Assessment of Changes in the Composition and Distribution of Large and Medium-Sized Mammals in Xishuangbanna, Southwest China.

Given the vulnerability of large and medium-sized mammal communities to climate change and human disturbances, understanding the spatial-temporal dynamics of these communities is essential for effective conservation planning. However, in many biodiversity hotspots, precise biological community assessments are insufficient. From 2012 to 2022, we deployed 784 camera traps in eight nature reserves (including sub-reserves) and one State Forest Farm (SFF, less strictly protected than a reserve) to study the composition and distribution of large and medium-sized mammals in tropical Xishuangbanna.

Ecological filtering shapes the impacts of agricultural deforestation on biodiversity.

The biodiversity impacts of agricultural deforestation vary widely across regions. Previous efforts to explain this variation have focused exclusively on the landscape features and management regimes of agricultural systems, neglecting the potentially critical role of ecological filtering in shaping deforestation tolerance of extant species assemblages at large geographical scales via selection for functional traits. Here we provide a large-scale test of this role using a global database of species abundance ratios between matched agricultural and native forest sites that comprises 71 avian assemblages reported in 44 primary studies, and a companion database of 10 functional traits for all 2,647 species involved.

Mirror image stimulation could reverse social-isolation-induced aggressiveness in the high-level subsocial lactating spider.

Conspecific aggressiveness often increases after social isolation for species that are not entirely solitary, and this increased aggression could also be reversed after resocialization. However, literature on this aggression plasticity refers to either permanently social or low-level subsocial species in invertebrates. Examinations of conspecific aggressiveness reversibility in high-level subsocial invertebrates, in which offspring cohabitate with parents for a certain period of time after sexual maturation, would enhance the understanding of the role of conspecific-aggression plasticity in social evolution.

Persistent fine-tuning of egg rejection based on parasitic timing in a cuckoo host even after relaxation of parasitism pressure.

Egg rejection is one of the most effective defenses to avoid avian brood parasites by hosts, and reflects avian cognition during parasite-host coevolution. However, egg rejection varies with different populations and species, or under different contexts. Here we studied the egg recognition behavior in a non-parasitized population of the red-whiskered bulbul (Pycnonotus jocosus), which has been recorded as a host of the banded bay cuckoo (Cacomantis sonneratii).

Cooperating elephants mitigate competition until the stakes get too high.

Cooperation is ubiquitous in the animal kingdom as it aims to maximize benefits through joint action. Selection, however, may also favor competitive behaviors that could violate cooperation. How animals mitigate competition is hotly debated, with particular interest in primates and little attention paid thus far to nonprimates.

Conservation planning on China's borders with Myanmar, Laos, and Vietnam.

Transboundary conservation is playing an increasingly important role in maintaining ecosystem integrity and halting biodiversity loss caused by anthropogenic activities. However, lack of information on species distributions in transboundary regions and understanding of the threats in these areas impairs conservation. We developed a spatial conservation plan for the transboundary areas between Yunnan province, southwestern China, and neighboring Myanmar, Laos, and Vietnam in the Indo-Burma biodiversity hotspot.

Flexible breeding performance under unstable climatic conditions in a tropical passerine in Southwest China.

Parents may adjust their breeding time to optimize reproductive output and reduce reproductive costs associated with unpredictable climatic conditions, especially in the context of global warming. The breeding performance of tropical bird species in response to local climate change is relatively understudied compared with that of temperate bird species. Here, based on data from 361 white-rumped munia ( ) nests, we determined that breeding season onset, which varied from 15 February to 22 June, was delayed by drought and high temperatures.

Behavioural variables influence contact call rate more than characteristics of the vegetation in a group-living passerine species.

Although the contact calls of birds have been studied for their acoustic properties, limited research has investigated their repetitive nature. The rate of contact calls could be related to movement, with recruiting birds signalling their location, or it could help maintaining spacing between group mates, or give information about the environment where both signaller and receiver are located. If maintaining spacing, higher call rates would be expected in denser vegetation; alternatively, if birds gain information about predation risk from the cessation of contact calling, then open areas might elicit higher call rate.

Molecular phylogeny of the genus with special emphasis on the phylogenetic position of .

Muntjac deer (Cervidae: ) are often cited as an excellent model for the study of vertebrate evolution due to their fast rate of change in chromosome number among vertebrates. However, the phylogenetic relationships within generally, and the taxonomic status of specifically, remain unclear. Here, the phylogenetic relationships within were studied using mitochondrial genome (mitogenome) and cytochrome (cyt ) segments.

Ethnobotanical study on wild edible plants used by three trans-boundary ethnic groups in Jiangcheng County, Pu'er, Southwest China.

