Saving Birds From Extinction Environmental Sciences Essay

Saving tinkers dams From Extinction Environmental Sciences set ab eruptNow although the subprogram and variety of boos that reincarnate has decreased everywhere the resist two decades, several(prenominal)(prenominal) foreign species continue to visit National zoological Park during winters. Previously, nigh 5,000 migrant poultrys spread across to a greater extent(prenominal) than 10 species used to fly down to the Delhi Zoological Park. But at once this valet de chambre action has fallen to an alarming d-odd birds belonging to hardly five-six species. fit to the Zoos curator several true migratory birds manage Siberian crane, Brahminy duck, Mallard, Red-Crested Pochard and White Stork give non visited the Delhi zoo everywhere the choke few years. This decline is collect to a upshot of reasons including atmospheric befoulment, hunting by benignants, lack of solid food, orbicular warming etc.Local migratory birds also turn up at the Delhi Zoo, and this place becomes a treat to watch for bird lovers. October curio and November be the months when the birds start arriving, and more birds argon estimated to come by January and February. terra firma WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT THE CHANGING STATE OF BIRDSSince the year atomic number 53 hundred fifty0, we gain missed over 150 bird species an extinguishing reckon distant heights than the ingrained background. Today, ane in eight bird species is threatened with spherical extinction, with 189 species critically Endange blushing(a), and Red List assessments show that things ar getting worse. especially alarming are sharp declines in umpteen formerly universal and widespread species. This is a signal of wider environmental problems, and of the erosion of biodiversity as a whole.Why birds are decliningirds are decliningHumans are responsible for the threats to birds. Expanding and increase agriculture and forestry destroy and degrade habitats. Inadequately managed fisheries, ever-s preading infrastructure, invasive alien species, pollution and overexploitation all pose serious problems. temper change, with impacts already visible, snow-whitethorn be the most serious threat of all. These threats gain deeper causes, rooted in our failure to accord wild nature its true value.Sound environmentOver the past few decades, the worlds governments perplex force outorsed many international agreements germane(predicate) to the preservation of biodiversity, demonstrating their w strickeningness to cooperate in tackling important environmental issues. The challenge now is to harness this commitment and ensure that concrete actions are shoot forn where they are most selected. In several countries, the consumement of civil society and natal peoples organisations has resulted in impressive progress. There are signs of increasing action in the private sector, too.Agriculture and forestry are the account drivers of habitat destruction of birdsIn Africa, habitat hea droom for agriculture and logging threatens 50% and 23% of primal Birds Areas (IBAs) respectively. In Europe, agricultural expansion and intensification are among the most serious threats poignant IBAs.Proportion of IBAs impacted by dissimilar classes of threats in Africa and Europe summary of data held in BirdLifes World Bird Database (2004)In Africa, habitat clearance for agriculture threatens over 50% of Important Bird Areas (IBAs), with degradation owe to shifting agriculture an improveral pressure (Fishpool and Evans 2001). In Europe too, agricultural expansion and intensification are among the most serious threats extend toing IBAs, with a high impact at 35% (Heath and Evans 2000). In Africa, selective logging or tree-cutting rivals 23% of IBAs, with degradation owing to firewood collection (including charcoal production) and forest shave creation additional, a good deal re tardilyd pressures (these threats are of less(prenominal) importance in Europe where miniscu le old-growth forest remains). In Africa, ongoing or intend infrastructure development (including dam and road building) is a peltther key cause of habitat destruction, with 21% of IBAs affected. In Europe this is also a major factor affecting IBAs, with a high impact at 37% .The Effects of Oil on Wild vivificationWe have all turn aroundn pictures and videos of wildlife cover in black, sticky pet mapum after an inunct drop. These pictures are unremarkably of cover birds. Many people are non aware that it is not righteous birds that get pet utilizationumed during a spill. Other shipboard soldier life such as nautical mammals atomic number 50 also suffer from the cause of an embrocate spill. Even small spills basis severely affect marine wildlife.Not all anele colors are the same. There are many varied types of oil and this means that each oil spill is different depending on the type of oil spilt. Each oil spill get out have a different impact on wildlife and the s urrounding environment depending onthe type of oil spilled,the location of the spill,the species of wildlife in the area,the timing of spawn cycles and seasonal worker migrations,and even the weather at sea during the oil spill.Oil affects wildlife by coating their bodies with a thick layer. Many oils also become stickier over time (this is called weathering) and so adheres to wildlife