Detached breakwaters are often employed to protect beaches against erosion. When these structures are frequently overtopped, they are named Low-Crested Structures (LCS). These LCS’s offer a number of potential advantages over conventional structures, but their functional design is extremely difficult due to the large number of different processes contributing to the resulting water/sediment flu...

There is great potential for the development of many new applications using data on mobile objects and mobile regions. To promote these kinds of applications advanced data management techniques for the representation and analysis of mobility-related data are needed. Together with application experts (behavioural ecologists), we investigate how two novel data management approaches may help. We f...

An experimental investigation is conducted on simultaneous flow through culvert and over broad-crested weir. The flow at the culvert outlet is considered as submerged flow. Both the culvert and the broad-crested weir (BCW) widths are smaller than the channel width. The characteristics of the simultaneous flow through both structures and the effects of flow and geometrical parameters of the stru...

Avian brood parasites reduce the reproductive success of the host, which favours the evolution of antiparasitic defences, such as aggression towards parasites or rejection of their eggs. The red-crested cardinal, Paroaria coronata, is a potential good-quality host of the shiny cowbird, Molothrus bonariensis. However, the frequency of cowbird parasitism in cardinal nests is very low and there ar...

The use of aquatic environmental DNA (eDNA) to detect the presence of species depends on the seasonal activity of the species in the sampled habitat. eDNA may persist in sediments for longer than it does in water, and analysing sediment could potentially extend the seasonal window for species assessment. Using the great crested newt as a model, we compare how detection probability changes acros...

Defensins play a key role in the innate immunity of various organisms. Detailed genomic studies of the defensin cluster have only been reported in a limited number of birds. Herein, we present the first characterization of defensins in a Pelecaniformes species, the crested ibis (Nipponia nippon), which is one of the most endangered birds in the world. We constructed bacterial artificial chromos...

Animal personalities, i.e. consistent differences in behavior across time and/or context, have received increased attention of behavioral biologists over the last years. Recent research shows that personalities represent traits on which natural and sexual selection work and which can have substantial fitness consequences. The aim of this study is to establish the personality structure of creste...