Avian Research最新文献

{"title":"Testing urban edge effects: Nest predation rates are higher in areas further from the boundary of a suburban park","authors":"Ailun Wang ,&nbsp;Tara J. Pirie ,&nbsp;Mark D.E. Fellowes","doi":"10.1016/j.avrs.2025.100258","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.avrs.2025.100258","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Urban green spaces and parks offer opportunities for retaining and increasing bird richness, diversity, and species abundance. However, urbanisation influences predator–prey interactions, leading to high predation rates in urban areas, in the UK notably through the presence of large populations of domestic cats and increased populations of synanthropic species, such as rats and squirrels. These high predation rates are assumed to be a significant cause of reproductive failure in birds. Some ecologists advocate for the use of buffer zones with reduced human influence to reduce potential hunting pressure in eco-sensitive areas. However, the buffer effect on predation rates of nesting birds in suburban areas is rarely investigated. In this study, we investigated how edge effects (how close nest sites are to housing) and nest height (i.e., ground vs. above-ground) affected nest predation rates in a suburban park using camera traps to monitor artificial nests containing quail eggs. Our hypothesis was that nests in the buffer area (&lt;300 m inward from university boundary) and at low height would suffer higher predation rates than nests in the core area (&gt;300 m from the university boundary) and at height, as the buffer zone effect, and ease of access to ground predators would result in higher predation rates. We found no significant effect of nest height in nest predation rates. However, contrary to our expectations, nests in the core zone suffered higher predation rates than those in the buffer zone, and corvids were responsible for almost half of the egg loss events. We speculate that this may be a consequence of higher levels of anthropogenic disturbance (e.g., pedestrians, dog walking, vehicles) adjacent to our buffer zone acting as a deterrent to avian nest predators. This work suggests that protecting urban sites from disturbance may not always act to support bird abundance.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51311,"journal":{"name":"Avian Research","volume":"16 3","pages":"Article 100258"},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2025-05-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143942736","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":"Responses of steppe birds to habitat fragmentation: Insights from niche specialization and functional traits","authors":"Zheng Han ,&nbsp;Xi Yang ,&nbsp;Lishi Zhang ,&nbsp;Piotr Tryjanowski ,&nbsp;Frédéric Jiguet ,&nbsp;Haitao Wang","doi":"10.1016/j.avrs.2025.100257","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.avrs.2025.100257","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Habitat fragmentation poses a significant threat to bird communities, especially those in open and semi-open ecosystems such as steppes. This study investigates how steppe birds adapt to and utilize fragmented habitats by combining niche modeling with ecological trait analysis. We conducted standardized point surveys to examine the habitat preferences of 32 bird species in Inner Mongolia, China, and quantified their habitat niche parameters using the Outlying Mean Index (OMI). Our results reveal distinct habitat preferences among species, with some thriving in intact environments while others are better adapted to fragmented areas. Grassland species showed high specialization along the fragmentation gradient, while others exhibited adaptability to varying levels of fragmentation. Using a Generalized Additive Model (GAM), we identified three key traits influencing habitat occupancy: hand-wing index, body mass, and range size. Specifically, species with medium hand-wing indices, moderate body mass, and larger range sizes were more likely to occupy heavily fragmented habitats. These findings provide empirical evidence on how habitat fragmentation affects bird species in steppe ecosystems. The study highlights the importance of functional traits in understanding avian responses to habitat fragmentation and offers a foundation for developing effective conservation strategies to preserve biodiversity in fragmented landscapes.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51311,"journal":{"name":"Avian Research","volume":"16 3","pages":"Article 100257"},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2025-05-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143936493","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":"Evaluation of the visual signal in playback by territorial responses of nuthatches","authors":"Miao Tian,&nbsp;Junyang Feng,&nbsp;Canwei Xia","doi":"10.1016/j.avrs.2025.100256","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.avrs.2025.100256","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>A playback experiment is a well-established method for behavior research, especially in the study of the territorial responses of songbirds. Birds obtain information from multimodal signals, whereas only acoustic signals are provided in traditional playbacks. Many efforts have been made to combine visual signals with playback experiments, e.g., static specimens, videos, live birds and robotic models. Multimodal signal playback provides an elaborate way to study the behavior of focal birds. Although combining visual signals with playback experiments can elicit more authentic responses, empirical evidence remains scarce. In this study, a robot model mimicking