Avian ResearchPub Date : 2026-03-01Epub Date: 2025-11-28DOI: 10.1016/j.avrs.2025.100323
Lin He , Dao Yan , Ming Liu , Yuanfang Hu , Shunyu Yao , Fei Wu
{"title":"Hide-in-Bird Pond: A new pathway to synergize biodiversity conservation and sustainable development in China","authors":"Lin He , Dao Yan , Ming Liu , Yuanfang Hu , Shunyu Yao , Fei Wu","doi":"10.1016/j.avrs.2025.100323","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.avrs.2025.100323","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Reconciling biodiversity conservation with economic advancement represents a defining challenge of the Anthropocene epoch. Although ecotourism is widely promoted as a strategy capable of delivering both environmental and developmental benefits, empirical evidence regarding its ecological and socioeconomic impacts remains limited. This study critically examined the Hide-in-Bird Pond (HIBP) model, a rapidly expanding, community-based avitourism framework in China that integrates targeted wildlife provisioning with concealed infrastructure for bird observation, simultaneously establishing a novel income source for economically marginalized rural regions through ecotourism. Semi-structured online interviews were conducted with 98 HIBP operators, and thematic analysis was applied to evaluate current developmental patterns, spatial distribution, and conservation outcomes. A total of 251 HIBP sites were identified across China, predominantly located in biodiversity-rich but economically marginalized regions. These sites collectively supported 524 bird species—36% of China's avifauna—including 148 species classified as nationally protected or threatened (38% of nationally listed bird taxa). These findings suggest that HIBP can serve as an integrative socio-ecological platform that aligns conservation objectives with sustainable rural development. However, the absence of standardized governance frameworks and ecological safeguards poses significant risks to biodiversity and long-term sustainability. Implementation of science-based adaptive management systems, incorporating systematic biodiversity monitoring, inclusive stakeholder coordination, and certified sustainable tourism protocols, is critical to ensure ecological integrity and sectoral resilience. These findings offer novel insights into aligning conservation objectives with economic development across regions characterized by high biodiversity and persistent economic disadvantage.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51311,"journal":{"name":"Avian Research","volume":"17 1","pages":"Article 100323"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145684838","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}
Avian ResearchPub Date : 2026-03-01Epub Date: 2025-12-03DOI: 10.1016/j.avrs.2025.100325
Kexin Chen , Kangjia Lv , Qi Xia , Hong Jin , Xingyu Huang , Ming Li , Chenyu Liu , Jinsong Liu
{"title":"Effects of photoperiod on basal metabolism and substrate metabolism in Zebra Finches","authors":"Kexin Chen , Kangjia Lv , Qi Xia , Hong Jin , Xingyu Huang , Ming Li , Chenyu Liu , Jinsong Liu","doi":"10.1016/j.avrs.2025.100325","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.avrs.2025.100325","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Photoperiod serves as an essential environmental cue that facilitates seasonal acclimatization and thermoregulation in birds. However, its effects on basal and substrate metabolism in Zebra Finches (<em>Taeniopygia guttata</em>) remain unclear. To explore the influence of photoperiod on basal metabolism and substrate metabolism in Zebra Finches, basal metabolic rate (BMR), body mass, cellular metabolic activities, and substrate metabolism were investigated under different photoperiods. After one week of exposure to a short photoperiod, Zebra Finches exhibited a temporary decrease in BMR, gross energy intake, digestible energy intake, and digestibility, although body mass remained unchanged throughout the experiment. After four weeks of acclimation, no significant differences were observed among different groups in state 4 respiration, cytochrome <em>c</em> oxidase activity, citrate synthase activity, avian uncoupling protein expression, or circulating triiodothyronine and thyroxine hormone levels. In terms of substrate metabolism, short photoperiod-exposed finches showed increased pectoral muscle glycogen content and elevated serum triglyceride and free fatty acid levels, accompanied by a decrease in body fat. No differences were detected in serum glucose levels or in the activity and mRNA levels of carnitine palmityl-transferase-1 and <em>β</em>-hydroxyacyl Co-A dehydrogenase. These findings suggest that changes in photoperiod may serve as signals for substrate metabolism remodeling, while having only transient effects on basal metabolism in Zebra Finches.