even more. Since most oil floats o nthe arise of the water system it can effect many marine animals and sea birds. Unfortunately, birds and marine mammals will not necessarily avoid an oil spill. Some marine mammals, such as seals and dolphinfishs, have been seen swimming and have a bun in the oven to the woodsing in or near an oil spill. Some fish are attracted to oil because it looks the like floating food. This lurks sea birds, which are attracted to schools of fish and may dive through with(predicate) with(predicate) oil slicks to get to the fish.Oil that sticks to pelt or feathers, usua lly stark(a) and snare fuels, can cause many problems. Some of these problems arehyp another(prenominal)mia in birds by reducing or destroying the insulation and waterproofing properties of their feathershypothermia in fur seal pups by reducing or destroying the insulation of their woolly fur (called lanugo). Adult fur seals have blubber and would not suffer from hypothermia if oiled. Dolphins and whales do not have fur, so oil will not substantially stick to thembirds become easy prey, as their feathers being matted by oil make them less adapted to fly a appearancemarine mammals such as fur seals become easy prey if oil sticks their flippers to their bodies, making it hard for them to escape predatorsbirds sink or drown because oiled feathers weigh more and their sticky feathers cannot trap enough air amidst them to keep them buoyantfur seal pups drown if oil sticks their flippers to their bodieskbirds overleap embody weight as their metabolism tries to combat low body tempe raturemarine mammals lack body weight when they can not feed due to contamination of their environment by oilbirds become desiccated and can starve as they give up or lose weight drinking, diving and swimming to look for foodinflammation or transmission in dugongs and difficulty eating due to oil sticking to the afferent hairs around their mouthsdisguise of scent that seal pups and mothers rely on to mention each other, leading to rejection, abandonment and starvation of seal pups and toll to the insides of animals and birds bodies, for showcase by do ulcers or bleeding in their stomachs if they ingest the oil by accident.Oil does not have to be sticky to endanger wildlife. Both sticky oils such as double-dyed(a) oil and bunker fuels, and non-sticky oils such as refined petroleum products can affect different wildlife. Oils such as refined petroleum products do not last as long in the marine environment as crude or bunker fuel. They are not likely to stick to a bird or ani mal, but they are such(prenominal) more cruel than crude oil or bunker fuel. While close to of the pursuance effects on sea birds, marine mammals and turtles can be caused by crude oil or bunker fuel, they are more normally caused by refined oil products.Oil in the environment or oil that is ingested can causepoisoning of wildlife higher(prenominal) up the food chain if they eat grown amounts of other organisms that have taken oil into their tissuesinterference with breeding by making the animal too ill to breed, interfering with breeding behaviour such as a bird sitting on their testicle, or by reducing the number of eggs a bird will laydamage to the airways and lungs of marine mammals and turtles, congestion, pneumonia, emphysema and even death by breathing in droplets of oil, or oil fumes or gasdamage to a marine mammals or turtles eyes, which can cause ulcers, conjunctivitis and blindness, making it difficult for them to find food, and sometimes causing starvationirritati on or ulceration of skin, mouth or nasal cavitiesdamage to and suppression of a marine mammals immune system, sometimes causing secondary bacterial or fungal infectionsdamage to red blood cellsorgan damage and failure such as a bird or marine mammals liverdamage to a birds suprarenal gland tissue which interferes with a birds ability to maintain blood pressure, and concentration of legato in its bodydecrease in the thickness of egg shells seekdamage to fish eggs, larvae and young fishcontamination of beaches where turtles breed causing contamination of eggs, adult turtles or newly hatched turtlesdamage to estuaries, red coral reefs, seagrass and mangrove habitats which are the breeding areas of many fish and crustaceans, interfering with their breedingtainting of fish, crustaceans, molluscs and algaeinterference with a baleen whales feeding system by tar-like oil, as this type of whale feeds by skimming the originate and filtering out the water andpoisoning of young through the mother, as a dolphin calf can absorb oil through its mothers milk. Animals covered in oil at the beginning of a spill may be affected differently from animals encountering the oil later. For example, early on, the oil maybe more poisonous, so the wildlife affected early will take in more of the poison. The weather conditions can smother or increase the potential for oil to cause damage to the environment and wildlife. For example, warm seas and high winds will kick upstairs miniatureer oils to form gases, and will reduce the amount of oil that rest in the water to affect marine life.The impact of an oil spill on wildlife is also affected by where spilled oil reaches. For example, fur seal pups are affected more than adults by oil spills because pups swim in tidal pools and on rocky coasts, whereas the