1,720,992 research outputs found
Large-scale movements in the oceanic environment identify important foraging areas for loggerheads in central Mediterranean Sea
Full text linkLoggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) are known to display a wide range of movement patterns during the different stages of their life cycle, but empirical information to document this extensive behavioural plasticity is still limited. This is especially true for large, adult-sized individuals, that are thought to mainly forage in neritic areas. In the present paper, eight adult-sized loggerhead turtles were tracked using satellite telemetry to identify the location of their foraging grounds in the seas along the western coast of the Italian peninsula. Tracked turtles mostly stayed in the region between the Italian peninsula and the islands of Sicily and Sardinia, that was reached following quick, directed movements by the turtles from a release site to the north. In this area, two turtles took up residence in spatially limited neritic sites along the coast, while the remaining six alternated circumscribed coastal stays with long-distance, circuitous movements in the oceanic environment. An utilization distribution analysis clearly identified an area, mostly comprising oceanic waters, that was continuously used by turtles in different seasons and years. The present results contribute to the still-limited knowledge of the spatial ecology of loggerheads frequenting the Western Mediterranean Sea and highlight the presence of a potentially important oceanic region in the Southern Tyrrhenian Sea where adult-sized turtles forage for extended periods. These findings increase our knowledge of complex life history traits of loggerhead turtles and provide important information to be considered for evidence-based conservation measures
Adult sex ratios of loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) in two Mediterranean foraging grounds
Full text linkSea turtles show temperature-dependent sex determination (TSD) and information on sex ratios at different life stages is necessary both for population dynamics models for conservation and to shed light on the possible adaptive value of TSD. Adults represent the less abundant class of sea turtle populations and adult sex ratios at foraging grounds are very difficult to obtain. We first analysed biometric data of 460 juvenile and adult loggerhead sea turtles ranging from 60 to 97.5 cm curved carapace length (CCL), in which a clear bimodal distribution of tail length (the main secondary sexual character of adult males) was observed in the size class >75 cm CCL. We then sexed 142 adult turtles in this size class collected from the Tunisian shelf and from the southeastern Tyrrhenian Sea, observing a proportion of females of 51.5% (95% CI: 41.2-61.8%; n=97) and 40.0% (95% CI: 25.7-55.7%; n=45) respectively. Our results complement previous studies and support their findings of similar and more balanced sex ratios in adult and juvenile loggerhead turtles in the Mediterranean, in contrast with highly female-biased sex ratios of hatchlings. © 2014 CSIC
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
koamabayili/VECTRON-author-checklist: VECTRON author checklist
No full textWe have done our best to complete the author checklist relating to the use of animals in the hut study. Note that the objective for the hut study was to evaluate the IRS treatment applications for residual efficacy against Anopheles mosquitoes, including the local An. coluzzii mosquito population. Cows were only used to attract mosquitoes into the huts and no tests were carried out directly on the cows. The author checklist is intended for use with studies where experiments are carried out on animals, which is why we have had such difficulty in completing this for the hut study, as many of the questions do not relate to how the cows were used
Environmental and human factors affecting nesting success of loggerhead turtles on a new emerging nest site
No full textThe loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta) faces increasing threats from anthropogenic activities along coastal regions. This study presents an analysis of loggerhead nesting activity in an emerging new nesting area in the Western Mediterranean, specifically in the Campania Region, SW Italy. Utilizing a combination of traditional on-foot observations and innovative technologies such as electric bikes and drones, surveys were conducted from June to August 2023. A total of 141 female emergences were recorded, of which 54 resulted in successful nesting whereas the remaining 87 were “false crawls”. The overall nesting success rate in the Campania region was 38.3%, which is inline with nesting success rates observed on Eastern Mediterranean beaches. Mapping the nesting activity using QGIS revealed an incidence of nests in the municipality of Castel Volturno and a notable occurrence of false crawls in Camerota, while the Cilento area exhibited the highest rate of nesting success (39.4%). Despite trends indicating more nesting attempts on equipped beaches, no significant differences were detected in false crawl and nest distributions concerning light pollution and beach type. Turtle ascent distances were notably shorter on equipped beaches (mean 36.22m) compared to free beaches (mean 59.33m), with a significant p-value of 0.000013, indicating potential deterrent effects of beach structures. Analysis of turtle ascent lengths revealed no significant differences in length distribution concerning light pollution and beach position (p-value = 0.5385). Moreover, free beaches exhibited a higher average total length (40.6m) compared to equipped beaches (32.8m) suggestive of fewer obstacles hindering turtle ascent on free beaches. Ongoing monitoring of nesting activity is crucial for informing conservation strategies in the Western Mediterranean, highlighting the need for continued research to enhance our understanding and protection of loggerhead sea turtles in the region
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