Determining the migration routes and connections of migratory birds at the population level helps clarify intraspecific differences in migration.Five subspecies have been recognized in the Whimbrel(Numenius phaeopus)i...Determining the migration routes and connections of migratory birds at the population level helps clarify intraspecific differences in migration.Five subspecies have been recognized in the Whimbrel(Numenius phaeopus)in Eurasia.Ssp.rogachevae is the most recently described subspecies.It breeds in Central Siberia,while its non-breeding region and migration routes are still unclear.We tracked the migration of Eurasian Whimbrels captured at three non-breeding sites(Moreton Bay in east coast of Australia,Roebuck Bay in Northwest Australia and Sungei Buloh Wetland in Singapore)and two migration stopover sites(Chongming Dongtan and Mai Po Wetland in China).We determined the breeding sites and inferred the subspecies of the tagged birds in the East Asian–Australasian Flyway(EAAF)based on the known breeding distribution of each subspecies.Of the 30 tagged birds,6 and 21 birds bred in the breeding range of ssp.rogachevae and variegatus,respectively;one bred in the presumed transition area between the breeding range of ssp.phaeopus and rogachevae,and two bred in the region between the breeding range of ssp.rogachevae and variegatus.The birds that bred in the ssp.rogachevae breeding range spent their non-breeding season in the northern Sumatra,Singapore,East Java and Northwest Australia and mainly stopped over along China's coasts during migration.None of our birds bred in the exclusive breeding range of the phaeopus subspecies.Previous studies have predicted that rogachevae whimbrels migrate along the Central Asian Flyway and spend the non-breeding season in West India and East Africa.We found that at least some rogachevae whimbrels migrate along the EAAF and spend the non-breeding season in Southeast Asia and Australia.The ssp.phaeopus is at best sparsely distributed in the EAAF in the west region,or possibly does not occur at all.展开更多
L’Autore descrive un esemplare di Numenius arquata conservato nelle collezioni del Mu-seo Civico di Scienze Naturali di Brescia che, sulla base dei caratteri biometrici, risulta appartenere allassp. orientalis. Cattu...L’Autore descrive un esemplare di Numenius arquata conservato nelle collezioni del Mu-seo Civico di Scienze Naturali di Brescia che, sulla base dei caratteri biometrici, risulta appartenere allassp. orientalis. Catturato a Ghedi (BS) nel 1899, l’esemplare rappresenta il primo ritrovamento per l’Italia. First italian record of Numenius arquata orientalis C.L. Brehm, 1831. The Author descri-bes one specimen of Numenius arquata collected at Ghedi (Brescia) in 1899, actually in the collectionsof the Museo Civico di Scienze Naturali di Brescia. On the basis of its biometrical characters it is tobe attributed to the subspecies orientalis. This is the first specimen of this species so far discovered in Italy.展开更多
Background:Animals need to adjust their vigilance strategies when foraging between physically contrasting veg-etated and non-vegetated habitats.Vegetated habitats may pose a greater risk for some if vegetation charact...Background:Animals need to adjust their vigilance strategies when foraging between physically contrasting veg-etated and non-vegetated habitats.Vegetated habitats may pose a greater risk for some if vegetation characteristics function as a visual obstruction but benefit others if they serve as protective shelter.Variation in group size,presence of similar species,along with variation in environmental conditions and anthropogenic disturbance can also influence vigilance investment.Methods:In this study,we quantified the vigilance behaviour of two large-bodied,sympatric migratory curlew species-Far Eastern Curlew(Numenius madagascariensis)and Eurasian Curlew(N.arquata)-in vegetated Suaeda salsa saltmarsh and non-vegetated mudflat habitat in Liaohekou National Nature Reserve,China.We used linear mixed models to examine the effects of habitat type,season,tide time,flock size(conspecific and heterospecific),and human disturbance on curlew vigilance investment.Results:Both species spent a higher percentage of time under visual obstruction in S.salsa habitat compared to mudflat habitat but in response,only Far Eastern Curlew increased their percentage of vigilance time,indicating that visual obstruction in this habitat is only a concern for this species.There was no evidence that S.salsa vegetation served as a form of cryptic background colouration since neither species decreased their vigilance effect in S.salsa habitat in spring compared to the autumn migration season.The effect of curlew social environment(i.e.flock size)was habitat dependent since percentage of vigilance time by curlews in saltmarsh increased with both the number of individual curlews and number of other birds present,but not in mudflat habitat.Conclusions:We conclude that both migratory curlew species exhibit a flexible vigilance adjustment strategy to cope with the different environmental and social conditions of adjacent and sharply contrasting coastal habitats,and that the trade-off between the risks of foraging and the abundance of prey may be a relatively common phenom-enon in these and other shorebird populations.展开更多