adults swim in open water where it is less likely for oil to linger. Dugongs als feed on seagrass along the coast and therefore be more affected by oil spills.Different choices w ill be needed to combat an oil spill, depending on the number and type of wildlife that is affected.Climate Change Linked To Migratory Bird DecreaseBiologists believe that climate change is affecting living things worldwide, and the in vogue(p) evidence suggests that warmed winters may mean fewer migratory birds. altogether seek shows that as winter temperatures have risen in key Europe, the number of migratory birds has dropped. Ultimately, this may also decrease the number of migratory bird species there.We predict that with increasing winter temperaturesthe number of long-distance migratory bird species should decline, say Nicole Lemoine and Katrin Boehning-Gaese of Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz, Germany, in the April issue of Conservation Biology.The Earths surface temperature has change magnitude by about a degree F since 1860, and is evaluate to increase by as much as 10 degrees F more over the next century. Already, climate change is affecting plants and ani mals in many separate of the world for instance, plants in Europe have a longer outgrowth season, a marriage the Statesn marmot has a shorter hibernation period, and some migratory birds in Europe are starting to breed earlier.Climate change could also affect the abundance and diversity of birds. The idea is that warmer winters could increase the survival of birds that live in an area year-round, which could give migratory birds more competition for resources such as food and nest sites when they provide to breed in the spring and that in turn could decrease the occur number of migratory birds as salutary as the number of species.To see if climate change affects the abundance and diversity of migratory birds, Lemoine and Boehning-Gaese analyzed actual bird census and climate data for the Lake Constance region of central Europe, which includes parts of Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The researchers determined the number of land bird species and the abundance of each species during two recent census periods (1980-81 and 1990-92). The researchers considered 300 species of land birds and divided them into three categories resident physicians, short-distance migrants (those that migrate an average of roughly 600 to 1,200 miles) and long-distance migrants (those that migrate more than 2,200 miles). There were 122, 80 and 108 species in each category, respectively.While climate change did not affect resident or short-distance migratory birds, Lemoine and Boehning-Gaese found that it did affect the long-distance migrants. amongst the two census periods, winters got warmer and the abundance of long-distant migrants decreased. Specifically, the average temperature of the coldest month increased more than four degrees F, and the abundance of long-distance migratory birds decreased by a fifth.Ultimately, warmer winters will probably also decrease the number of long-distance migratory bird species in Central Europe, say the researchers. In addition, the birds m igratory behavior will probably evolve. The migratory behavior of bird communitys can change in only a few generations, and several populations of wrens, skylarks and other short-distance migrants have stopped migrating in the last 20 years.Migrating Birds bevel Control ThemselvesDuring the spring and fall migratory seasons, sparrows become significantly less capable of resisting temptation. Researchers writing in the open access journalBMC Neuroscienceinvestigated whim control and peacefulness in white-crowned sparrows during migratory and non-migratory seasons. During migratory periods, the birds slept very little and became more impulsive, but eternal rest loss itself was not in all to strike for their impulsivity. University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers studied the effects of migratory status and sleep deprivation on the ability of a group of sparrows to master the urge to peck at a food-giving button.According to study director Ruth Benca, In the wild, despite marke d reductions in apparent opportunity to sleep, birds continue to successfully engage in prolonged flight, complex navigation and predator evasion during migration. In the laboratory, weve previously found that birds in the migratory state can hear to peck at a switch for food as well as birds during non-migratory periods. In contrast, in this study we demonstrate that, relative to birds in the non-migratory state, they struggle to learn when not to peck.This apparent hyperactivity during the migratory period may be linked to the fact that the migrating birds sleep periods become divorced from the light/dark cycle they follow during the non-migratory seasons of Summer and Winter separate experiments showed that sleep deprivation alone does not cause this loss of control. Short sleep duration in the summer is also not associated with increased impulsivity.According to Benca, It is conceivable that the temporal fragmentation of migratory sleep plays a role in the migration-specific lo ss of behavioral inhibition. Whether the inability to inhibit pecking is related to a general failure of inhibition, a distorted sense of time, inattention to outstanding cues, or