Spring Bird Migrations of 1903

Cooling Towers as Obstacles in Bird Migrations

Bird Feeding and Irruptions of Northern Finches: Are Migrations Short-Stopped?

The provision of seed at feeders improves the survivorship of birds, facilitates range expansions, and influences habitat choice. In this paper, I examine the notion that bird feeding in northern parts of North America can short-stop the irruptive migrations of fringillids. Indirect data to support an increase in bird feeding over the past 25 years are provided. Using an area bounded by the App...

The cost of migration: spoonbills suffer higher mortality during trans-Saharan spring migrations only

Explanations for the wide variety of seasonal migration patterns of animals all carry the assumption that migration is costly and that this cost increases with migration distance. Although in some studies, the relationships between migration distance and breeding success or annual survival are established, none has investigated whether mortality during the actual migration increases with migrat...

Rainfall-induced changes in food availability modify the spring departure programme of a migratory bird.

Climatic warming has intensified selection for earlier reproduction in many organisms, but potential constraints imposed by climate change outside the breeding period have received little attention. Migratory birds provide an ideal model for exploring such constraints because they face warming temperatures on temperate breeding grounds and declining rainfall on many tropical non-breeding areas....

John von Neumann 1903 - 1957

If influence of a scientist is interpreted broadly enough to include impact on fields beyond science proper then John von Neumann was probably the most influential mathematician ever lived: not only did he contribute to almost all branches of modern mathematics and created new fields but he also changed history after the second World War by his work in computer design and by being a sought-afte...