Background: Bone fracture frequencies and survival rates are essential parameters in skeleton evolution, but information on the functional consequences of naturally healed fractures is scarce. No leg bone fracture hea...Background: Bone fracture frequencies and survival rates are essential parameters in skeleton evolution, but information on the functional consequences of naturally healed fractures is scarce. No leg bone fracture healing in the wild has been reported so far from long-legged Charadriiformes(waders), which depend on bipedal locomotion for feeding.Methods: We documented a healed but malaligned tarsometatarsus fracture in a wild Willet(Tringa [Catoptrophorus]semipalmata), and a malaligned tibiotarsus fracture in a Curlew(Numenius arquata) skeleton from a museum collection. Functional consequences of the malalignments were evaluated by kinematic analyses of videos(Willet) and in silico 3D modeling(Curlew).Results: The Willet's left tarsometatarsus exhibited an angular malalignment of 70°, resulting in a limping gait that was less pronounced at high than at low walking speed. The bird seemed unable to club the toes of the left foot together, apparently a secondary effect of the deformity. The Curlew's tibiotarsus showed an angular and an axial malalignment, causing the foot to rotate outwards when the intertarsal joint was flexed. Despite the severe effects of their injuries, the birds had survived at least long enough for the fractures to heal completely.Conclusions: Somewhat unexpectedly, leg fractures are not necessarily fatal in long-legged waders, even if deformities occur in the healing process. Bipedal locomotion on vegetated grounds must have been impeded due to the bone malalignments in both analyzed cases. The birds probably alleviated the impact of their handicaps by shifting a larger proportion of their activities to vegetation-free habitats.展开更多
基金financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 31830089 and 31772467)Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality (21DZ1201902)+2 种基金World Wide Fund for Nature Beijing Office (10003881)Shanghai Landscaping and City Appearance Administrative Bureau (G201610)Scientific Research Fund of Yunnan Provincial Education Department (2022J0847)
文摘Determining the migration routes and connections of migratory birds at the population level helps clarify intraspecific differences in migration.Five subspecies have been recognized in the Whimbrel(Numenius phaeopus)in Eurasia.Ssp.rogachevae is the most recently described subspecies.It breeds in Central Siberia,while its non-breeding region and migration routes are still unclear.We tracked the migration of Eurasian Whimbrels captured at three non-breeding sites(Moreton Bay in east coast of Australia,Roebuck Bay in Northwest Australia and Sungei Buloh Wetland in Singapore)and two migration stopover sites(Chongming Dongtan and Mai Po Wetland in China).We determined the breeding sites and inferred the subspecies of the tagged birds in the East Asian–Australasian Flyway(EAAF)based on the known breeding distribution of each subspecies.Of the 30 tagged birds,6 and 21 birds bred in the breeding range of ssp.rogachevae and variegatus,respectively;one bred in the presumed transition area between the breeding range of ssp.phaeopus and rogachevae,and two bred in the region between the breeding range of ssp.rogachevae and variegatus.The birds that bred in the ssp.rogachevae breeding range spent their non-breeding season in the northern Sumatra,Singapore,East Java and Northwest Australia and mainly stopped over along China's coasts during migration.None of our birds bred in the exclusive breeding range of the phaeopus subspecies.Previous studies have predicted that rogachevae whimbrels migrate along the Central Asian Flyway and spend the non-breeding season in West India and East Africa.We found that at least some rogachevae whimbrels migrate along the EAAF and spend the non-breeding season in Southeast Asia and Australia.The ssp.phaeopus is at best sparsely distributed in the EAAF in the west region,or possibly does not occur at all.