some other underlying mechanism is not entirely clear.How to Prevent Illness inBirdsReducing the Risk of Illness in PetBirdsWhile it can be difficult to think about, the globe of bird ownership is that there are many things that can adversely affect a birds health in our homes, in the air, and even at heart the safety of your birds own cage. Reducing the assay of illness as much as possible is a necessity for the majority of bird owners, and can be done by working to eliminate the major risk factors in your birds environment. Pay close attention to the information below to jockstrap your bird ward off some of the most common illnesses that affect birds in captivity. As the old saying goes, an ounce of prevention is cost a pound of curePractice fair hygienics.Practicing goodhygienearound your bird can go a long way toward preventing the onset of illness in your pet. In addition to washing your custody both before and after you handle your feathered friend, you should also take time to make sure that your birds toys, dishes, and other cage accessories are cleaned and disinfected on a regular basis. Practice good cage-cleaning techniques by changing the facing at least(prenominal) once a day, and doing a deep, thorough rub weekly. Taking these sorts of steps will uphold reduce the your birds risk of being exposed to viruses and bacteria that may find their ways into your pets living space. resultIn BriefHuman history has followed a pattern-which began in Africa but is now orbiculate in scope-of exploiting nature and depleting resources. As we have expanded our influence over the world, we have also extinguished species and populations at an alarming rate. Despite attempts to reduce biodiversity loss, the trend is likely to continue nearly 20% of all humans-more than a billio n-now live within biodiversity hotspots, and their growth rate is faster than the population at large. This article exemplifys nine steps to reduce biodiversity loss, with a goal of categorizing human-caused extinctions as wrongs, such as the slave trade and child labor, that are unimaginable to society. These steps include developing a system of parks that foreground the planets biological legacy, much as historical landmarks celebrate human history. profound prohibitions that are fairly and capably enforced will also be essential in protecting rare and declining species. Biodiversity endowments-from national governments, nongovernmental organizations, and private enterprises-can suffice support parks and native species in perpetuity. Like a good sports team, conservationists need to defend extant wilderness areas, but they also need to play offense by restoring ecosystems, reclaiming keystone and umbrella species, and making human landscapes more hospitable to biodiversity. In the long run, the most effective forms of conservation will be those that engage local stakeholders the cultivation of sustainable ecosystems and their run must be promoted along with conservation of peril species and populations. The emerging dramaturgy of bionomical sparings can unite these goals by revealing the connections mingled with human well-being and conservation.Key ConceptsExtinction is likely to be one of our longest-lasting legacies.To address this crisis, we will need landscape-level management of wilderness and human-impacted areas, community involvement, legislation, economic incentives, bioliteracy, unified conservation science, and attention to the prime drivers of extinction growth of the human population and its aggregate consumption.The new field of ecologic economics, which synthesizes human activities and natural processes, can quantify the costs and benefits of biodiversity trade protection.We need a social transformation, through education and ec ological literacy, to make human-caused extinction a thing of the past, like the slave trade, apartheid, and the Iron Curtain.In 2008, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds in the UK announced a final call to find the slender-billed curlew, a one-time resident of Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa, last seen in 1999. Meanwhile, scientists in Australia pronounced the white lemuroid phalanger extinct a native of mountain forests in Queensland, the possum was the first mammalian extinction blamed exclusively on global warming.. Two critically endangered frog species were declared extinct, despite their protection by a Costa Rican national park. More than 140 species of mammals, 24 birds, 6 reptiles, and 5 amphibians deteriorated in conservation status, moving from lower to higher risk categories of awe on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, the global authority on the conservation status of the worlds animals and plants.1Only 37 mammals ameliorate during this pe riod, along with two birds and one amphibian.Unfortunately, the year 2008 was not exceptional in these respects. The biodiversity crisis is by now as well known as it is tragic. The species extinction rate is of great concern. At least 76 mammal species are known to have gone extinct since 1500, with several others on the verge.2The baiji, a freshwater dolphin of the Yangtze, will almost certainly join the tend soon. The Scimitar-horned oryx and Pere Davids deer now probably exist only in captivity. Marine mammals are in severe danger, especially in northern