High egg rejection rate in a Chinese population of grey-backed thrush(Turdus hortulorum)

Several previous studies have indicated that nest sanitation behavior is a general adaptation in altricial birds,with egg recog nition capacity evolvi ng as a specific response to in terspecific brood parasitism(IBP).However,a rece nt study suggested an alternative hypothesis,con cludi ng that con specific brood parasitism(CBP)selects for egg rejection in thrushes,with IBP as a by-product.In the present study,we used a spectrophotometer to quantify egg coloration and egg mimicry and performed artificial parasitism experiments in the grey?backed thrush(Turdus hortulorum).We showed that individuals of this species rejected 100%of 12 foreign eggs,without IBP or CBP detected.In a review of previous studies,we also discuss possible explanations for the high egg rejection rate in the grey-backed thrush and suggest areas for future study.Altricial birds have evolved advaneed reproductive behavior to in crease the fitn ess of their offspring by buildi ng elaborate structures(i.e.,nests),in which they lay eggs and rear their nestlings(Hansell,2000).Bird nests not only provide a suitable place for nestling development,but also act as a concealed location for safety from predators.Furthermore,bird parents have evolved nest sanitation behavior to clean foreig n objects from their n ests,in eluding feces,eggshells,branches,and leaves,because they induce predation,facilitate microorganism growth,damage eggs,or hurt nestlings during brooding(Guigueno&Sealy,2012).Therefore,nest sanitation has evolved as a general behavior in altricial birds for distinguishing between egg-shaped and non-egg-shaped objects.

Egg recognition abilities of tit species in the Paridae family:do Indomalayan tits exhibit higher recognition than Palearctic tits?

DEAR EDITOR,Recent studies have shown that the closely related cinereous tit(Parus cinereus)and green-backed tit(P.monticolus)in China display strong egg recognition ability in contrast to tit species in Europe,which lack such ability.However,egg recognition in other populations of cinereous and greenbacked tits and additional Paridae species still requires further research.

Annual spatio-temporal migration patterns of Hooded Cranes wintering in Izumi based on satellite tracking and their implications for conservation

Background: The Hooded Crane(Grus monacha) is listed as a vulnerable species by IUCN. Knowledge about the migration of the Hooded Crane is still limited. Here we reported the spatio-temporal migration patterns of Hooded Cranes wintering in Izumi, Japan, as well as important stopover areas for their conservation.Methods: Four adult and five subadult cranes, all wintering in Izumi, Japan, were fitted with satellite transmitters(GPS–GSM system) at their stopover sites in northeastern China in 2014 and 2015. We analyzed the time and duration of adults and subadults in spring and autumn migration, as well as the time and duration they stayed in breeding and wintering ground. In addition, we analyzed the land use of the cranes in stopover areas.Results: Adult cranes took much longer time to migrate both north in spring(mean days) compared with subadult cranes(15.3 and 5.2 days, respectively). H= 44.3 days) and south in fall(mean = 54.0 owever, the subadults had longer wintering(mean = 149.8 days) and nomadic(breeding season for adults) seasons(mean d with adults(133.8 and 122.3 days, respectively). Three important stopover areas have been= 196.8 days) compare identified: the region around Muraviovka Park in Russia, the Songnen Plain in China, and the west coast of South Korea, where cranes spent most of their migration time(62.2 and 85.7% in spring and autumn, respectively). During migration, nomadic period and winter, Hooded Cranes usually stay in croplands for resting and feeding. In non-wintering season, less than 6% of stopover sites were located within protected areas.Conclusion: Overall, our results contribute to understanding the annual spatio-temporal migration patterns of Hooded Cranes in the eastern flyway, and planning conservation measures for this species.

