wintering quarters of European birds that migrate to Africa.     

The gp120 Protein Is a Second Determinant of Decreased Neurovirulence of Indian HIV-1C Isolates Compared to Southern African HIV-1C Isolates

Regional differences in neurovirulence have been documented among subtype/clade-C HIV-1 isolates in India and Southern Africa. We previously demonstrated that a C31S substitution in Clade-C Tat dicysteine motif reduces monocyte recruitment, cytokine induction and direct neurotoxicity. Therefore, this polymorphism is considered to be a causative factor for these differences in neurovirulence. We previously reported on the genotypic differences in Tat protein between clade-C and rest of the clades showing that approximately 90% of clade-C HIV-1 Tat sequences worldwide contained this C31S polymorphism, while 99% of non-clade C isolates lacked this Tat polymorphism at C31 residue (Ranga et al. (2004) J Virol 78∶2586–2590). Subsequently, we documented intra-clade-C differences in the frequency of Tat dicysteine variants between India and Southern Africa, as the basis for differential disease severity and showed the importance of the Tat dicysteine motif for neuropathogenesis using small animal models. We have now examined if determinants of neurovirulence besides Tat are different between the clade-C HIV-1 isolates from Southern Africa and India. Envelope glycoprotein gp120 is a well-documented contributor to neurotoxicity. We found that gp120 sequences of HIV-1 isolates from these two regions are genetically distinct. In order to delineate the contribution of gp120 to neurovirulence, we compared direct in vitro neurotoxicity of HIV-infected supernatants of a representative neurovirulent US clade-B isolate with two isolates each from Southern Africa and India using primary human neurons and SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells. Immunodepletion of gp120 of both US clade B and the Southern African clade C isolates revealed robust decreases in neurotoxicity, while that of the Indian isolates showed minimal effect on neurotoxicity. The gp120 as a cause of differential neurotoxicity was further confirmed using purified recombinant gp120 from HIV isolates from these regions. We conclude that gp120 is one of the key factors responsible for the decreased neurovirulence of Indian clade C HIV-1 isolates when compared to South African clade C HIV-1.     

Winter site fidelity is higher than expected for Eurasian Teal Anas crecca in the Camargue,France

Capsule Eurasian Teal show a return rate of 18.9%, or homing rate of 76.3%, to a ringing site in Camargue, Southern France: this is a much higher winter site fidelity than expected from the literature.     

Middle and late Pleistocene Middle Stone Age lithic technology from Pinnacle Point 13B (Mossel Bay, Western Cape Province, South Africa)

Excavations at a complex of caves and open air sites at Pinnacle Point, Mossel Bay, Southern Africa have uncovered rich stratified assemblages of Middle Stone Age materials, including those from Pinnacle Point Cave 13B (PP13B) that comprises the first modernly excavated assemblage in southern Africa to be securely dated to the Middle Pleistocene. We report here on the complete excavated lithic artifact assemblage from PP13B. Both technological and typological analyses of the complete assemblage were performed. The assemblage-scale analysis allows for intrasite comparison as well as comparison of the PP13B assemblage with other sites from the region. No size-related pattern of change over time was observed within the PP13B assemblage, although there is significant evidence for varying strategies of lithic reduction between excavation areas within the cave. Comparison with other material from the Southern African MSA suggests that there is significant inter- and intra-site variability in the Southern African Middle Stone Age, even between portions of assemblages that are roughly contemporaneous.     

New insights into the history of the C-14010 lactase persistence variant in Eastern and Southern Africa

