Avian Research最新文献

{"title":"Metagenomic analysis of vitamins B and K2 biosynthesis by gut microbiota in wild birds","authors":"Jinwen Su ,&nbsp;Linhong Xie ,&nbsp;Ling Wang ,&nbsp;Congcong Lei ,&nbsp;Yingqian Gao ,&nbsp;Rui Liu ,&nbsp;He Ma ,&nbsp;Jing Jiang ,&nbsp;Mengting Yang ,&nbsp;Xiaoxuan Zhang ,&nbsp;Hongbo Ni ,&nbsp;Fulong Nan","doi":"10.1016/j.avrs.2025.100337","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.avrs.2025.100337","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The role of gut microbiota in vitamin biosynthesis in wild birds, which is essential for understanding avian health and ecological adaptation, remains largely unexplored. In this study, metagenomic analysis was conducted on 10,455 metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) from 718 wild bird gut samples. After quality assessment and dereplication, 1947 MAGs were retained for systematic analysis of vitamin B and K₂ biosynthesis potential. A total of 106,336 vitamin biosynthesis genes were identified, and 1164 MAGs (including 410 high-quality MAGs with &gt;90% completeness and &lt;5% contamination) were predicted to de novo synthesize at least one vitamin. Vitamin biosynthesis genes mainly originated from Pseudomonadota, Campylobacterota, Bacillota_A, and Actinomycetota, with dominant genera including <em>Campylobacter</em>_D, <em>Escherichia</em>, and <em>Cutibacterium</em>. Compared with chickens, the gut microbiota of wild birds was enriched in biotin, folate, and pantothenate biosynthesis genes, likely reflecting adaptation to diverse natural diets and fluctuating environments. Among all examined factors, host species explained the largest proportion of variation in vitamin biosynthesis gene composition, followed by environmental variables, while migratory behavior and primary diet showed relatively smaller but detectable associations. Dietary differences appeared to be associated with variations in vitamin biosynthetic potential, with crop- and insect-dominant birds tending to show higher representation of genes involved in the synthesis of multiple B vitamins, whereas aquatic-plant dominant birds exhibited relatively greater representation of folate biosynthetic pathways. Migratory birds exhibited significantly higher diversity but comparable relative abundance of vitamin biosynthesis genes compared with resident birds, suggesting a more flexible microbial metabolic potential to meet fluctuating nutritional demands during long-distance movement. Distinct microbial contributors were identified, with <em>Escherichia</em> and <em>Pseudomonas</em>_E being more prominent in migratory birds, and <em>Campylobacter</em>_D in resident birds. Collectively, this study provides novel insights into gut microbiota-driven vitamin biosynthesis in wild birds.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51311,"journal":{"name":"Avian Research","volume":"17 2","pages":"Article 100337"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2026-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145897845","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Estradiol acutely modifies singing patterns via modulating the synaptic activity of RA in Zebra Finches","authors":"Linghua Zhong ,&nbsp;Yutao Zhang ,&nbsp;Weiting Li ,&nbsp;Yalun Sun ,&nbsp;Su Zhan ,&nbsp;Zhibin Liu ,&nbsp;Lihua Yao ,&nbsp;Songhua Wang","doi":"10.1016/j.avrs.2026.100340","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.avrs.2026.100340","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Songbirds serve as an appealing animal model for evaluating the hormonal influences on the regulation of fine motor skills, particularly in relation to vocal production. The influence of estrogens on the singing behavior of adult songbirds remains to be explored. The robust nucleus of the arcopallium (RA), a premotor nucleus, assumes a critical role in governing vocalization of songbirds. This study initially examined the rapid effects of 17β-estradiol (E2) on the RA in relation to the singing behavior of adult Zebra Finches (<em>Taeniopygia guttata</em>), followed by an investigation into the impact of E2 on excitatory and inhibitory synaptic transmission within the RA. The expression levels of receptors associated with neuronal excitability and inhibition were also analyzed in the RA nucleus. The results indicated that the action of E2 on the RA rapidly reduces the stability of the song. E2 decreases the frequency and amplitude of sEPSCs/mEPSCs and sIPSCs/mIPSCs in the RA projection neurons (PNs) and it also reduces the amplitude of eEPSCs induced by RA PNs from HVC, LMAN and RA collateral afferent as well as the amplitude of eIPSCs induced by RA PNs from RA collateral afferent. Further analysis showed that E2 changes the synapse transmission through binding to GPER; E2 treatment reduces the expression levels of NR2A, NR2B, AMPAR, and GABAAR in the RA nucleus. The findings suggest that estrogen inhibits song stability by modulating the excitability and the inhibitory synaptic structure and function of the RA nucleus, thereby providing evidence for the neural mechanisms underlying estrogen's regulation of fine motor skills.