Background:The adjustment of sex ratios in birds can occur at the egg and nestling stages. Previous studies showed that the sex ratio was affected by environmental factors and parental condition; it may result in seas...Background:The adjustment of sex ratios in birds can occur at the egg and nestling stages. Previous studies showed that the sex ratio was affected by environmental factors and parental condition; it may result in seasonal and ecosystem differences.Methods:In this study, the brood sex ratio of the Yellow-bellied Prinia(Prinia flaviventris) in the Nonggang area, Guangxi, southwestern China, was investigated during the breeding season from May to June in 2013 using PCR amplification from whole-genome DNA extracted from blood samples. A total of 31 nests of Yellow-bellied Prinia, including 132 brood fledglings and 31 pairs, were sampled.Results:The results showed that the brood sex ratio of the Yellow-bellied Prinia was 1:1, and sex ratios of different nests were evenly distributed within the study area. No significant relationship was found between parental quality and nest characteristics with the brood sex ratio.Conclusions:The present study indicated that no brood sex ratio bias in the Yellow-bellied Prinia highlighted the complexity of sex ratio adjustment in birds. In spite of our negative results, the lack of an association between brood sex ratio and parental quality and environmental factors in the Yellow-bellied Prinia provides valuable information on the adjustment of sex ratios in birds.展开更多
Habitat structure has been considered as an important factor affecting the acoustic evolution of birds,and bird songs are increasingly affected by artificial environmental variation.Invasive plants sometimes can drama...Habitat structure has been considered as an important factor affecting the acoustic evolution of birds,and bird songs are increasingly affected by artificial environmental variation.Invasive plants sometimes can dramatically alter native habitats,but the song variation of native songbirds migrating into invaded habitats has received little attention.The invasion of smooth cordgrass Spartina alterniflora in the coastal wetlands of eastern China has drastically altered the vegetation structure and some small passerines have begun to use invaded habitats to breed.In this study,we compared the song type prevalence and the song characteristics of male plain prinia Prinia inornata to identify differences in vocal behavior between native and invaded habitats.We also tested for differences in vocal behavior in relation to singing perch and wind speed variation between different habitats.The results indicated that males of plain prinia in invaded habitats sang shorter songs than those in native habitats and had a lower song diversity.The homogeneous vegetation structure and higher wind speed in invaded habitats likely leads to males changing the traditional perched singing style.The song variation may be related to the founder effect,the alteration of vegetation structure and microclimate in invaded habitats.This finding highlights the need for better understanding the behavioral evolution of native species in the process of adapting to the invaded habitat.In the future,experimental manipulation is needed to ascertain how the invasive plant drove these vocal behavior changes of native songbirds.展开更多
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Nos.31472013 to WL,31660617 to LW,31460567 to AJ,and 31572257 to HH)Key Scientific and Technological Project of Science and Information Technology of Haizhu district,Guangzhou City(2013-cg-03 to ZD,2014-cg-17 to HH)GDAS Special Project of Science and Technology Development(2017GDASCX-0107)
文摘Background:The adjustment of sex ratios in birds can occur at the egg and nestling stages. Previous studies showed that the sex ratio was affected by environmental factors and parental condition; it may result in seasonal and ecosystem differences.Methods:In this study, the brood sex ratio of the Yellow-bellied Prinia(Prinia flaviventris) in the Nonggang area, Guangxi, southwestern China, was investigated during the breeding season from May to June in 2013 using PCR amplification from whole-genome DNA extracted from blood samples. A total of 31 nests of Yellow-bellied Prinia, including 132 brood fledglings and 31 pairs, were sampled.Results:The results showed that the brood sex ratio of the Yellow-bellied Prinia was 1:1, and sex ratios of different nests were evenly distributed within the study area. No significant relationship was found between parental quality and nest characteristics with the brood sex ratio.Conclusions:The present study indicated that no brood sex ratio bias in the Yellow-bellied Prinia highlighted the complexity of sex ratio adjustment in birds. In spite of our negative results, the lack of an association between brood sex ratio and parental quality and environmental factors in the Yellow-bellied Prinia provides valuable information on the adjustment of sex ratios in birds.
基金funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.31670432)the Research Culture Funds of Anhui Normal University(No.2020XJ43).
文摘Habitat structure has been considered as an important factor affecting the acoustic evolution of birds,and bird songs are increasingly affected by artificial environmental variation.Invasive plants sometimes can dramatically alter native habitats,but the song variation of native songbirds migrating into invaded habitats has received little attention.The invasion of smooth cordgrass Spartina alterniflora in the coastal wetlands of eastern China has drastically altered the vegetation structure and some small passerines have begun to use invaded habitats to breed.In this study,we compared the song type prevalence and the song characteristics of male plain prinia Prinia inornata to identify differences in vocal behavior between native and invaded habitats.We also tested for differences in vocal behavior in relation to singing perch and wind speed variation between different habitats.The results indicated that males of plain prinia in invaded habitats sang shorter songs than those in native habitats and had a lower song diversity.The homogeneous vegetation structure and higher wind speed in invaded habitats likely leads to males changing the traditional perched singing style.The song variation may be related to the founder effect,the alteration of vegetation structure and microclimate in invaded habitats.This finding highlights the need for better understanding the behavioral evolution of native species in the process of adapting to the invaded habitat.In the future,experimental manipulation is needed to ascertain how the invasive plant drove these vocal behavior changes of native songbirds.