Lactase persistence (LP), the ability to digest lactose into adulthood, is strongly associated with the cultural traits of pastoralism and milk-drinking among human populations, and several different genetic variants are known that confer LP. Recent studies of LP variants in Southern African populations, with a focus on Khoisan-speaking groups, found high frequencies of an LP variant (the C-14010 allele) that also occurs in Eastern Africa, and concluded that the C-14010 allele was brought to Southern Africa via a migration of pastoralists from Eastern Africa. However, this conclusion was based on indirect evidence; to date no study has jointly analyzed data on the C-14010 allele from both Southern African Khoisan-speaking groups and Eastern Africa. Here, we combine and analyze published data on the C-14010 allele in Southern and Eastern African populations, consisting of haplotypes with the C-14010 allele and four closely-linked short tandem repeat loci. Our results provide direct evidence for the previously-hypothesized Eastern African origin of the C-14010 allele in Southern African Khoisan-speaking groups. In addition, we find evidence for a separate introduction of the C-14010 allele into the Bantu-speaking Xhosa. The estimated selection intensity on the C-14010 allele in Eastern Africa is lower than that in Southern Africa, which suggests that in Eastern Africa the dietary changes conferring the fitness advantage associated with LP occurred some time after the origin of the C-14010 allele. Conversely, in Southern Africa the fitness advantage was present when the allele was introduced, as would be expected if pastoralism was introduced concomitantly. Am J Phys Anthropol 156:661–664, 2015. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

FIRST FOSSIL EVIDENCE FOR THE PRIMITIVE ANGIOSPERM FAMILY LACTORIDACEAE

Pollen of the primitive angiosperm family Lactoridaceae has been recovered from Turonian-Campanian (Upper Cretaceous) sediments from eleven boreholes off the southwest coast of southern Africa. This is the first report of the Lactoridaceae in the fossil record. The one extant species of the Lactoridaceae is confined to the Juan Fernandez Islands located off the coast of Chile. The occurrence of lactoridaceous pollen in Cretaceous deposits of southern Africa suggest that this primitive angiosperm family may have been more widespread in the Southern hemisphere during the Cretaceous.     

Birds of a feather winter together: migratory connectivity in the Reed Warbler Acrocephalus scirpaceus

To investigate migratory connectivity in the Reed Warbler Acrocephalus scirpaceus, we analysed (1) all available sub-Saharan ringing recoveries and (2) stable isotopes in feathers grown in Africa sampled at 17 European breeding sites across a migratory divide. A cluster analysis of ringing recoveries showed remarkable connectivity between breeding and non-breeding grounds. Two main clusters represented populations taking the two main migratory routes [southwesterly (SW) and southeasterly (SE)]. Stable isotope analysis confirmed the separation of wintering areas of SW- and SE-migrating populations. Higher δ¹⁵N values in feathers of SE-migrating birds indicated that they occupied more xeric biome types. Values of δ¹³C that did not differ significantly among populations were higher than those from feathers of known European origin and indicated a C4 biome. Three populations with an unknown migratory direction were assigned to the SE-migrating populations on the basis of δ¹⁵N values.     

Edward Grey Institute of Field Ornithology report (May 1970 - May 1972)

The results of ringing over the last 60 years show that while the majority of British raptors migrate within the British Isles, some go to Europe and a few to Africa This analysis looks at British recoveries, both of locally bred and foreign birds, in the context of European movements as a whole. Besides providing information on migration routes and winter quarters, the ringing results emphasise that raptor conservation needs to be on an international scale.     

Release and establishment of Cotesia flavipes Cameron (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) an exotic parasitoid of Chilo partellus (Swinhoe) (Lepidoptera: Crambidae) in East and Southern Africa

Cotesia flavipes Cameron (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) was first imported into Kenya in 1991 from Pakistan for control of Chilo partellus (Swinhoe) (Lepidoptera: Crambidae). First releases were made at the Kenya coast in 1993 and a few recoveries of the parasitoid were made the following year. Additional foreign exploration for C. flavipes was conducted in central India in 1996 and 1998, which resulted in additional importation of the parasitoid for subsequent releases in eastern and southern Africa. Region-wide releases commenced with releases in Mozambique in 1996, Somalia in 1997 and Uganda in 1998. By 2005, many releases had been made in 10 countries in East and Southern Africa with establishment being reported in all of them except Eritrea but including Ethiopia where releases had never been made. This paper describes the progress made in the release and establishment of C. flavipes in East and Southern Africa and quantifies the rate of spread from the initial release sites in Kenya.     