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51311,"journal":{"name":"Avian Research","volume":"17 2","pages":"Article 100340"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2026-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146038270","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Knowledge gaps in trace element contamination of shorebirds and allies along the East Asian–Australasian Flyway: A review","authors":"Mohd Ros Effendi ,&nbsp;Wan Ahmad Wan Juliana ,&nbsp;Mohammad Saiful Mansor","doi":"10.1016/j.avrs.2026.100345","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.avrs.2026.100345","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Trace elements (metals and metalloids) are naturally occurring substances that may be essential at trace levels but become toxic pollutants at higher concentrations, accumulating in biological systems and posing severe risks to wildlife. Trace element contamination in shorebirds and allies has been documented since the 1960s, primarily in studies on the Atlantic Americas Flyway, Pacific Americas Flyway, and Mississippi Americas Flyway. The East Asian–Australasian Flyway (EAAF), which supports the highest diversity and abundance of migratory birds globally, remains comparatively understudied in trace element contamination despite rapid industrialization along its coasts. While previous reviews have provided broad overviews of contaminant exposure in shorebirds and allies, few have synthesized data specific to the EAAF or focused exclusively on trace elements. Here, we address this gap by compiling and analyzing both historical and recent research on trace element contamination in shorebirds across countries within the EAAF. We identified 77 articles related to the topic, with studies conducted in 10 of the 19 Flyway Site Network countries in the EAAF; however, the remaining nine countries, mainly in Southeast Asia, remain entirely unassessed. Eighty shorebird species were assessed, with various samples taken to analyze trace element content. Feathers were the most frequently sampled shorebird body parts for investigating trace element contamination and were a reliable indicator of internal trace element burdens. Mercury, lead, cadmium, and manganese were the most commonly studied elements, with the former two exceeding toxicity thresholds in multiple species across several studies in the EAAF. Our results provide the most comprehensive and up-to-date compilation of trace element studies in shorebirds along the EAAF. Given the increasing development pressures, particularly within developing countries along this flyway, we strongly recommend expanding trace element studies of shorebirds and allies, prioritising currently unassessed developing countries. This initiative will facilitate targeted conservation efforts, enabling the effective protection and restoration of these vital habitats, ultimately ensuring the long-term survival of shorebird populations.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51311,"journal":{"name":"Avian Research","volume":"17 2","pages":"Article 100345"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2026-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146038265","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Highly urbanized areas are not absolute barriers: Assessing avian habitat connectivity in a megacity via the omnidirectional connectivity model","authors":"Honghui Yang ,&nbsp;Weizhen Xu ,&nbsp;Ziyi Chen ,&nbsp;Ruixiang Shi ,&nbsp;Yixuan Qi ,&nbsp;Zhengyan Chen ,&nbsp;Jing Chen","doi":"10.1016/j.avrs.2026.100347","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.avrs.2026.100347","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Maintaining habitat connectivity for birds has become a central challenge in urban biodiversity conservation. Taking the Shanghai metropolitan area as a representative case, this study integrates citizen science observations with field surveys to select 25 surrogate bird species. Suitable habitats were identified using the MaxEnt model in combination with the human footprint index, and the omnidirectional connectivity model (OCM) was applied to evaluate avian habitat connectivity across the city. Furthermore, an integrated XGBoost-SHAP-MGWR analytical framework was employed to investigate the mechanisms and spatial heterogeneity through which urban environmental factors influence habitat connectivity. The results indicated: (1) a total of 418 ecological sources were identified, covering 921.84 km², primarily concentrated in the western and southeastern regions, while the central urban districts exhibited severe fragmentation; (2) overall connectivity in the study area remains relatively high, with peripheral suburban zones forming well-connected ecological networks, whereas the central city and peripheral industrial areas demonstrated poor connectivity; and (3) environmental factors exert heterogeneous effects on avian connectivity, with habitat-related variables playing a decisive role. In particular, increasing the proportion of blue infrastructure (PB &gt; 4%) and enhancing ecological quality (RSEI &gt; 0.57) significantly improve habitat connectivity. Overall, this study underscores the necessity of integrating landscape connectivity research into urban planning. The findings not only elucidate the complex interactions between urban environmental characteristics and avian connectivity but also provide a transferable methodological pathway to support biodiversity conservation and tailored policy interventions in other high-density metropolitan contexts.