Latitudinal variations in incubation behaviour among uniparental incubating birds.

Uniparental incubating birds must resolve the trade-off between self-maintenance and incubation. This balance manifests through diverse incubation behaviours that vary significantly among species and geographic regions. However, limited research has examined the variability of incubation behaviours across species and regions.

Differential spatial responses and assembly mechanisms of soil microbial communities across region-scale Taiga ecosystems.

Different soil microbial communities play distinct key roles in regulating forest ecosystem processes and functions. However, the differences in spatial variability and assembly mechanisms of various taiga forest soil microbial taxa remain poorly understood. Here, we assessed the spatial patterns of bacterial and fungal communities, their assembly processes, and the influencing factors in taiga forest ecosystems in Xinjiang, China.

Selective effect of winter weather on a songbird's morphology depends on individual sex and winter condition.

Knowledge of the effect of harsh weather on the phenotypic traits of organisms is essential for understanding the environmental influence on phenotype evolution and holds implications for predicting how species respond to current climate change. For many birds, harsh weather in winter often imposes a strong selective effect on their survival, and only the individuals with certain phenotypes may survive. However, whether the selective effect on phenotype varies with winter weather conditions has been poorly investigated.

Selection of Flagship Species and Their Use as Umbrellas in Bird Conservation: A Case Study in Lishui, Zhejiang Province, China.

The concept of flagship species is widely used in conservation biology. Flagship birds play a key role in raising conservation funds, increasing awareness of biodiversity conservation, and maintaining ecosystem services. This study selected flagship bird species in Lishui, Zhejiang Province, China, and assessed their conservation effectiveness and ability to serve as umbrella species.

Dispersal patterns of Reeves's pheasant based on genetic and behavioral evidence.

Dispersal is an important life history trait that plays a crucial role in avoiding inbreeding. Uncovering the dispersal pattern of a threatened species facilitates conservation efforts. Most species of Galliformes are forest-dwelling terrestrial birds with a weak dispersal ability and high conservation priorities.

Evolution of Avian Eye Size Is Associated with Habitat Openness, Food Type and Brain Size.

The eye is the primary sensory organ that obtains information from the ecological environments and specifically bridges the brain with the extra environment. However, the coevolutionary relationships between eye size and ecological factors, behaviours and brain size in birds remain poorly understood. Here, we investigate whether eye size evolution is associated with ecological factors (e.

Optimizing protected areas to boost the conservation of key protected wildlife in China.

To meet the challenge of biodiversity loss and reach the targets of the proposed Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework, the Chinese government updated the list of national key protected wildlife in 2021 and has been continually expanding the protected areas (PAs). However, the status of protected wildlife in PAs remains unclear. In this study, we conducted a national assessment of the status of protected wildlife and suggested an optimization plan to overcome these shortcomings.

COVID-19 lockdown has indirect, non-equivalent effects on activity patterns of Reeves's Pheasant () and sympatric species.

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has brought massive shifts in human activities through a global blockade, directly affecting wildlife survival. However, the indirect impacts of changes in human activities are often easily overlooked. We conducted surveys of Reeves's Pheasant () and its sympatric species by camera traps in forest-type nature reserves in three different scenarios: pre-lockdown, lockdown and post-lockdown.

Effects of Livestock Grazing on Spatio-Temporal Patterns and Behaviour of Reeves's Pheasant .

Protected areas are seeing an increase in anthropogenic disturbances in the world. Previous studies have demonstrated the impact of livestock grazing and human presence on the habitat use of birds, whereas little is known about the effect of free-ranging livestock on bird behaviour. Reeves's Pheasant () is endemic to China and has been threatened by habitat loss and fragmentation, illegal logging, and human disturbance over the past 20 years.

[Research advances in the impacts of oil pollutants on birds and the cleaning and repairing techniques].

Oil and its pollutants, which enter environment through natural oil seepage and many human activities, have considerable impacts on birds. We summarized the research advances in how oil pollutants influence birds and the cleaning technology of polluted birds and their habitats. The toxicity and destruction to feather structure are the major impacts of oil pollution on birds.

Sex-Specific Movement Responses of Reeves's Pheasant to Human Disturbance: Importance of Body Characteristics and Reproductive Behavior.

Human disturbance has a strong impact on the movement of wild animals. However, it remains unclear how the movement patterns of the Reeves's Pheasant () respond to human disturbance in human-dominated landscapes. We tracked the movement of 40 adult individual Reeves's Pheasants during the breeding season, and used the dynamic Brownian bridge motion model and kernel density estimation to analyze the diurnal movement patterns of Reeves's Pheasants and their response to human presence.

How do Snow Partridge () and Tibetan Snowcock () coexist in sympatry under high-elevation conditions on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau?

The Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (QTP) has the highest elevations of all biodiversity hotspots. Difficulties involved in fieldwork at high elevations cause challenges in researching mechanisms facilitating species coexistence. Herein, we investigated Snow Partridge () and Tibetan Snowcock (), the only two endemic Galliformes on the QTP, to understand species coexistence patterns and determine how they live in sympatry for the first time.

Objective vestibular function changes in children following cochlear implantation.

