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Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (ˈeɪviːz), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweight skeleton. Birds live worldwide and range in size from the bee hummingbird to the common ostrich. There are about ten thousand living species, more than half of which are passerine, or "perching" birds. Birds have whose development varies according to species; the only known groups without wings are the extinct moa and elephant birds. Wings, which are modified forelimbs, gave birds the ability to fly, although further evolution has led to the loss of flight in some birds, including ratites, penguins, and diverse endemic island species. The digestive and respiratory systems of birds are also uniquely adapted for flight. Some bird species of aquatic environments, particularly seabirds and some waterbirds, have further evolved for swimming. The s

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Plastic pollution in Swiss surface waters: nature and concentrations, interaction with pollutants

Luiz Felippe De Alencastro, Colin Demars, Florian Faure, Olivier Wieser

Marine microplastic (,5 mm) water pollution has met growing public and scientific interest in the last few years. The situation in freshwater environments remains largely unknown, although it appears that they play an important role as part of the origin of marine pollution. Apart from the physical impacts on biota, chemical effects are to be expected as well, especially with smaller particles. This study aims at assessing plastic abundance in Lakes Geneva, Constance, Neuchaˆtel, Maggiore, Zurich and Brienz, and identifying the nature of the particles, potential ingestion by birds and fishes, and the associated pollutants. Lake surface transects and a few rivers were sampled using a floating manta net, and beach sediments were analysed. Plastics were sorted by type (fragments, pellets, cosmetic beads, lines, fibres, films, foams) and composition (polypropylene, polyethylene, polystyrene, etc.); fish and water birds were dissected to assess their potential exposure, and analyses were conducted on the hydrophobic micropollutants adsorbed to the microplastics as well as some potentially toxic additives they contained. Evidence of this pollution is shown for all lakes, microplastics of all types and diverse composition having been found in all samples. Birds and fish are prone to microplastic ingestion, and all the tested chemicals (both adsorbed micropollutants and contained additives) were found above the detection limit, and often the quantification limit. The sources and their respective contribution need to be confirmed and quantified, and the ecotoxicological effects need further investigation. Other questions remain open, including the transport and fate of plastic particles in the environment.

Csiro Publishing2015

Microplastics in Swiss surface waters and going upstream: nature, concentrations, interaction with pollutants

Luiz Felippe De Alencastro, Colin Demars, Florian Faure, Olivier Wieser

Marine microplastic (< 5 mm) water pollution has met growing public and scientific interest in the last years. The situation in freshwater environments remains largely unknown, although they appear to play an important role as part of the origin of marine pollution. Apart from the physical impacts on biota, chemical effects are to be expected as well, especially with smaller particles. This study aimed at assessing the situation for the Swiss Lakes Geneva, Constance, Neuchâtel, Maggiore, Zurich and Brienz, and identifying potential impacts. Lake surface transects, a few rivers as well as urban runoff outlets and WWTPs have been sampled using a floating manta net, and beach sediments have been analysed. Plastics have been sorted in types (fragments, pellets, cosmetic beads, lines, fibres, films, foams) and composition (PP, PE, PS, etc.). Fishes and water birds have been dissected to assess their potential exposure, and analyses of the hydrophobic micropollutants adsorbed to the microplastics as well as some potentially toxic additives they contained have been conducted. It appears that all lakes are affected by this pollution, microplastics of all types and diverse composition having been found in all samples. Birds and fishes are prone to microplastic ingestion, and all the tested chemicals (both adsorbed micropollutants and contained additives) were found above the detection limit, and often the quantification limit. The sources and their respective contribution need to be confirmed and quantified, and the ecotoxicological impacts also need further investigation. Other questions remain open, including the transport and fate of the plastic particles in the environment.

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Autonomous Detection and Deterrence of Pigeons on Buildings by Drones

Dario Floreano, Dominik Natter, Fabrizio Schiano, Davide Zambrano

Pigeons may transmit diseases to humans and cause damages to buildings, monuments, and other infrastructure. Therefore, several control strategies have been developed, but they have been found to be either ineffective or harmful to animals and often depend on human operation. This study proposes a system capable of autonomously detecting and deterring pigeons on building roofs using a drone. The presence and position of pigeons were detected in real time by a neural network using images taken by a video camera located on the roof. Moreover, a drone was utilized to deter the animals. Field experiments were conducted in a real-world urban setting to assess the proposed system by comparing the number of animals and their stay durations for over five days against the 21-day- trial experiment without the drone. During the five days of experiments, the drone was automatically deployed 55 times and was significantly effective in reducing the number of birds and their stay durations without causing any harm to them. In conclusion, this study has proven the effectiveness of this system in deterring birds, and this approach can be seen as a fully autonomous alternative to the already existing methods.

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Mammal

A mammal () is a vertebrate animal of the class Mammalia (məˈmeɪli.ə). Mammals are characterized by the presence of milk-producing mammary glands for feeding their young, a neocortex region of the b

Vertebrate

Vertebrates (ˈvɜrtəbrɪts,_-ˌbreɪts) are animals with spinal cords and bony or cartilaginous backbones, including all mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish.
The vertebrates consist of all the

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Insects (from Latin insectum) are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part b