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51311,"journal":{"name":"Avian Research","volume":"17 2","pages":"Article 100347"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2026-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146189041","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A novel machine learning model for the prediction of avian haemosporidian infection from morphological data","authors":"Ruitian Xu,&nbsp;Qingfeng Gan,&nbsp;Shiqiong Chuan,&nbsp;Xi Huang","doi":"10.1016/j.avrs.2026.100348","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.avrs.2026.100348","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Avian haemosporidians are a group of widespread protozoan parasites that often impose significant physiological burdens and reduce host fitness; therefore, an increasing number of studies on these parasites have been performed in recent decades, using different identification methods. Traditional microscopy methods require high-quality blood smears and skilled technicians, whereas molecular methods are complex and costly. In this study, we propose a novel, non-invasive predictive method using supervised machine learning (XGBoost) based on host morphological traits to predict infection status. Using a large dataset of bird banding records and haemosporidian infection results from the Xiaolongmen Forest area in Beijing (2009–2024), we evaluated the associations between infection status and multiple morphological features (e.g., beak length, wing length, and body mass). Our model achieved an average prediction accuracy of 75.3% across eight common bird species, with peak accuracies exceeding 84%. Model validation with independent data from 2023 to 2024 confirmed its robustness. These results suggest that morphological traits, when integrated with machine learning approaches, can serve as effective indicators of haemosporidian infection. The trained models and prediction tools are now available at Github, enabling an immediate infection status prediction based on morphological measurements, and offers a cost-efficient, scalable, and noninvasive alternative to conventional diagnostic methods, with broad applicability in large-scale ecological monitoring, disease surveillance, and conservation planning.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51311,"journal":{"name":"Avian Research","volume":"17 2","pages":"Article 100348"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2026-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146189118","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"How do wintering waterbird communities respond to polder restoration in a Ramsar wetland of the Yangtze River Basin, China? A functional and phylogenetic perspective","authors":"Xiangrong Song ,&nbsp;Xiangmeng Song ,&nbsp;Chunlin Li ,&nbsp;Xinsheng Chen","doi":"10.1016/j.avrs.2026.100352","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.avrs.2026.100352","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Wetland restoration has been increasingly implemented to compensate for the substantial loss of natural wetlands, and consideration of multidimensional biodiversity is essential for evaluating how restoration affects the ecological functioning and evolutionary structure of waterbird communities. We explored the effects of polder restoration on the multidimensional diversity (taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic diversity) and assembly processes of wintering waterbird communities in restored polders, unrestored polders, and natural wetlands within the Shengjin Lake National Nature Reserve of the Yangtze River Basin, China. Waterbird species were categorized into six guilds and their compositions were compared using the Bray–Curtis distance metric. Waterbird species richness and the total branch lengths of the phylogenetic dendrogram (PD) of communities increased during the middle and late wintering periods, and the total branch distance of the functional dendrogram (FD) increased during the middle wintering period compared to unrestored polders, but did not differ from that of natural wetlands. Waterbird individual numbers in the middle and late periods, and FD and PD in the early period, were higher compared with unrestored polders but remained lower than that in natural wetlands. The guild composition of waterbirds in restored polders did not differ from that of unrestored polders, but differed from that of natural wetlands. The observed mean pairwise distances of functional (funMPD) and phylogenetic (phyMPD) dendrograms were not significantly different from the simulated values, implying the dominant roles of stochastic processes in shaping waterbird community structures in the three wetland types. Overall, our findings demonstrate that polder restoration generally increased taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic diversity, although restored polders have not yet fully matched the biodiversity levels of natural wetlands. This highlights the importance of simultaneously considering multifaceted diversity when assessing the effects of ecological restoration on waterbird communities and reinforces the need for long-term restoration to support waterbird conservation.