Sexual dichromatism and assortative mating by multiple plumage color traits in wild Chestnut Thrush

Sex differences in plumage color are common in bird species.Some bird species are regarded as sexually monochromatic in human visual systems,and in recent years,some species are found to be of cryptic(to human)sexual dichromatism by spectrophotometric techniques.However,the functions of plumage color are still less understood in these species.Here,we focused on plumage color traits in the Chestnut Thrush(Turdus rubrocanus),which is considered as a sexually monochromatic bird by human observers.We used spectrometer analyses and avian visual modeling to investigate the color traits of males and females,and whether these color traits are involved in assortative mating.We found that Chestnut Thrush showed sexual dichromatism in bill,throat and wing,and pairs mated assortatively with colorations of throat,chest,crown and wing.We also found that color of tarsus was different between two consecutive years.These results revealed that Chestnut Thrush is sexually dichromatic in the avian visual system,and plumage color traits play important roles in mate choice.

Function of the uropygial gland in eiders (Somateria mollissima)

Background:The uropygial gland is an exocrine gland located above the tail of birds that produces a diverse range of biochemicals.It has been hypothesized to be involved in chemical protection,water-proofing and maintenance of plumage brightness.Although these not necessarily mutually exclusive functions have received some empirical support,there has been little empirical research on the function of water-proofing.Methods:Here we analyzed data for 229 individual eiders(Somateria mollissima)collected by Danish hunters during 2016-2018.Results:The Eider is a sea-duck that spends almost its entire life in sea water emphasizing water-proofing of the plumage.The size of the uropygial gland increased with body mass in males,but not in females,and it increased with age.The size of the uropygial gland decreased during winter. Eiders with small uropygial glands grew their feathers at a fast rate.Eiders with large wing areas had large uropygial glands. Conclusions:These findings are consistent with large uropygial glands playing a role in water-proofing during molt and foraging, but also that uropygial glands may play a role in chemical defense.

Comparison of head size and bite force in two sister species of parrotbills

Background: Brain size is associated with morphological evolution and behavioral flexibility because animals with large brain size tend to utilize new resources and colonize novel environments more successfully.Therefore, animals with larger brain size should possess larger distribution ranges.Brain size is strongly positively correlated with head size in birds, but also with prey size and vocalizations, because individuals with large heads eat large food items and produce high frequency calls.Methods: To test if there exists an association between head morphology and bite performance, we compared head size and bite force in two sympatric sister species of parrotbills, Ashy-throated Parrotbill(Paradoxornis alphonsianus) and Vinous-throated Parrotbill(P.webbianus), which both originated from the Himalayan area, but differ significantly in their distribution ranges.Results: In Guizhou, southwestern China, the Ashy-throated Parrotbill with a restricted distribution range had smaller heads whilst the Vinous-throated Parrotbill with a large distribution range had larger heads.However, there were no differences in head size between Ashy-throated Parrotbills and allopatric populations of Vinous-throated Parrotbills(Jiangxi and Hebei).Furthermore, the tendency of variation in bite force was opposite to that in head size with populations with larger head size having weaker bite force.Conclusions: We showed that there are no differences in head size between the Ashy-throated Parrotbill and allopatric populations of Vinous-throated Parrotbill, which provides evidence for the hypothesis that differences in head size in the Guizhou populations of two sister species are probably the result of local adaptation rather than species-specific.Our study has implications for avian dispersal and adaption related to head size such as diet ecology and vocalizations.

Russet Sparrows spot alien chicks from their nests

Background： In coevolutionary interactions between brood parasites and their hosts, host parents are under strong selection to evolve defenses against parasitism. Egg rejection is an efficient and common defense against parasitism, although some apparently suitable hosts do not reject cuckoo eggs.Methods： Sparrows Ploceidae are widespread throughout the Old World, and they have a suitable diet for rearing cuckoos, but still they are rarely exploited by brood parasites. To solve such puzzle, we conducted artificial parasitism and cross-fostering experiments in Russet Sparrow （Posset cinnomomeus）.Results： The present study showed that Russet Sparrows have no egg recognition ability, but recognize their own nestlings and eject alien chicks or starve them to death. They may use visual cues in chick recognition, although they accept sister species Tree Sparrow （Posset montonus）.Conclusions： By rejecting nestlings of foreign species, Russet Sparrows have succeeded to escape from the brood parasitism by cuckoos and other parasites. Our studies shed light on the puzzle why some species are not utilized by cuckoo parasites as hosts,

