Distributions of avian mutualists are affected by changes in biotic interactions and environmental conditions driven directly/indirectly by human actions. The range contraction of red-billed oxpeckers (Buphagus erythrorhynchus) in South Africa is partly a result of the widespread use of acaracides (i.e., mainly cattle dips), toxic to both ticks and oxpeckers. We predicted the habitat suitabilit...

Taxonomic uncertainties within the genus Chondrohierax stem from the high degree of variation in bill size and plumage coloration throughout the geographic range of the single recognized species, hook-billed kite Chondrohierax uncinatus. These uncertainties impede conservation efforts as local populations have declined throughout much of its geographic range from the Neotropics in Central Ameri...

BACKGROUND The Texas Medicaid Program (Medicaid) defines billable time for labor analgesia as face-to-face time; therefore, anesthesia providers determine billed time. The authors' goal was to determine the influence of anesthesia providers on labor analgesia costs billed to Medicaid. METHODS Under the Freedom of Information Act, Medicaid provided data on claims paid for 6 months in 2001 for ...

The foraging ecology of small seabirds remains poorly understood because of the difficulty of studying them at sea. Here, the extent to which 3 sympatric seabirds (blue petrel, thinbilled prion and common diving petrel) alter their foraging ecology across the annual cycle was investigated using stable isotopes. δ13C and δ15N values were used as proxies of the birds’ foraging habitat and diet, r...

Many recent studies have shown that classic examples of mutualism are either far more complicated than originally believed, or that they are not mutualisms at all. Red-billed oxpeckers (Buphagus erythrorhynchus) are just such an example of an ‘‘adaptive story.’’ These small birds feed almost exclusively on what they can glean from the skin of large African mammals. The relationship is obligate ...

Background: The apparent rediscovery of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker Campephilus principalis in Arkansas, USA, previously feared extinct, was supported by video evidence of a single bird in flight (Fitzpatrick et al, Science 2005, 308:1460–1462). Plumage patterns and wingbeat frequency of the putative Ivory-billed Woodpecker were said to be incompatible with the only possible confusion species n...