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51311,"journal":{"name":"Avian Research","volume":"17 1","pages":"Article 100325"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145736156","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":"CDA-Net: Cross dimensional attention network for wetland bird detection","authors":"Jia'nan Lv , Changchun Zhang , Jiangjian Xie , Junguo Zhang","doi":"10.1016/j.avrs.2025.100334","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.avrs.2025.100334","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Monitoring waterbirds is vital for evaluating the ecological health of wetlands, and object detection offers an automated solution for identifying birds in monitoring imagery. However, conventional detection methods often overlook the multi-scale nature of bird targets, limiting their ability to capture rich contextual information across different scales. To address this, we propose a cross-dimensional attention network (CDA-Net) for bird detection that integrates spatial and channel information to improve species recognition. The proposed CDA-Net partitions feature maps into multiple channel wise sub-features. Spatial and channel attention are applied to each sub-feature, and the resulting features are fused using the Hadamard product. The fused features are then forwarded to the detection head to generate the final detection results. This approach effectively captures and integrates information across spatial and channel dimensions. Experiments on our self-constructed Nanhai Wetland Waterbird Dataset and the public CUB-200-2011 dataset yield precision scores of 91.32% and 81.99%, respectively, outperforming existing methods. Our approach effectively handles scale variation in bird detection and provides a valuable tool for advancing automated wetland waterbird monitoring.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51311,"journal":{"name":"Avian Research","volume":"17 1","pages":"Article 100334"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145883857","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}
Avian ResearchPub Date : 2026-03-01Epub Date: 2025-11-28DOI: 10.1016/j.avrs.2025.100322
Chenyang Zhao , Jinggang Zhang , Peter Santema , Zixuan Lin , Jianqiang Li , Wenhong Deng , Bart Kempenaers
{"title":"No egg or nestling-retrieval behavior in a cavity-nesting cuckoo host","authors":"Chenyang Zhao , Jinggang Zhang , Peter Santema , Zixuan Lin , Jianqiang Li , Wenhong Deng , Bart Kempenaers","doi":"10.1016/j.avrs.2025.100322","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.avrs.2025.100322","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The arms race between avian brood parasites and their hosts provides a classic model for studying coevolution. In one of the most widespread obligate brood parasites, the Common Cuckoo (<em>Cuculus canorus</em>), chicks typically evict all host progeny (eggs and nestlings) from the nest cup, resulting in complete reproductive failure for the host. Host parents of Common Cuckoos could thus potentially benefit from retrieving evicted eggs and nestlings into the nest cup. However, whether hosts of the Common Cuckoo exhibit such retrieval behavior has been scarcely studied. In this study, we experimentally investigated the occurrence of retrieval in a nestbox-breeding population of Daurian Redstarts (<em>Phoenicurus auroreus</em>), a common cavity-nesting host of the Common Cuckoo. To test the redstarts’ response to an egg or a nestling outside the nest cup, we experimentally placed either a conspecific egg, a model cuckoo egg, or a redstart nestling near the rim of the nest cup. We found that redstarts never showed retrieval behavior of either eggs or nestlings. All hosts ignored the experimental nestling and conspecific egg, but most ejected the model cuckoo egg from the nestbox. Our results suggest that selection for retrieval behavior in this cavity-nesting host may be weak or even negative. We discuss several ecological and evolutionary factors that may explain the absence of retrieval in this system.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51311,"journal":{"name":"Avian Research","volume":"17 1","pages":"Article 100322"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145684166","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}
Avian ResearchPub Date : 2026-03-01Epub Date: 2025-11-21DOI: 10.1016/j.avrs.2025.100319
Wenzhang Dai , Jun Chen , Shanshan Zhao , Luning Lian , Xin Leng , Xiaodan Wang
{"title":"Spatial pattern and conservation challenges of migratory waterbirds in Asian flyways","authors":"Wenzhang Dai , Jun Chen , Shanshan Zhao , Luning Lian , Xin Leng , Xiaodan Wang","doi":"10.1016/j.avrs.2025.100319","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.avrs.2025.100319","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Migratory birds undertake regular seasonal movements between breeding and non-breeding grounds each year, often spanning intercontinental distances. Several migratory waterbirds are declining globally, owing to multiple threats from parts of annual migration. Therefore, understanding the spatial distribution and conservation challenges of migratory waterbirds is critical for effective flyway-scale conservation. In this study, we compiled a comprehensive dataset of 199 migratory waterbird species, mapped seasonal distribution, and identified population trends and threats along the East Asian–Australasian Flyway and Central Asian Flyway. Species richness exhibited latitudinal gradients along the two flyways, peaking at approximately 60° N in the breeding season and 15° N in the non-breeding season. Migration distance and geographic spread significantly varied among orders. More than half of the waterbird species (50.75%) showed decreasing population trends; however, no significant difference in the proportion of population decline