nature reserve in the Saudi Arabian desert. It has been a dry winter, with virtually no rain since the previous spring.The hoopoe larks are quiet this year. Occasionally a male whistles his song and dances vertically up and down in the air – about 5 metres up, then, after a somersault , back to the ground or the bush that he started from. In some years, every territory contains a dancing male. ...

When vertebrates invaded land during the Carboniferous period, they were exposed not only to new ecological opportunities but also to a desiccating environment. To maintain cellular water homeostasis, natural selection modified the integument of pioneering terrestrial animals, enabling them to reduce water loss through the skin. In desert environments, where ambient temperatures (T(a)) can reac...

“anzarna”, in the verse number 104 of the surah baqare, is a term that god recommend to believers use of it instead of word “raena”. so that they can cut excuse of jesses for mocking believers. this verse has been come after soliman and haroot and maroot in the verses number 103 and 102 of surah baqare. on the other hand the term nazar with different configuration and structure including “fanzo...

Most optimization problems in real life applications are often highly nonlinear. Local optimization algorithms do not give the desired performance. So, only global optimization algorithms should be used to obtain optimal solutions. This paper introduces a new nature-inspired metaheuristic optimization algorithm, called Hoopoe Heuristic (HH). In this paper, we will study HH and validate it again...

Molecular methods have revealed that symbiotic systems involving bacteria are mostly based on whole bacterial communities. Bacterial diversity in hoopoe uropygial gland secretion is known to be mainly composed of certain strains of enterococci, but this conclusion is based solely on culture-dependent techniques. This study, by using culture-independent techniques (based on the 16S rDNA and the ...

Symbiotic microorganisms may be directly transferred from parents to offspring or acquired from a particular environment that animals may be able to select. If benefits for hosts vary among microbial strains, natural selection may favour hosts holding the most beneficial one. Enterococci symbionts living in the hoopoe (Upupa epops) uropygial gland are able to synthesise bacteriocins (antimicrob...

Because deserts are characterized by low food availability, high ambient temperature extremes, and absence of drinking water, one might expect that birds that live in these conditions exhibit a lower basal metabolic rate (BMR), reduced total evaporative water loss (TEWL), and greater ability to cope with high air temperatures than their mesic counterparts. To minimize confounding effects of phy...

Nest placement affects the risk of predation on both eggs and incubating parents and determines the microclimate for incubation, two functions that may be in conflict, especially in hot deserts. We studied the roles of microclimate and nest predation on nest site selection by Hoopoe Larks (Alaemon alaudipes) in the Arabian Desert. Hoopoe Larks build nests in three microsites: on the gravel plai...

HIGHLIGHTS Hoopoe has been traditionally treated as a single species. RAPD PCR and COI gene barcodes were used to separate hoopoes. This study suggests the separation of Upupa epops major into new