Brain size and urbanization in birds

Background: Brain size may affect the probability of invasion of urban habitats if a relatively larger brain entails superior ability to adapt to novel environments. However, once urbanized urban environments may provide poor quality food that has negative consequences for normal brain development resulting in an excess of individuals with small brains.Methods: Here we analyze the independent effects of mean, standard deviation and skewness in brain mass for invasion of urban habitats by 108 species of birds using phylogenetic multiple regression analyses weighted by sample size.Results: There was no significant difference in mean brain mass between urbanized and non-urbanized species or between urban and rural populations of the same species, and mean brain mass was not significantly correlated with time since urbanization. Bird species that became urbanized had a greater standard deviation in brain mass than non-urbanized species, and the standard deviation in brain mass increased with time since urbanization. Brain mass was significantly left skewed in species that remained rural, while there was no significant skew in urbanized species. The degree of left skew was greater in urban than in rural populations of the same species, and successfully urbanized species decreased the degree of left skew with time since urbanization. This is consistent with the hypothesis that sub-optimal brain development was more common in rural habitats resulting in disproportionately many individuals with very smal brains.Conclusions: These findings do not support the hypothesis that large brains promote urbanization, but suggest that skewness has played a role in the initial invasion of urban habitats, and that variance and skew in brain mass have increased as species have become urbanized.

Long-lived birds suffer less from oxidative stress

Background: Oxidative stress, caused by an imbalance between reactive oxygen species and antioxidants, is thought to be an important intrinsic mechanism for aging. Ecologists have tested this hypothesis in birds, although the evidence supporting the link between oxidative stress and lifespan has so far been ambiguous. Two previous studies based on a wide range of different free-living bird species provided contradictory findings: antioxidants were negatively associated with survival rate in one study, but positively associated with longevity in another.Methods: In this study, we identified possible shortcomings in previous research, and then used the comparative methods to test whether long-lived birds experience less oxidative stress reflected by four blood redox state markers(total antioxidant status, uric acid, total glutathione, malondialdehyde) based on data for 78 free-living species.Results: Relatively long-lived bird species had high levels of antioxidants(total antioxidant status, total glutathione) and low levels of reactive oxygen species(malondialdehyde). These associations were independent of statistical control for any effects of body mass, sampling effort and similarity among taxa due to common phylogenetic descent.Conclusions: The direction of these associations is consistent with the oxidative stress theory of aging.

Extreme climatic events in relation to global change and their impact on life histories

Extreme weather conditions occur at an increasing rate as evidenced by higher frequency of hurricanes and more extreme precipitation and temperature anomalies. Such extreme environmental conditions will have important implications for all living organisms through greater frequency of reproductive failure and reduced adult survival. We review examples of reproductive failure and reduced survival related to extreme weather conditions. Phenotypic plasticity may not be sufficient to allow adaptation to extreme weather for many animals. Theory predicts reduced reproductive effort as a response to increased stochasticity. We predict that patterns of natural selection will change towards truncation selection as environmental conditions become more extreme. Such changes in patterns of selection may facilitate adaptation to extreme events. However, effects of selection on reproductive effort are difficult to detect. We present a number of predictions for the effects of extreme weather conditions in need of empirical tests. Finally, we suggest a number of empirical reviews that could improve our ability to judge the effects of extreme environmental conditions on life history [Current Zoology 57 （3）： 375-389, 2011].