was noticed across flyways or orders. A total of 31 species (15.58%) were listed as threatened, most of which were concentrated in the East Asian–Australasian Flyway and primarily affected by the use of biological resources, pollution, and agricultural expansion. Overall, this study provides a comparative assessment of migratory waterbirds in Asian flyways. Our findings highlight the importance of multinational conservation efforts targeting key breeding and non-breeding regions, specifically for threatened species, and underscore the need for coordinated strategies to mitigate multiple, overlapping threats across flyways. These further emphasize that conservation actions should prioritize transboundary habitat networks and policy integration among flyway countries to enhance the long-term resilience of migratory waterbird populations.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51311,"journal":{"name":"Avian Research","volume":"17 1","pages":"Article 100319"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145684167","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":"Urbanization alters the seasonality of bird communities across China","authors":"Zhipeng Xie, Haoting Duan, Baoming Zhang, Minghui Zhou, Ludan Zhang, Jiehua Yu, Jiekun He","doi":"10.1016/j.avrs.2025.100314","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.avrs.2025.100314","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Urbanization has profoundly reshaped biodiversity, yet its impacts on community seasonal changes remain poorly understood. Here, we used citizen science data from 839 bird species in 37 cities and their corresponding rural areas in China to assess how urbanization alters seasonal changes in bird communities. We calculated Sørensen beta dissimilarity indices (<em>β</em><sub>sor</sub>) between seasons to compare the seasonality of communities in urban and rural areas and decomposed these indices into turnover (<em>β</em><sub>sim</sub>) and nestedness (<em>β</em><sub>nes</sub>) components. We evaluated whether there are differences in the latitudinal clines in community seasonality between urban and rural areas, and explored whether environmental and socio-economic factors affect the urbanization-driven changes in community seasonality. Our results show that the overall seasonal <em>β</em><sub>sor</sub> in urban communities was 16.2% higher than in rural areas, due to a 49.5% increase in <em>β</em><sub>nes</sub> (urban: 0.22 ± 0.12 vs. rural: 0.15 ± 0.08), but there was no significant difference in <em>β</em><sub>sim</sub>. In rural areas, <em>β</em><sub>sor</sub> increased with latitude, but <em>β</em><sub>sor</sub> showed no latitudinal trend in urban communities. Human population emerges as a key predictor of urbanization-driven changes in the species turnover and nestedness components, with larger cities showing lower species turnover but higher nestedness components. We conclude that urbanization alters the seasonality of bird communities through nestedness components, decouples the relationship between community seasonality and latitude, and concentrates its impacts in densely populated cities. Future research must employ long-term monitoring to track how urbanization changes bird communities in space and time.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51311,"journal":{"name":"Avian Research","volume":"17 1","pages":"Article 100314"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145521068","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}
Avian ResearchPub Date : 2026-03-01Epub Date: 2025-12-01DOI: 10.1016/j.avrs.2025.100326
Dariusz J. Gwiazdowicz
{"title":"Photographs on social media and analysis of bird hunting in Poland","authors":"Dariusz J. Gwiazdowicz","doi":"10.1016/j.avrs.2025.100326","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.avrs.2025.100326","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":51311,"journal":{"name":"Avian Research","volume":"17 1","pages":"Article 100326"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145736157","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}
Avian ResearchPub Date : 2026-03-01Epub Date: 2025-11-13DOI: 10.1016/j.avrs.2025.100318
Qiuyang Chen, Yuwen Cheng, Yue Zhong, Yixuan Wang, Zhongqiu Li
{"title":"Are the impacts of artificial light exposure at night on bird's cognitive performances always negative?","authors":"Qiuyang Chen, Yuwen Cheng, Yue Zhong, Yixuan Wang, Zhongqiu Li","doi":"10.1016/j.avrs.2025.100318","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.avrs.2025.100318","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Artificial light at night (ALAN), as an emerging pollutant, disrupts wild animals' nocturnal behaviours and physiological processes. Recent evidence indicates that ALAN can also impair diurnal cognition, especially in highly developed vertebrates. However, previous research has rendered mixed results across taxa and task types, with the parameters of the light source also scattered. That limits conclusion generalizability. Here we examined cognitive impacts of ALAN in housed Java Sparrows (<em>Lonchura oryzivora</em>), focusing on two questions: (1) whether ALAN uniformly impairs diverse cognitive traits and (2) how correlated colour temperatures (CCTs) modulate these effects. Sparrows were exposed to amber light (low CCT), neutral-white light (medium CCT), blue light (high CCT), or a no-light control. We then compared individual performance in three cognitive paradigms which were used to assess the animals’ capacities of discrimination learning, reversal learning, and inhibitory control. Results showed no significant effects of ALAN on discrimination learning, but ALAN-exposed birds required fewer trials in reversal learning. Lower CCT (amber light) led to more failures in detour-reaching. These findings indicate that cognitive impacts of ALAN are not uniformly negative but depend on cognitive function and CCT. Our study highlights context-dependent effects of ALAN, providing insights for optimizing urban lighting policies to balance ecological and human needs.