Considered as plague in many cities, pigeons in urban areas live close to human activities and exploit this proximity to find food which is often directly delivered by people. In this study, we explored the capacity of feral pigeons to take advantage of this human-based food resource and discriminate between friendly and hostile people. Our study was conducted in an urban park. Pigeons were fed by two experimenters of approximately the same age and skin colour but wearing coats of different colours. During the training sessions, the two human feeders displayed different attitudes: one of the feeders was neutral and the second was hostile and chased away the pigeons. During the two test phases subsequent to the training phase, both feeders became neutral. Two experiments were conducted, one with one male and one female feeder and the second with two female feeders. In both experiments, the pigeons learned to quickly (six to nine sessions) discriminate between the feeders and maintained this discrimination during the test phases. The pigeons avoided the hostile feeder even when the two feeders exchanged their coats, suggesting that they used stable individual characteristics to differentiate between the experimenter feeders. Thus, pigeons are able to learn quickly from their interactions with human feeders and use this knowledge to maximize the profitability of the urban environment. This study provides the first experimental evidence in feral pigeons for this level of human discrimination.

The aim of this of study was to examine the state of the benthic macrofauna community at six different sites in coastal waters of Algeria. The diversity of benthic macrofauna was studied and the AZTI marine biotic index (AMBI) was applied. Sampling was carried out during March and April 2018. Thus, 31 species were recorded. Higher species richness (13 species) was recorded in two sites. The highest density was estimated at 56.6 in / 0.1 m². Taxonomic analysis has shown the prevalence of Gastopoda, Bivalvia and Scaphopoda. Sediment analysis showed a low concentration of organic matter in the six sites. The AMBI index used in this study has been used extensively in Europe as indicador of marine pollution, but rarely used in Algeria. The AMBI values were quite homogeneous over all the sites, and generally correspond to undisturbed states except for one site, which is slightly disturbed.

The Oran coastline is a remarkable region cited as a hotspot of plant biodiversity (Véla & Benhouhou 2007). Plane island is the third largest island after Habibas and Rachgoun islands in the Oran region but is less studied. A botanical assessment of Plane island was undertaken in spring 2016. We carried out several phytoecological surveys. We collected and identified ten species in eight families : Chenopodiastrum murale (L.) Fuentes, Uotila & Borsch, Crithmum maritimum L., Cynomorium coccineum L., Frankenia cf laevis L., Limonium pescadense Greuter & Burdet, Malva arborea (L.) Webb & Berthel, Mesembryanthemum crystallinum L., Mesembryanthemum nodiflorum L., Senecio leucanthemifolius Poiret subsp. crassifolius, Suaeda vera Forssk. Ex J. F. Gmel. The identified species list will allow us to follow vegetation dynamics on the island.