a territory intruder was presented to Eurasian Nuthatch (<em>Sitta europaea</em>) to evaluate its effect on playback experiments. The experiments were conducted on 45 individuals during the 2021 breeding season in Baihua Mountain National Nature Reserve (39°83ʹ N, 115°58ʹ E), China. These 45 individuals were randomly divided into three equal-sized groups corresponding to the experimental treatments: playback sound only; sound with a static model; and sound with a dynamic model. Behavioral variables were recorded during each experiment to generate response intensity via principal component analysis. The results revealed that there was no significant difference in response intensity among the three different experimental treatments. Considering the dense habitat where nuthatches live, the robot model may have insufficiently increased the stimulation of sensory perception. We propose that the effect of visual signals during playback should be evaluated in more species and that behavioral studies could be conducted using multimodal signals to provide a more realistic representation of bird‒bird interactions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51311,"journal":{"name":"Avian Research","volume":"16 3","pages":"Article 100256"},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2025-04-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143937581","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":"Elevated extinction risk of low-elevation populations of two songbirds on the Taiwan island","authors":"Xuntao Ma ,&nbsp;Yadan Liu ,&nbsp;Zhang Zhang ,&nbsp;Mingwang Zhang ,&nbsp;Feng Dong","doi":"10.1016/j.avrs.2025.100255","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.avrs.2025.100255","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Prevailing concerns on mountainous biodiversity are concentrated on the impacts of climate change at higher elevations. However, the lower elevations are facing additional human disturbance and are expected to suffer from higher extinction risk but have attracted less conservation attention. Here, we employed population genomics to compare extinction risk two common songbirds—the Vinous-throated Parrotbill (<em>Sinosuthora webbiana</em>) and the Rufous-capped Babbler (<em>Cyanoderma ruficeps</em>)—at lower and higher elevations on the Taiwan island. As the result, we observed decreased genetic diversity and increased genetic load and thus elevated extinction risk in the low-elevation populations of both birds in the eastern slope of the Central Mountains on the Taiwan island. In contrast, genetic-load patterns of both birds in the western slope might be confused by substantial gene flow across lower and higher elevations. These results, on the one hand, call for conservation efforts to lower elevations in mountains and, on the other hand, highlight the importance of population connection in maintaining population viability under impending global change.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51311,"journal":{"name":"Avian Research","volume":"16 3","pages":"Article 100255"},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2025-04-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144084099","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":"Migration patterns and spatial connectivity of Pallas's Gulls (Ichthyaetus ichthyaetus) from Alakol lake, Kazakhstan using ring recovery and tracking data","authors":"Viktoriya O. Ilina ,&nbsp;Bekzhan T. Berdikulov ,&nbsp;Fumin Lei ,&nbsp;Aleksandr N. Filimonov ,&nbsp;Yekaterina E. Akentyeva ,&nbsp;Gang Song ,&nbsp;Aizhan E. Tashimova ,&nbsp;Andrey E. Gavrilov","doi":"10.1016/j.avrs.2025.100253","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.avrs.2025.100253","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Understanding migration patterns and spatial connectivity is crucial for conserving long-distance migratory birds. While satellite telemetry has advanced the study of large gulls, Pallas's Gull (<em>Ichthyaetus ichthyaetus</em>) remains relatively understudied, with limited data on its migration routes and habitat use, particularly in Central Asia. This study integrates 684 ring recoveries (1968–2024) and GPS tracking data to analyze the migration ecology of individuals breeding at Alakol Lake, Kazakhstan. Ring recoveries confirm migratory connectivity across Kazakhstan, Russia, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Iran, and Pakistan, with wintering records as far as India, Kuwait, Bangladesh, and Ethiopia. GPS tracking of a single individual (June 2020–August 2021) revealed a migration route from Alakol Lake to the Arabian Sea, with key stopovers at Zaisan Lake, Balkhash Lake, the Aral Sea, Aydar Lake, and the Amu Darya River. Notably, a post-breeding northward dispersal to Zaisan Lake and southern Russia was identified before the southward migration commenced. These findings highlight the significance of Kazakhstan's lakes as breeding and migratory hubs and the need to protect critical stopover sites in Central Asia. Given increasing anthropogenic pressures on wetland habitats, this research provides essential baseline data for conservation planning and enhances the broader understanding of gull migration ecology.