文摘L’Autore descrive un esemplare di Numenius arquata conservato nelle collezioni del Mu-seo Civico di Scienze Naturali di Brescia che, sulla base dei caratteri biometrici, risulta appartenere allassp. orientalis. Catturato a Ghedi (BS) nel 1899, l’esemplare rappresenta il primo ritrovamento per l’Italia. First italian record of Numenius arquata orientalis C.L. Brehm, 1831. The Author descri-bes one specimen of Numenius arquata collected at Ghedi (Brescia) in 1899, actually in the collectionsof the Museo Civico di Scienze Naturali di Brescia. On the basis of its biometrical characters it is tobe attributed to the subspecies orientalis. This is the first specimen of this species so far discovered in Italy.
基金supported by National Key Research and Develop-ment Program of China(No.2017YFC1403500 to JL)National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.31911540468 and 31672316 to DL)+1 种基金non-profit Foundation of Marine Environment and Ecological Conservation of CNOOC(CF-MEEC/TR/2020-20 to ZZ)Natural Science Foundation of Liaoning Province of China(2019-MS-154 to DL).
文摘Background:Animals need to adjust their vigilance strategies when foraging between physically contrasting veg-etated and non-vegetated habitats.Vegetated habitats may pose a greater risk for some if vegetation characteristics function as a visual obstruction but benefit others if they serve as protective shelter.Variation in group size,presence of similar species,along with variation in environmental conditions and anthropogenic disturbance can also influence vigilance investment.Methods:In this study,we quantified the vigilance behaviour of two large-bodied,sympatric migratory curlew species-Far Eastern Curlew(Numenius madagascariensis)and Eurasian Curlew(N.arquata)-in vegetated Suaeda salsa saltmarsh and non-vegetated mudflat habitat in Liaohekou National Nature Reserve,China.We used linear mixed models to examine the effects of habitat type,season,tide time,flock size(conspecific and heterospecific),and human disturbance on curlew vigilance investment.Results:Both species spent a higher percentage of time under visual obstruction in S.salsa habitat compared to mudflat habitat but in response,only Far Eastern Curlew increased their percentage of vigilance time,indicating that visual obstruction in this habitat is only a concern for this species.There was no evidence that S.salsa vegetation served as a form of cryptic background colouration since neither species decreased their vigilance effect in S.salsa habitat in spring compared to the autumn migration season.The effect of curlew social environment(i.e.flock size)was habitat dependent since percentage of vigilance time by curlews in saltmarsh increased with both the number of individual curlews and number of other birds present,but not in mudflat habitat.Conclusions:We conclude that both migratory curlew species exhibit a flexible vigilance adjustment strategy to cope with the different environmental and social conditions of adjacent and sharply contrasting coastal habitats,and that the trade-off between the risks of foraging and the abundance of prey may be a relatively common phenom-enon in these and other shorebird populations.
文摘Background: Bone fracture frequencies and survival rates are essential parameters in skeleton evolution, but information on the functional consequences of naturally healed fractures is scarce. No leg bone fracture healing in the wild has been reported so far from long-legged Charadriiformes(waders), which depend on bipedal locomotion for feeding.Methods: We documented a healed but malaligned tarsometatarsus fracture in a wild Willet(Tringa [Catoptrophorus]semipalmata), and a malaligned tibiotarsus fracture in a Curlew(Numenius arquata) skeleton from a museum collection. Functional consequences of the malalignments were evaluated by kinematic analyses of videos(Willet) and in silico 3D modeling(Curlew).Results: The Willet's left tarsometatarsus exhibited an angular malalignment of 70°, resulting in a limping gait that was less pronounced at high than at low walking speed. The bird seemed unable to club the toes of the left foot together, apparently a secondary effect of the deformity. The Curlew's tibiotarsus showed an angular and an axial malalignment, causing the foot to rotate outwards when the intertarsal joint was flexed. Despite the severe effects of their injuries, the birds had survived at least long enough for the fractures to heal completely.Conclusions: Somewhat unexpectedly, leg fractures are not necessarily fatal in long-legged waders, even if deformities occur in the healing process. Bipedal locomotion on vegetated grounds must have been impeded due to the bone malalignments in both analyzed cases. The birds probably alleviated the impact of their handicaps by shifting a larger proportion of their activities to vegetation-free habitats.