The Southern African orchid flora: composition, sources and endemism

Aim The Southern African orchid flora is taxonomically well known, but the biogeographical and diversity patterns have not yet been analysed. In particular, we want to establish whether (a) it is, like the Southern African flora in general, more diverse than would be expected from its latitude and area; (b) it is an African flora, or whether it contains palaeoendemic relicts of a Gondwanan orchid flora; (c) the diversity and endemism in the orchid flora is concentrated in particular biomes and habitat types; and (d) the patterns of endemism in the flora can be accounted for by current environmental parameters, or whether we need to invoke historical explanations. Location Southern Africa. Methods We used the recent floristic account of the Southern African orchids, in conjunction with a data base of over 14,642 herbarium records, to assign the species and subspecies of Southern African orchids to biomes, habitats, and clades. We explored the relationship between the number and endemism of entities (species, subspecies and varieties) and the biomes and habitats. We compared the richness of this flora with that of 31 other regions from all continents and latitudes, to establish whether the Southern African orchid flora is richer or poorer than expected. We assigned the Southern African orchid species to 16 monophyletic clades and mapped the global distribution of these clades to establish the continental affinities of the flora. Main conclusions The Southern African orchid flora is not any more diverse than could be expected from its latitude or area, while the two tropical African floras included were less diverse than expected. Latitude is an excellent predictor of regional orchid species richness; this might indicate that available habitat is more important for orchid diversity than gross area available, since latitude is probably correlated with the extent of suitable habitat. The Southern African orchid flora is clearly an African flora, since all clades are also found in tropical Africa, while many of them are absent from the Americas or Asia. Conversely, while most African orchid clades are also found in Southern Africa, both the Americas and Asia contain many clades absent from Africa. The distribution of orchid entities among the biomes in Southern Africa is very uneven, with two of the seven biomes totally devoid of orchids. Habitats and biomes that have no equivalent in tropical Africa are high in endemism, and habitats and biomes which are also well developed in tropical Africa are low in endemism. Endemism appears largely explained in terms of modern habitats. However, two patterns (the high endemism in the Succulent Karoo and the lack of endemism in the southern Cape among epiphytic orchids) may also be explained in terms of Quaternary climatic changes.     

Sex and age-specific differences in wing pointedness and wing length in blackcaps Sylvia atricapilla migrating through the southern Baltic coast

The blackcap Sylvia atricapilla shows a complex migratory pattern and is a suitable species for the studies of morphological migratory syndrome, including adaptations of wing shape to different migratory performance. Obligate migrants of this species that breed in northern, central, and Eastern Europe differ by migration distance and some cover shorter distance to the wintering grounds in the southern part of Europe/North Africa or the British Isles, although others migrate to sub-Saharan Africa. Based on ˃40 years of ringing data on blackcaps captured during autumn migration in the Southern Baltic region, we studied age- and sex-related correlations in wing pointedness and wing length of obligate blackcap migrants to understand the differences in migratory behavior of this species. Even though the recoveries of blackcaps were scarce, we reported some evidence that individuals which differ in migration distance differed also in wing length. We found that wing pointedness significantly increased with an increasing wing length of migrating birds, and adults had longer and more pointed wings than juvenile birds. This indicates stronger antipredator adaptation in juvenile blackcaps than selection on flight efficiency, which is particularly important during migration. Moreover, we documented more pronounced differences in wing length between adult and juvenile males and females. Such differences in wing length may enhance a faster speed of adult male blackcaps along the spring migration route and may be adaptive when taking into account climatic effects, which favor earlier arrival from migration to the breeding grounds.     

Some notes on the trichoptera of standing waters in Africa,mainly south of the Zambezi

Summary In this paper records of Trichoptera in literature dealing with the standing waters of Africa south of the Zambezi, and from the relevant collections of material, are brought together and compared with those from elsewhere in the Ethiopian Region. The Trichopterous fauna of different types of standing waters in Southern Africa is described, and reasons for the lack of variety in the fauna are suggested. One of the main restrictive factors in their distribution appears to be the hydrogen ion concentration in the water, or some other factor controlled by it.National Institute for Water ResearchRead at the Annual Congress of the Limnological Society of Southern Africa.     

The Feeding of Nestling St. Kilda Wrens

Annual breeding productivity of Knots Calidris canutus was estimated by the proportion of first-year birds in winter ringing samples. Significant associations were found between the productivity of Knots, other species that are known to breed on the Taimyr Peninsula, and lemming abundance in that region. It is inferred from this that Knots wintering in southern Africa are of the Russian subspecies canutus unlike British wintering birds which do not show these correlations and are subspecies islandica.