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51311,"journal":{"name":"Avian Research","volume":"16 3","pages":"Article 100253"},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2025-04-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143913088","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":"The influence of the abundance and availability of alternative food on the foraging behavior of wintering Siberian Cranes (Leucogeranus leucogeranus)","authors":"Shilong Bi ,&nbsp;Lizhi Zhou","doi":"10.1016/j.avrs.2025.100254","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.avrs.2025.100254","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Food abundance and availability constitute fundamental determinants of foraging habitat quality for waterbirds, with high-quality foraging habitats playing a crucial role in supporting the survival and annual life cycle of wintering populations. The ongoing degradation and loss of optimal habitats have forced wintering waterbirds to increasingly rely on alternative foraging sites and modify their behavioral adaptation strategies to cope with food scarcity. The Siberian Crane (<em>Leucogeranus leucogeranus</em>), a large-bodied endangered waterbird species characterized by specialized dietary preferences, demonstrates particular sensitivity to environmental alterations. Faced with diminishing suitable habitats and declining natural food resources, this species has progressively adapted to utilizing artificial habitats, including agricultural landscapes such as paddy fields and lotus ponds, as supplementary wintering foraging grounds to fulfill their energetic requirements. This study examines the hypothesis that Siberian Cranes adapt their foraging behavior through plastic behavioral strategies in artificial habitats under conditions of limited food availability, thereby enhancing population fitness. A comparative analysis of crane foraging behaviors was conducted between mudflats and lotus ponds throughout the 2023–2024 wintering period. This investigation focused on three critical environmental factors: food abundance, food burial depth, and sediment penetrability, examining their influence on foraging patterns across these distinct habitats. The results revealed significant inter-habitat differences: foraging success rates were substantially higher (<em>p</em> &lt; 0.05) and food handling times markedly longer in lotus ponds compared to mudflats, whereas foraging effort and attempt frequency were significantly elevated in mudflat habitats. The superior food availability in lotus ponds facilitated enhanced foraging success rates, enabling cranes to accumulate essential energy reserves for winter survival. However, the deeper burial depth of lotus roots in these habitats required more intensive processing behaviors, including prolonged digging, breaking, and swallowing activities, which consequently increased handling time by approximately 40% and reduced foraging attempts by 25–30% compared to mudflat conditions. These behavioral trade-offs suggest that while lotus ponds provide adequate food resources, their structural characteristics may impose physiological constraints that limit their effectiveness as optimal foraging grounds for Siberian Cranes. These findings offer valuable insights into the behavioral plasticity of wintering Siberian Cranes response to spatial variations in food resource distribution, while contributing to our understanding of the ecological value of lotus roots as alternative winter food sources in artificial wetland ecosystems.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51311,"journal":{"name":"Avian Research","volume":"16 3","pages":"Article 100254"},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2025-04-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143937436","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":"Moult-breeding trade-offs in the Crested Ibis (Nipponia nippon) could have management applications","authors":"Jia Li ,&nbsp;Dongping Liu ,&nbsp;Wei Li ,&nbsp;Wenbin Duan ,&nbsp;Jie Gao ,&nbsp;Chao Wang","doi":"10.1016/j.avrs.2025.100250","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.avrs.2025.100250","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Moult is an essential event in the annual cycle of birds. Moult patterns and strategies of birds are crucial for understanding their life-history trade-offs and adaptations to the environment. However, moult knowledge is still lacking for many Eastern Palaearctic birds, especially large endangered species, mainly because of the difficulty in data collection. Here, we used field photography, a non-invasive method, to detect and score moult in the endangered Crested Ibis (<em>Nipponia nippon</em>) and explored the moult timing variations and moult-breeding trade-offs. The adult Crested Ibis sequentially moults its primaries outward, and secondaries inward from three foci from April to October. Age (adult versus sub-adult) and breeding status (breeding or not) have a significant effect on moult timing. Moult timing does not differ between the sexes, likely because of similar parental investments in breeding. Crested Ibis exhibits significant moult-breeding overlap, because moult is time constrained and needs to finish before the season of food scarcity in winter. Breeding timing (first egg laying date) has a strong impact on moult duration, with late breeders experiencing a longer moult duration, indicating that the moult intensity is slowed down during the breeding period because of trade-offs between moult and breeding. This reflects that energy allocation of late breeders is challenging during extensive periods of moult-breeding overlap, which might partly contribute to their high breeding failure. Our results strongly suggest the existence of a negative relationship between breeding time on one hand, and fitness and moult on the other: early breeders show higher reproductive output and higher quality plumage, whereas late breeders show lower reproductive output and lower quality plumage.