We use high-resolution digital elevation models (DEMs) from unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) surveys to document the evolution of four ice cliffs on the debris-covered tongue of Lirung Glacier, Nepal, over one ablation season. Observations show that out of four cliffs, three different patterns of evolution emerge: (i) reclining cliffs that flatten during the ablation season; (ii) stable cliffs tha...

E CULLEN (1957) showed that the cliff-nesting Black-legged Kittiwake (Larus (Rissa) tridactylus) differs from “typical” (i.e., ground-nesting)‘ gulls in many respects. The species’ unique morphological and behavioral characters, Cullen cogently argued, have resulted from adaptation (either directly or indirectly) to cliff-breeding. Epistemologically, the correlation between cliff-nesting and un...

Determining the effect of an invasive species on enzootic pathogen dynamics is critical for understanding both human epidemics and wildlife epizootics. Theoretical models suggest that when a naive species enters an established host-parasite system, the new host may either reduce ('dilute') or increase ('spillback') pathogen transmission to native hosts. There are few empirical data to evaluate ...

Probabilistic methods provide a means of demonstrating the potential variability in predictions of coastal cliff recession. They form the basis for risk-based land use planning, cliff management and engineering decision-making. A range of probabilistic methods for predicting soft coastal cliff recession has now been developed, including statistical techniques, process-based simulation and struc...

The peregrine falcon holds a special place in the minds of environmentalists and conservation biologists. The crash in its population throughout the 1950s and 60s was linked to the rapidly increasing use of agricultural organochlorine pesticides which led to a thinning of the birds’ eggshells and dramatic breeding failure. Since the widespread ban on the use of these chemicals, populations have...

The asparagus season has recently ended for northern hemisphere crops. Tradition has it that, at the summer solstice, growers stop cutting spears to allow the plant to grow and produce enough resources to generate spears for the next spring’s crop. The plant is becoming increasingly fashionable and production is increasing to meet demand. But the cultivated asparagus has a wild relative that is...