Background: Dai, Hani, and Yao people, in the trans-boundary region between China, Laos, and Vietnam, have gathered plentiful traditional knowledge about wild edible plants during their long history of understanding and using natural resources. The ecologically rich environment and the multi-ethnic integration provide a valuable foundation and driving force for high biodiversity and cultural diversity in this region. However, little study has uncovered this unique and attractive culture to the world.

A new species of (Anura: Ranidae) from northern Myanmar.

A new species of the genus , , is described from northern Myanmar. The new species can be distinguished from its congeners by the following characters: (1) dorsolateral fold distinct; (2) upper-lip stripe white; (3) male body size 37.6-40.

Taxonomic revision and phylogenetic position of the flying squirrel genus (Mammalia, Rodentia, Sciuridae, Pteromyini) on the northern Indo-China peninsula.

The flying squirrel genus (Rodentia: Sciuridae: Pteromyini) was once considered to contain three species, from northeastern India, from central Laos and from southwest China, all identified from morphological characteristics of one or two specimens. However, based on similar morphological characteristics of two samples of the genus collected recently from northern Laos and northern Myanmar, and the small genetic distances on mitochondrial DNA and nuclear DNA between them, the results strongly support these two samples as representatives of the same species. The phylogenetic analyses strongly support as an independent genus of Pteromyini, as a sister group to .

Macaca leonina has a wider niche breadth than sympatric M. mulatta in a fragmented tropical forest in southwest China.

Niche differentiation has long been identified as an essential stabilizing mechanism for the coexistence of sympatric species. Using camera trapping data obtained during 2012-2016, we identified Macaca leonina and M. mulatta as the dominant macaque species in the Naban River Watershed National Nature Reserve (NRW-NNR), a tropical forest in southwestern China.

(Rubiaceae, Rubioideae), a new species from Myanmar.

A new species, S.S.Zhou & L.

, a new species of Araceae from Myanmar.

S.S. Zhou & J.

Complete mitochondrial genome of Gongshan muntjac (), a Critically Endangered deer species.

The first complete mitochondrial genome of the Gongshan muntjac (s) was determined and annotated (GenBank accession nos. MK882935). The 16,356 bp circular genome contained 13 protein-coding genes (PGCs), 22 transfer RNA (tRNA) genes, 2 ribosomal RNA (rRNA) genes, and 1 control region (D-loop).

Prolonged milk provisioning and extended maternal care in the milking spider Toxeus magnus: biological implications and questions unresolved.

Prolonged milk provisioning and extended parental care for nutritionally independent offspring, previously considered to only co-occur in long-lived mammals (Clutton-Brock, 1991; Royle et al., 2012), were recently reported in the reproduction of the milking spider, (Chen et al. 2018).

Prolonged milk provisioning in a jumping spider.

Lactation is a mammalian attribute, and the few known nonmammal examples have distinctly different modalities. We document here milk provisioning in a jumping spider, which compares functionally and behaviorally to lactation in mammals. The spiderlings ingest nutritious milk droplets secreted from the mother's epigastric furrow until the subadult stage.

Effects of law enforcement and community outreach on mammal diversity in a biodiversity hotspot.

Management activities such as law enforcement and community outreach are thought to affect conservation outcomes in protected areas, but their importance relative to intrinsic environmental characteristics of the parks and extrinsic human pressures surrounding the parks have not been explored. Furthermore, it is not clear which is more related to conservation outcomes-the management itself or local people's perceptions of the management. We measured objective (reports by park staff) and subjective (reports by local people) levels of community outreach and law enforcement based on responses to 374 questionnaires.

(Orchidaceae, Epidendroideae, Arethuseae), a new species from Chin State, Myanmar.

, a new species of section Proliferae, from Natma Taung (Mt.Victoria) National Park, Chin State, Myanmar, is described and illustrated. It is morphologically similar to , but the clustered pseudobulbs, pure brownish- red flowers and column wing with irregular notches at the apex of the new species differ from the other species.

(Orchidaceae, Dendrobieae), a new species from Kachin State, Myanmar.

, a new species from Naungmung, Kachin State, North Myanmar, is described and illustrated. It is morphologically similar to and , but the epichile is oblong with three long-ciliate laminae and the column wing has significant denticulation. A preliminary risk-of-extinction assessment shows that the new species should be regarded as Critically Endangered (CR) according to the IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria.

The pleasure of pursuit: recreational hunters in rural Southwest China exhibit low exit rates in response to declining catch.

Hunting is one of the greatest threats to tropical vertebrates. Examining why people hunt is crucial to identifying policy levers to prevent excessive hunting. Overhunting is particularly relevant in Southeast Asia, where a high proportion of mammals and birds are globally threatened.