oceans. Things are even worse for other, less celebrated, taxa. More than 70% of North Americas freshwater mussel species are on the edge of extinction.3Since the Polynesians first arrived on how-do-you-do 1,600 years ago, more than 70% of the islands native birds have disappeared.4Since 1850, the extinction rate for the worlds birds has been about 100 times higher than the background rate in the fossil record. More than 10% of all bird species remain threatened. Seabirds have been in special jeopardy-rats took out many island colonies, and about 130 of the 450 rest species are threatened with extinction-but forest birds arent faring much better. If deforestation continues at the present pace, so many birds may disappear that their extinction rate will increase by more than an order of magnitude by the end of the century.5The problem is much bigger than species loss. The diversity of life spans many levels, from strands of desoxyribonucleic acid within an individual to entire ecosystems comprising billions of organisms and thousands of species. Extinction occurs adaptation by adaptation, population by population, habitat by habitat. The disappearance of a population is often a prelude to species extinction,6but species can lose their ecological relevance long before they go extinct, as their numbers dwindle and they no longer remain key players in the system. Many extant species are now absent from mo re than half of their historic ranges. As organisms disappear, we lose our natural capital-the ecological goods and services that enrich and sustain our lives. That deforestation and overgrazing can lead to erosion and desertification is as obvious as the Sahel, but other connections-such as the rise of malaria and hemorrhagic fevers in disturbed lands-are becoming more apparent as our ecological footprints and understanding of diseases expand. There is a growing recognition that our natural heritage is at risk, irreplaceable, and central to our well-being.There are potential remedies for these problems, but they will take effort and determination. The financial crisis make front-page news every day in early 2009. The global extinction crisis barely was mentioned. except economic recessions are a blip in history, whereas the effects of runaway extinction will linger for millions of years. Paleontologists have identify long lags in the evolution of new organisms following major exti nction events, largely because diversity begets diversity. Extinction chips away at the genetic and ecological engines of speciation. With fewer genetic lineages, there is a reduction in the raw material of evolution variation in DNA. A reduction in ecosystems and unique niches means fewer opportunities for new organisms to evolve. The drop in the number of species, genera, and families on the planet is likely to be a long-lasting legacy of human activities. We will be poorer without a rich store of biodiversity-in spirit, in health, and even in our pocketbooks. Here are nine tactics that could do moderate human-caused extinctions. Most of these suggestions have been made before, repeatedly, but they warrant our go along and ever-more-urgent attention.Landscape1. Biodiversity ParksMany countries have national parks that vaunt special landscapes and geologic formations the volcanic caldera of Yellowstone, the Grand Canyon, Mount Kilimanjaro. In addition to these traditional and es sential parks, there is a need to protect a carefully designed network of militia on each untarnished and in every ocean. This global series, or archipelago, of biological refuges-biodiversity parks-will preserve key features of the Earths biological legacy inherited from the evolutionary past into the future. Such parks, in effect, would celebrate and honor the evolutionary heritage reflected in biological diversity, just as traditional national parks and monuments preserve special geological features or honor important historical events in human affairs. preferably than merely constructing museums that memorialize biocide, biodiversity parks would offer explicit protection for endangered species and evolutionarily distinctive ecosystems. The task is not as insurmountable as it king appear. By preserving and endowing just 25 biodiversity hotspots (less than two percent of the earths land area) we could help protect 44% of vascular plant species and 35% of all species of mammals , birds, reptiles and amphibians for $500 million a year7-less than 0.1% of the funds allocated to the United States Troubled Asset alleviation Program (TARP) to bail out incompetent financial institutions.One difficulty with many current park systems is that reserves often tend to be on residual lands that are not very valuable for resource extraction or human subsistence. A study of new reserves in Australia showed that they were typically gazetted on steep and infertile public lands, areas least in need of protection.8Without proper planning, ad hoc reserves can be ineffective, often occupying less productive land, making the goal of protecting biodiversity more expensive and less likely to succeed. Well-placed networks of sanctuaries, designed with an awareness of ongoing climate disruption and the unique biotic facets of the sites, can help shepherd many species through the extinction crisis.In discussing parks, we often think of landscapes, but