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51311,"journal":{"name":"Avian Research","volume":"17 1","pages":"Article 100318"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145571433","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}
Avian ResearchPub Date : 2026-03-01Epub Date: 2025-12-19DOI: 10.1016/j.avrs.2025.100332
Hongcheng Shan , Xilin Gu , Chunqiong Li , Yuchen Guo , Yi Wei , Li Zhang , Yongjie Wu
{"title":"Avian neuronal morphology reveals pallial adaptations in Pigeons (Columba livia)","authors":"Hongcheng Shan , Xilin Gu , Chunqiong Li , Yuchen Guo , Yi Wei , Li Zhang , Yongjie Wu","doi":"10.1016/j.avrs.2025.100332","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.avrs.2025.100332","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Avian cognitive abilities rival those of primates. These capacities have been linked to high pallial neuronal density and prefrontal cortex-like dorsal ventricular ridge (DVR) circuitry. Although the DVR is now recognized as a pallial structure homologous to the mammalian cortex, its morphological basis remains unclear. Here, we combine Nissl staining, Golgi–Cox labeling, and 3D reconstruction to map neuronal morphology across five telencephalic regions in the Rock Pigeon (<em>Columba livia</em>). From 64 fully reconstructed neurons, we quantified dendritic field area, total dendritic length, branching architecture, and radial arbor organization. DVR neurons showed the largest dendritic fields and the highest branching complexity. Single-nucleus transcriptomic data further revealed that the Nidopallium Caudolaterale (NCL), the core DVR subregion, expresses a neuron-morphogenesis gene module whose activity correlates with dendritic field size. Together, these results identify a molecular and morphological signature of DVR neurons and highlight the computational significance of Nidopallium Caudolaterale. This work provides an integrated comparison of telencephalic neuronal morphology and gene expression in birds.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51311,"journal":{"name":"Avian Research","volume":"17 1","pages":"Article 100332"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145883861","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}
Avian ResearchPub Date : 2026-03-01Epub Date: 2025-12-27DOI: 10.1016/j.avrs.2025.100335
Qingxin Fang , Wanyou Li , Junpeng Bai , Fengxi Hu , Zhen Zhang , Long Ma , Luzhang Ruan
{"title":"Spatiotemporal variation and driving mechanisms of nest predation on Spotted Doves along an urbanization gradient","authors":"Qingxin Fang , Wanyou Li , Junpeng Bai , Fengxi Hu , Zhen Zhang , Long Ma , Luzhang Ruan","doi":"10.1016/j.avrs.2025.100335","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.avrs.2025.100335","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Nest predation is a critical driver of avian reproductive success, yet its response to urbanization remains controversial. Using infrared camera traps to monitor 133 artificial nests and 32 natural nests of the Spotted Dove (<em>Spilopelia chinensis</em>) along an urbanization gradient in Nanchang and Shangrao, China, from 2021 to 2023, we examined spatiotemporal variation in predation pressure. We deconstructed predation pressure into risk (nest fate and survival time) and pattern (predation frequency, predator size, and predator–nest interaction duration). We found that higher urbanization and better nest concealment significantly reduced predation risk. The composition of the predator community did not change along the urbanization gradient, suggesting that the reduced nest predation risk in cities is likely driven by behavioral factors, such as the availability of alternative food or human shield effect, rather than by the filtering of predator species. In contrast, predation patterns were primarily moderated by season. The off-peak breeding season was characterized by more frequent but less severe predation events involving smaller predators and had shorter predator–nest interaction durations compared to the peak season. This seasonal shift opens a breeding window during the off-peak season, when lethal nest predation risk is reduced. The Spotted Dove's unique life-history traits enable it to capitalize on this opportunity by balancing environmental costs, enhancing its reproductive success and facilitating its colonization of urban environments.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51311,"journal":{"name":"Avian Research","volume":"17 1","pages":"Article 100335"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145883860","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}