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51311,"journal":{"name":"Avian Research","volume":"17 2","pages":"Article 100352"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2026-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146189042","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Patterns and drivers of waterbird alpha and beta diversity are different between arid and humid regions of China","authors":"Zhuoen Liu ,&nbsp;Jinlei Zhang ,&nbsp;Tingjia Zhao,&nbsp;Wenjian Song,&nbsp;Lu Wen,&nbsp;Qing Zhang,&nbsp;Gang Feng","doi":"10.1016/j.avrs.2026.100339","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.avrs.2026.100339","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Waterbirds are vital for wetland ecosystems, but climate change and human activities are harming these habitats globally, reducing biodiversity and threatening waterbird survival. In China, wetlands in humid and arid regions face quite different threats, necessitating targeted conservation strategies. However, few studies have assessed the relative roles of various drivers in determining geographical patterns of alpha and beta diversity of wetland waterbirds in different regions, particularly from the perspectives of taxonomic, phylogenetic and functional diversity. This study aims to connect climate and landscape variables with waterbirds diversity in 71 wetlands across China's humid and arid regions. The results showed that mean annual temperature was negatively associated with taxonomic diversity but positively correlated with phylogenetic structure. Phylogenetic and functional diversity was significantly associated with paleoclimate change. Additionally, patch richness was positively correlated with taxonomic diversity and functional structure, but negatively correlated with phylogenetic diversity and structure. Notably, taxonomic and phylogenetic beta diversity was dominated by turnover, while functional beta diversity was dominated by nestedness-resultant components. Total edge and patch density were significantly correlated with waterbird beta diversity. In addition, arid regions showed higher turnover in taxonomic and phylogenetic diversity compared to humid regions. Compared to arid regions, humid regions had consistently higher nestedness-resultant components in the three diversity dimensions and higher turnover in functional beta diversity. These findings indicated that while climate variables are important for waterbird diversity patterns, wetland's landscape characteristics could also play significant roles. In addition, conservation of Chinese wetland bird diversity should consider unique strategies for different biodiversity dimensions as well as for different regions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51311,"journal":{"name":"Avian Research","volume":"17 2","pages":"Article 100339"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2026-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145980305","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Sex-specific effects of social complexity and competitive interactions on cognitive performance in Budgerigars","authors":"Zifei Tang ,&nbsp;Xiaoyuan Wu ,&nbsp;Yang Zhang ,&nbsp;Yuehua Sun ,&nbsp;Nan Lyu","doi":"10.1016/j.avrs.2026.100343","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.avrs.2026.100343","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The social intelligence hypothesis posits that complex social interactions drive cognitive evolution in animals. However, empirical support remains inconsistent, likely because most studies rely on crude measures like group size rather than examining the nuanced patterns of individual social interactions. Additionally, while cognitive sex differences are well-documented across species, whether these differences stem from sex-specific social interaction patterns remains unclear. To address these gaps, we investigate how individual-level social complexity and nuanced social interactions influence cognitive performance in Budgerigars (<em>Melopsittacus undulatus</em>). Birds were reared in mixed-sex groups. We quantified social complexity and nuanced social interactions before testing cognitive performance across four tasks. Our results indicated that general intelligence did not predict performance across tasks in Budgerigars, supporting a modular rather than general intelligence framework. More importantly, social complexity effects on cognitive performance were both sex- and task-dependent. Competitive interactions, rather than affiliative ones, positively influenced spatial memory performance, but the specific patterns differed between sexes. Males showed enhanced spatial memory performance with higher overall frequency and variability of competitive interactions, while females showed improved spatial memory with a higher proportion of competitive interactions toward specific individuals and greater interaction variability. These findings demonstrate that cognitive performance is associated not just with social complexity, but with the nuanced structure of social interactions, and that these relationships are shaped by sex-specific strategies and domain-specific cognitive abilities. Our results highlight the critical importance of moving beyond simple group metrics to understand the social drivers of cognition.