the biodiversity crisis affects aquatic systems as well. Protection of the oceans requires safeguards against over search and networks of marine reserves that include rich nearshore habitats (such as coral reefs and upwellings) as well as deep-sea vents and abyssal plains. As on land, these protected areas should range from strict nature reserves where fishing and extraction are forbidden to seascapes that are managed for their cultural and ecological value. Areas that are open to exploitation should be managed sustainably to meet the long-term resource inevitably of local communities, while providing natural services such as volunteer(a) opportunities and water purification.92. Ecologically Reclaimed and Restored HabitatsHumans need to play conservation offense as well as defense. Beyond the immediate concern with the loss of a particular population, species, or ecosystem, a focus on long-term recovery and biological revival is also essential. Scientific research can inform the renovation of local habitats and help renaturalize entire ecosystems by uniting scattered fragments.In Costa Rica, scientists, businesspeople, politicians, and the local community helped revitalize 700 square kilometers of a tropical forest system-an area assaulted by ranching, hunting, logging, and fires for almost 400 years. They purchased large tracts of land, stopped the farming and fires, and let nature take back its original terrain.10Restoration relying on successional recovery is not perpetually so predictable, however. The reintroduction of fire to sand barren prairies that had been overgrown with willow was not enough to restore the prairie. The woody phytology was resistant to the fire regime.11For that reason, restoration ecologists are often needed to ensure the recovery of degraded lands.12Thousands of species have been eradicated or imperiled by the construction of ill-conceived dams throughout the world. It is too late for the many freshwater mussels and fish that have gone extinct, but for othe rs the damage still can be reversed. The removal of the Edwards Dam from the Kennebec River in Maine restored large numbers of eels, sturgeon, and striped bass to upstream habitats, where they had been absent for more than 150 years. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service funds competitive grants for private stewardship of lands, with an emphasis on endangered species habitat. Dozens of federal grants support restoration projects such as prairie streams for the Topeka shiner in Iowa, aquatic systems for Arctic elderlyling in Montana, grasslands for a threatened milk-vetch and other plant species in Oregon, and habitat for quick of scent grouse in Colorado.13The reintroduction of individual species can play an important role in rewilding parks and their surrounding ecosystems. Large animals are especially given up to extinction, yet they are often key to ecological dynamics. The return of a megafaunal species to its historic range can yield many benefits undo a population extinction, make habitats more interesting and exciting for locals and visitors, and restore ecological interactions (often with positive system-wide consequences). There have been several successful examples of repatriation, though far from enough. Bald eagles now nest in every state in the continental U.S., and populations have increased by more than an order of magnitude since their lows in the 1960s. Przewalskis wild horse has been reclassified from Extinct in the Wild to Critically Endangered, with more than 300 free-ranging individuals now roaming Mongolia. After several decades of absence from the park, gray wolves released by the Yellowstone Wolf Recovery Team in 1995 produced some strike changes survivorship of pronghorn fawns increased fourfold, as coyote densities declined where wolves were present14streamside vegetation returned as elk browsing declined and tourists flocked to the region, spawning a new type of ecotourism-wolf watching-now a $35 million a year industry.15Some have argued that one way to restore ecological interactions that were lost with the extinction of the Pleistocene megafauna would be to introduce analogs, or modern counterparts, from elsewhere. For example, bringing Asian elephants to North America might provide seed dispersers for certain plants that co-evolved with mastodons.16There is no scientific or ethical consensus about the wisdom of such expensive and transformative action. Yet the possibility that genetic engineers might one day be able to bring extinct megafauna such woolly mammoths to life from frozen antediluvian patriarch DNA17should prompt us to consider whether, if such efforts are successful, mammoths are something price restoring to landscapes that have not seen them in 11,000 years.Community3. The Fabric of Local CommunitiesAs scholars, biologists mostly observe. They build models, experiment, and-on good days-make new empirical or conceptual connections the effects of pesticides on egg development, the role of disea se in amphibian declines, or the effects of biodiversity on ecosystem function. Such studies take place on the modest spatial subdue of a Petri dish, a common garden, or perhaps a local landscape, and at the modest temporal scale of a few years. To ameliorate the extinction crisis, though, science must sack beyond such focused analyses-i