Spatial variation in egg polymorphism among cuckoo hosts across 4 continents

Although egg color polymorphism has evolved as an effective defensive adaptation to brood parasitism,spatial variations in egg color polymorphism remain poorly characterized.Here,we investigated egg polymorphism in 647 host species(68 families and 231 gen era)parasitized by 41 species of Old Word cuckoos(1 family and 11 gen era)across Asia,Europe,Africa,and Australia.The diversity of parasitic cuckoos differs among continents,reflecting the continent-specific intensities of parasitic selection pressure on hosts.Therefore,host egg polymorphism is expected to evolve more frequently on continents with higher cuckoo diversity.We identified egg polymorphism in 24.1%of all host species and 47.6%of all host families.The common cuckoo Cuculus canorus utilized 184 hosts(28.4%of all host species).Hosts of the common cuckoo and of Chrysococcyx species were more likely to have polymorphic eggs than hosts parasitized by other cuckoos.Both the number of host species and the host families targeted by the cuckoo species were positively correlated with the frequency of host egg polymorphism.Most host species and most hosts exhibiting egg color polymorphism were located in Asia and Africa.Host egg polymorphism was observed less frequently in Australia and Europe.Our results also suggested that egg polymorphism tends to occur more frequently in hosts that are utilized by several cuckoo species or by generalist cuckoo species.We suggest that selecti on pressure on hosts from a given contin ent in creases proportionally to the number of cuckoo species,and that this selection pressure may,in turn,favor the evolution of host egg polymorphism.

Plumage brightness and uropygial gland secretions in barn swallows

The uropygial gland has been hypothesized to play a role in sexual signaling through a "make-up" function derived from the effects of secretions from the gland on the appearanee of the plumage and bare parts of the body. Here we show that plumage brightness of dorsal feathers of individual barn swallows Hirundo rustica was greater in mated than in unmated individuals. In addition, plumage brightness in creased with colony size. Furthermore, plumage bright ness was positively correlated with the amount of wax in the uropygial gland, negatively correlated with time of sampling of uropygial wax (perhaps because more wax is present early in the morning after an entire night of wax production without any preening), and negatively correlated with the number of chewing lice that degrade the plumage. Experimentally preventing barn swallows from access to the uropygial gland reduced plumage brightness, showing a causal link between secretions from the uropygial gland and plumage brightness. These findings provide evidence consistent with a role of uropygial secretions in signaling plumage brightness.

Avian preference for close proximity to human habitation and its ecological consequences

Human proximity often have negative consequences for wildlife. However, animals may also benefit from human proximity in terms of availability of resources and protection against predators and parasites. We recorded the distance between all birds detected during the breeding season along 18 5-kin transects and the nearest inhabited house in three areas of 50 km2 in Spain, France, and Denmark. More than three quarters of birds were located closer than 100 m to the nearest house, while the null expectation was less than a third. Mean distance for species was correlated with degree of bird urbanization and with flight initiation distance. Habitat specialist species with small breeding territories tended to live closer to houses. Birds from species having more broods per year, larger annual fecundity and lower nest predation rate lived closer to human habitation. Breeding range size, population density, and continental breeding population sizes were larger for species living closer to human habitation. Most relationships between distance to houses and bird traits had a strong phylogenetic signal, but most additive trait effects remained after phylogenetic correction. Proximity to human habitation was a main driver of the distribution of birds, with most individuals and species tightly linked to inhabited houses. Living close to human habitation was associated with success in the colonization of urban habitats and with consistent changes in distribution, abundance, behavior, and life history. Replicated measurements of the spatial and tempo- ral variation in these distributions may be useful for monitoring and analyzing the ongoing process of organisms＇ urbanization.

