Genomic signatures and evolutionary history of the endangered blue-crowned laughingthrush and other Garrulax species.

Background: The blue-crowned laughingthrush (Garrulax courtoisi) is a critically endangered songbird endemic to Wuyuan, China, with population of ~323 individuals. It has attracted widespread attention, but the lack of a published genome has limited research and species protection.

Results: We report two laughingthrush genome assemblies and reveal the taxonomic status of laughingthrush species among 25 common avian species according to the comparative genomic analysis.

Investigation on the characteristics of gut microbiota in critically endangered blue-crowned laughingthrush (Garrulax courtoisi).

Blue-crowned laughingthrush (Garrulax courtoisi), passeriformes, is a critically endangered bird endemic to China. Gut microbiota is well known to play a pivotal role in host health and survival. Thus, the understanding of the microbial communities associated with Garrulax courtoisi could be beneficial to save this species from the brink of extinction.

Low genetic diversity in captive populations of the critically endangered Blue-crowned Laughingthrush () revealed by a panel of novel microsatellites.

Background: Captive populations permit research and conservation of endangered species in which these efforts are hardly implemented in wild populations. Thus, analysing genetic diversity and structure of captive populations offers unique opportunities. One example is the critically endangered Blue-crowned Laughingthrush, , which has only two known wild populations in Wuyuan, Jiangxi and Simao, Yunnan, China.

Coupled mode theory for orbital angular momentum modes transmission in the presence of atmosphere turbulence.

In this paper, orbital angular momentum (OAM) modes transmission in the presence of atmosphere turbulence is studied via a coupled mode theory. The Laguerre-Gauss (LG) beams with OAM topological charges are emitted into free space and undergo interactions due to the random index variations in the atmosphere. The coupling between the LG beams can be characterized by a set of coupled average power equation, which resembles the Marcuse' coupled power equation (CPE) originally proposed for the optical waveguides.