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51311,"journal":{"name":"Avian Research","volume":"16 2","pages":"Article 100250"},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2025-04-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143847349","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":"An updated list of parasitic cuckoos and their hosts in China","authors":"Jianping Liu ,&nbsp;Sidan Lin ,&nbsp;Wei Liang","doi":"10.1016/j.avrs.2025.100249","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.avrs.2025.100249","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Avian brood parasitism is a unique reproductive behavior in which parasitic birds depend on other species to incubate their eggs and raise their offspring. In China, there are 20 species of cuckoos in the family Cuculidae, order Cuculiformes, of which 17 species are parasitic cuckoos. This makes China one of the countries with the largest number of parasitic cuckoo species worldwide. Understanding the host utilization of cuckoos provides fundamental data for studying the coevolution of cuckoos with their hosts. We collected information on cuckoo hosts from the literature, photographs provided by birdwatchers, and online short video platforms, combined these data with our field observations, and summarized the parasitic cuckoos and their host species in China. A total of 1155 parasitism events were counted, involving 12 parasitic cuckoo species and 87 bird host species. These hosts belonged to 26 families, among which Muscicapidae was the most diverse with 19 species, accounting for 21.8% of the total hosts, followed by the families Phylloscopidae and Leiothrichidae with 8 species each, accounting for 9.2% of the total hosts recorded. The Common Cuckoo (<em>Cuculus canorus</em>) had the largest number of host taxa with 38 species, accounting for 43.7% of the total host species. This study adds 14 host species that have not been reported in China. However, for five species, the Jacobin Cuckoo (<em>Clamator jacobinus</em>), Banded Bay Cuckoo (<em>Cacomantis sonneratii</em>), Violet Cuckoo (<em>Chrysococcyx xanthorhynchus</em>), Common Hawk-cuckoo (<em>Hierococcyx varius</em>), and Whistling Hawk-cuckoo (<em>Hierococcyx nisicolor</em>), information regarding host utilization is still lacking.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51311,"journal":{"name":"Avian Research","volume":"16 2","pages":"Article 100249"},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2025-04-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143834533","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":"Avian acoustic communication: Understanding of peripheral and central neural systems with ecological adaptations","authors":"Xuan Peng ,&nbsp;Limin Wang ,&nbsp;Chenchen Shao ,&nbsp;Dongming Li","doi":"10.1016/j.avrs.2025.100248","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.avrs.2025.100248","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Avian vocal communication represents one of the most intricate forms of animal language, playing a critical role in behavioral interactions. Both peripheral and central auditory-vocal pathways are essential for precisely integrating acoustic signals, ensuring effective communication. Like humans, songbirds exhibit vocal learning behaviors supported by complex neural mechanisms. However, unlike most mammals, songbirds possess the remarkable ability to regenerate damaged auditory cells. These capabilities offer unique opportunities to explore how birds adjust their vocal behavior and auditory processing in response to dynamic environmental conditions. Recent studies have advanced our understanding of the plasticity of avian vocal communication system, yet the vocal diversity and neurophysiological mechanisms underlying vocalization and hearing have often been examined independently. A comprehensive overview of how these systems interact and adapt in birds remains lacking. To address this gap, this review synthesizes the peripheral and central features of avian vocalization and hearing, while also exploring the mechanisms that drive the remarkable plasticity of these systems. Furthermore, it explores seasonal variations in bird vocalization and hearing and adaptations to environmental noise, focusing on how hormonal, neural, and ecological factors together shape vocal behavior and auditory sensitivity. Avian vocal communication systems present an exceptional model for studying the integration of peripheral and central vocal-auditory pathways and their adaptive responses to ever-changing environments. This review underscores the dynamic interactions between avian vocal communication systems and environmental stimuli, offering new insights into broader principles of sensory processing, and neuroplasticity.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51311,"journal":{"name":"Avian Research","volume":"16 2","pages":"Article 100248"},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2025-04-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143834536","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":"Corrigendum to “Crown saturation and intrasexual dominance: Evidence of a negatively correlated handicap in male Saffron Finches” [Avian Res. 16 (2025) 100241]","authors":"Camilo Ernesto Espinosa ,&nbsp;James Montoya Lerma ,&nbsp;Hector Fabio Rivera-Gutierrez ,&nbsp;Lorena Cruz-Bernate","doi":"10.1016/j.avrs.2025.100246","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.avrs.2025.100246","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":51311,"journal":{"name":"Avian Research","volume":"16 2","pages":"Article 100246"},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2025-03-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143792461","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}