Background: To date, systematically objective evaluations of vestibular function in children with cochlear implantation (CI) have been conducted sparsely, especially in children with large vestibular aqueduct syndrome (LVAS).

Objective: Our goal was to investigate the function of all five vestibular end-organs pre- and post-cochlear implantation in children with LVAS and normal CT.

Methods: In this retrospective cohort study, 34 children (age 4-17 years) with bilateral profound sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) undergoing unilateral CI were included.

Response of Reeves's Pheasants Distribution to Human Infrastructure in the Dabie Mountains over the Last 20 Years.

Human infrastructure development drives habitat loss and fragmentation worldwide. In China, over the last 20 years, rapid infrastructure development impacted the habitats of endangered species. To facilitate conservation efforts, studies of how human infrastructure affects the distribution of Reeves's pheasant (), an endangered species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and a nationally protected species in China, are critically needed.

Influence of Cochlear Implantation on Vestibular Function in Children With an Enlarged Vestibular Aqueduct.

Cochlear implantation (CI) is becoming increasingly used in the rehabilitation of hearing-impaired patients. Children with an enlarged vestibular aqueduct (EVA) need CI for severe or profound hearing loss, with excellent outcomes in hearing rehabilitation. However, vestibular function influenced by CI in children with EVA has not been clarified.

Do Parental Feeding Rate and Feeding Synchrony Affect Nest Survival in a Songbird?

Nest predation risk is an important factor that may promote the evolution of adaptive parental reproductive strategies in animals. In altricial birds, where parents feed their offspring at the nest for a period of time, parent birds must balance the benefit from increased nest visits and the cost from increased nest predation resulting from their nest visits being detected by predators. Empirical evidence has shown a relationship between parental nest visits and nest predation risks, and parents have been found to be able to reduce the chance of being detected by predators by synchronizing their feeding visits while maintaining feeding rate unchanged.

Improve the roles of nature reserves in conservation of endangered pheasant in a highly urbanized region.

Nature reserves play an extraordinarily important role in conserving animal populations and their habitats. However, landscape change and unreasonable zoning designations often render these protected areas inadequate. Therefore, regular evaluation of the efficacy of protected lands is critical for maintaining and improving management strategies.

Consumer perceptions and reported wild and domestic meat and fish consumption behavior during the Ebola epidemic in Guinea, West Africa.

The handling, capturing, butchering, and transportation of wildmeat can increase the risk of zoonoses, including the Ebola virus disease (EVD). Guinea, West Africa, experienced a catastrophic outbreak of EVD between 2013 and 2016. This study aimed to understand local people's sources of information concerning EVD, their perceptions of potential wildlife carriers of EVD and their meat and fish consumption behavior during this period.

Footedness predicts escape performance in a passerine bird.

Behavioral lateralization, which is associated with the functional lateralization of the two brain hemispheres, commonly exists in animals and can provide an individual with benefits such as enhanced cognition and dual tasking. Lateral bias in limb use, as a type of behavioral lateralization, occur in many species, but the reasons for the coexistence of left- and right-biased individuals in a population remain poorly understood. We examined the footedness of male yellow-bellied tits () when they used feet to clamp mealworms against a perch, and tested its association with other fitness-related behavioral traits (i.

Decreased adhesion and improved biocompatibility on tetracycline-loaded TiO nanotubes: an in vitro study.

Background: Titanium dioxide (TiO) nanotubes are often used as carriers for loading materials such as drugs, proteins, and growth factors.

Materials And Methods: In this study, we loaded tetracycline onto TiO nanotubes to demonstrate its antibacterial properties and biocompatibility. The two-layered anodic TiO nanotubes with a honeycomb-like porous structure were fabricated by using a two-step anodization, and they were loaded with tetracycline by using a simplified lyophilization method and vacuum drying.

Integrated tool for microsatellite isolation and validation from the reference genome and their application in the study of breeding turnover in an endangered avian population.

Accurate individual identification is required to estimate survival rates in avian populations. For endangered species, non-invasive methods of obtaining individual identification, such as using molted feathers as a source of DNA for microsatellite markers, are preferred because of less disturbance, easy sample preparation and high efficiency. With the availability of many avian genomes, a few pipelines isolating genome-wide microsatellites have been published, but it is still a challenge to isolate microsatellites from the reference genome efficiently.

Nest survival rate of Reeves's pheasant () based on artificial nest experiments.

To explore the nest survival rate of Reeves's pheasant() and the nest-site factors that affect it, we conducted artificial nest experiments with reference to natural nests at Dongzhai National Nature Reserve(DNNR), Henan Province and Pingjingguan, Hubei Province from April to June 2014 simulating the situation in its early and later breeding season. We also determined distance characteristics of the nest sites by ArcGIS 10.0.

Diurnal brooding behavior of long-tailed tits (Aegithalos caudatus glaucogularis).

Brooding is a major breeding investment of parental birds during the early nestling stage, and has important effects on the development and survival of nestlings. Investigating brooding behavior can help to understand avian breeding investment strategies. From January to June in 2013 and 2014, we studied the brooding behaviors of long-tailed tits (Aegithalos caudatus glaucogularis) in Dongzhai National Nature Reserve, Henan Province, China.