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51311,"journal":{"name":"Avian Research","volume":"17 2","pages":"Article 100343"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2026-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146038266","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Unraveling the spatial patterns and driving mechanisms of avian functional assemblages in the agro-pastoral ecosystems of the Tibetan Plateau","authors":"Aodong Wang ,&nbsp;Zikun Gao ,&nbsp;Xingzhe Wang ,&nbsp;Xing Shi ,&nbsp;Yuanxing Ye ,&nbsp;Weidong Bao ,&nbsp;Kun Shi ,&nbsp;Qiaoqi Sun","doi":"10.1016/j.avrs.2026.100342","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.avrs.2026.100342","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>China's new national park system prioritizes the conservation of large-scale ecosystems to maintain ecological integrity, exemplified by Qilian Mountain National Park (QMNP) in northwestern China. QMNP straddles both pristine and pastoral landscapes and provides critical habitat for diverse migratory and resident birds as key stopover and breeding grounds. In this region, centuries of pastoralism have shaped grassland structure and biodiversity. However, spatial distribution patterns of avian species across the heterogeneous, coupled natural and pastoral landscapes of the Tibetan Plateau remain poorly understood due to persistently low detection rates resulting from high species richness, vast distribution ranges, and extensive landscape heterogeneity. To address this, we combined field surveys with functional guild-based Bayesian hierarchical occupancy modeling to elucidate guild-specific spatial distributions and their environmental drivers. Over the three consecutive summers of 2022–2024, we surveyed 72 line transects and 27 fixed observation points, recording 40 species classified into three functional guilds (small-sized, medium-sized and raptors). Vegetation cover and slope gradient were the primary determinants of guild distributions: small-sized birds strongly preferred patches of dense vegetation and avoided hotspots of medium-sized birds, whereas raptors favored gentle slopes. Furthermore, effects of growing season precipitation, distance to water, and human activity varied substantially among guilds in both magnitude and direction. These findings reveal distinct guild-specific habitat selection patterns driven by environmental filtering. Our findings demonstrate that extensive natural-pastoral landscapes remain crucial for avifauna despite traditional pastoral practices, and that functional trait-based modeling can effectively address the significant low-detection challenge in remote, biodiversity-rich grassland ecosystems of the Tibetan Plateau.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51311,"journal":{"name":"Avian Research","volume":"17 2","pages":"Article 100342"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2026-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146038267","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Effects of wind and temperature on the migration decisions of a short-distance migratory shorebird across the annual cycle","authors":"Xinjie Zhao ,&nbsp;Qingquan Bai ,&nbsp;Shoudong Zhang ,&nbsp;David S. Melville ,&nbsp;Ningning Liu ,&nbsp;Yihao Fang ,&nbsp;Donglai Li ,&nbsp;Zhijun Ma","doi":"10.1016/j.avrs.2026.100338","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.avrs.2026.100338","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Elucidating the spatial-temporal characteristics and influencing factors of migration activities is the basis for understanding the life cycle of migratory birds and for making conservation measures. Short-distance migratory birds experience less time pressure during migration; they tend to migrate under suitable environmental conditions and thus the migration decision might be strongly influenced by external environmental conditions. To test this hypothesis, we deployed GPS tags on Far Eastern Oystercatchers (<em>Haematopus ostralegus osculans</em>) at the Yalu Jiang estuary in the northern Yellow Sea and tracked their annual migration. The tagged oystercatchers, including five adults and seven immatures (second/third-year birds), mainly wintered along the west coast of the Yellow Sea and bred inland in northeastern China. The migration distance between breeding and wintering sites was 1640.7 ± 260.4 km in spring and 1668.7 ± 306.1 km in autumn. Compared with adults, immatures departed from the wintering sites and arrived at the breeding sites later, while there were no significant differences between adults and immatures in the dates of departure from breeding sites and arrival at wintering sites. Migration initiation generally occurred around sunset. Wind conditions consistently provided tailwinds on departure days from wintering, breeding, and stopover sites during both seasons, with wind support exceeding the 5- or 10-day pre-departure average. During autumn migration, the temperature on departure days at stopover sites was lower than the mean temperature over the preceding 5 or 10 days. The Yalu Jiang estuary was the main stopover site for the tagged birds during both spring and autumn migrations. The stopover duration in autumn (adults: 118.3 ± 8.4 days; immatures: 130.4 ± 5.1 days) was the longest among the studied shorebirds, likely due to moulting of flight feathers at the stopover site. Our results indicate that the migratory decisions of oystercatchers were strongly influenced by wind conditions during the whole annual cycle, whereas they were also affected by temperature when departing from stopover sites in autumn. The extended stopover at the Yalu Jiang estuary in autumn highlights its importance for the species.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51311,"journal":{"name":"Avian Research","volume":"17 2","pages":"Article 100338"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2026-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145980306","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}