Flight initiation distance, color and camouflage

Camouflage is widespread throughout the animal kingdom allowing individuals to avoid detection and hence save time and energy rather than escape from an approaching predator.Thus,camouflage is likely to have co-evolved with antipredator behavior.Here,we propose that camouflage results in dichotomous escape behavior within and among species with classes of individuals and species with cryptic coloration having shorter flight initiation distances(FIDs;the distance at which an individual takes flight when approached by a human).We report the results of 2 tests of this hypothesis.First,bird species with cryptically colored plumage have consistently shorter FID than closely related species without such color.Within species with sexually dimorphic plumage,brightly colored adult male common pheasants Phasianus colchicus and golden pheasants Chrysolophus pictus have long and variable FID,whereas cryptically colored juveniles and adult females have short and invariable FID.Second,FID in females was predicted by presence or absence of cryptic color,FID in males and their interaction.These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that risk-taking behavior has been attuned to camouflage,and that species with different levels of camouflage differ consistently in their FID.

A meta-analysis of the effects of geolocator application on birds

An increasing trend in use of tracking devices such as geolocators is based on the assumption that the information gathered from such devices provides reliable information about the migratory behavior of free-living birds. This underlying as- sumption is rarely tested, as evidenced by the absence in many studies of controls, in particular treated controls, and so far never with a reasonable statistical power. Published studies have shown reduced survival prospects or delayed breeding in some species, suggesting that there may be reason to doubt that tracking devices provide unbiased information. Therefore, we conducted a meta-analysis of studies applying geolocators to wild birds to determine whether geolocators affected fitness components. Ge- olocators had an overall negative effect on fitness components, in particular survival, and ecological variables. Effect size was larger for aerial foragers than for other species. Moreover the leg band attachment method was more detrimental for birds than the leg-loop backpack harness. A meta-regression model of effect size showed independent negative effects of geolocators on ae- rial foragers, smaller species, species with smaller migration distances and in studies where geolocators were attached with a ring. These results suggest that geolocator studies should be interpreted with caution, but also raise questions whether it is ethically defensible to use geolocators on aerial foragers or small species without carrying out robust pilot studies.

Rapid reduction in migration distance in relation to climate in a long-distance migratory bird

Migratory birds likely evolved from residents as a consequence of intraspecific competition for limiting resources followed by dispersal of such individuals to novel sites that had previously not been occupied by migrant conspecifics(Alerstam and Hogstedt 1982).

Why responses to dramatic climate change are important？

Climate change is proceeding at an unprecedented pace with global temperatures and sea-levels setting new records almost every year （IPCC, 2007）. While these changes are worrisome due to effects on all biological systems and hence also on humans, even more problematic changes may be in the waiting, because not only is the climate changing, but it is also becoming more extreme. Extreme temperatures, rainfall, droughts, storms and fires are already becoming more common with severe consequences for humans, their crops and domestic animals and all wild organisms. For example, the severe heat wave in 2003 caused an excess mortality of 2,600 humans in France alone （INSERM, 2003）, and primary production was suppressed across Europe （Ciais et al. 2004）.

Comparative urbanization of birds in China and Europe based on birds associated with trees

Urbanization effects on living organisms are spatially heterogeneous.Here we quantified the abundance of birds per tree in forested urban and rural habitats for 85,829 trees mainly in China and Europe.A population model was based on the assumption that:1)birds have a normally distributed habitat preference;2)an increase in population size linked to the habitat preference;3)a population size dependent on the habitat preference;and 4)the removal of a certain fraction of individuals giving rise to extinction.We tested for large-scale differences in the impact of urbanization on the frequency distribution of the difference in abundance between urban and rural habitats in China and parts of Europe.The difference in the frequency distribution of urban population density of birds in trees minus rural population density of birds in trees in China and Europe was statistically significant suggesting that the abundance of birds differed between trees in urban and rural habitats,but more so in China than in Europe.We hypothesize that more pronounced differences in China than in Europe may have arisen due to the Four Pests Campaign in 1958-1962 that resulted in death of hundreds of millions of birds(mainly tree sparrows Passer monfanus,but also numerous other less common species that were starting to become urbanized around 1960).Species that were less common in 1960 could not sustain reductions in population size in urban areas and hence these species are still rare or absent in urban areas today 60 years later.