科创中国

Studying movements is essential for shedding light on a number of issues related to avian biology: behavioral aspects such as foraging, migratory routes and strategies, navigation and orientation mechanisms; ecological aspects such as metapopulation dynamics, insular biogeography, seed dispersal, disease spread; conservation biology such as the effects of habitat fragmentation, identification of key areas deserving protection, effects of climate change. Despite these relevant issues, the topic of "Movement ecology" on its own has only been highlighted recently (Nathan et al., 2008);although, the investigation of animal movements has always been one of the most fascinating topics for any zoologist and often is also quite a difficult task.

Recently-developed capabilities for tracking the movements of individual birds over the course of a year or longer has provided increasing evidence for consistent individual differences in migration schedules and destinations. This raises questions about the relative importance of individual consistency versus flexibility in the evolution of migration strategies, and has implications for the ability of populations to respond to climatic change. Using geolocators, we tracked the migrations of Scopoli's shearwaters Calonectris diomedea breeding in Linosa (Italy) across three years, and analysed timing and spatial aspects of their movements. Birds showed remarkable variation in their main wintering destination along the western coast of Africa. We found significant individual consistency in the total distance traveled, time spent in transit, and time that individuals spent in the win- tering areas. We found extensive sex differences in scheduling, duration, distances and destinations of migratory journeys. We also found sex differences in the degree of individual consistency in aspects of migration behaviour. Despite strong evidence for individual consistency, which indicates that migration journeys from the same bird tended to be more similar than those of dif- ferent birds, there remained substantial intra-individual variation between years. Indeed, we also found clear annual differences in departure dates, return dates, wintering period, the total distance traveled and re~rn routes from wintering grounds back to the colony. These findings show that this population flexibly shifts migration schedules as well as routes between years in response to direct or indirect effects of heterogeneity in the environment, while maintaining consistent individual migration strategies [Current Zoology 60 (5): 631-641, 2014].

Migrating landbirds are known to follow coast lines and concentrate on peninsulas prior to crossing water bodies, es- pecially during daylight but also at night, creating enhanced potential collision hazards with man-made objects. Knowing where these avian migration "hot-spots" occur in time and space is vital to improve flight safety and inform the spatial planning process (e.g. environmental assessments for offshore windfarms). We developed a simple spatial model to identify avian migration hot- spots in coastal areas based on prevailing migration orientation and coastline features known, from visual and radar observations, to concentrate migrating landbirds around land masses. Regional scale model validation was achieved by combining nocturnal passerine movement data gathered from two tier radar coverage (long-range dual-polarization Doppler weather radar and short- range marine surveillance radar) and standardised bird ringing. Applied on a national scale, the model correctly identified the ten most important Danish coastal hot-spots for spring migrants and predicted the relative numbers of birds that concentrated at each site. These bird numbers corresponded well with historical observational data. Here, we provide a potential framework for the es- tablishment of the first three-dimensional avian airspace sanctuaries, which could contribute to more effective conservation of long-distance migratory birds [Current Zoology 60 (5): 680-691, 2014].

One of the greatest feats of avian migration is the non-stop crossing of extensive areas of inhospitable habitat such as deserts and seas. Differences in spring and autumn migration routes have been reported in species that cross such barriers, and are thought to have evolved in response to seasonal variation in prevailing wind direction. We tested the hypothesis that migration routes vary seasonally with respect to the Gulf of Mexico in the tree swallow Tachycineta bicolor using solar geolocators attached and retrieved at 4 breeding sites in central North America. We found that 100 % of birds (n = 10) made a trans-Gulf flight of 〉850 km from Louisiana south to their wintering grounds in the Yucatan Peninsula in 12-36 hours, achieving minimum ground speeds as high as 32 m/s. Although most days during autumn migration were characterized by unfavorable headwinds blowing to the northwest, migration over the Gulf mostly occurred on days with strong winds blowing to the south. In contrast, in 8 of 9 (88 %) birds on spring migration returned from the wintering grounds towards Louisiana following a clockwise loop pat- tern flying over land to the west around the Gulf. During this spring period there were few days with prevailing winds from the south to assist northward migration. Results suggest that, despite being up to three times further (ca. 2,700 kin), a coastal circum-Gulf spring migration represents the less risky route when wind conditions are not favorable. These findings also help to resolve a long-standing dispute in the literature concerning migration patterns between the US Gulf coast and Mexico, and provide insight into the factors shaping migration strategies of small songbirds migrating across large bodies of water [Current Zoology 60(5): 653-559, 2014].

鸣禽是研究神经发育和行为性别差异的理想的模式动物.大多数鸣禽的鸣唱行为和脑中的鸣唱控制系统都表现出性两态性,性激素在鸣唱控制系统的季节可塑性和鸣唱行为变化中起关键作用.

Because antipredator behaviours are costly, the threat-sensitive predator avoidance hypothesis predicts that individual animals should express predator-avoidance behaviour proportionally to the perceived threat posed by the predator. Here, we experimentally tested this hypothesis by providing wild passerine birds supplemental food (on a raised feeding platform) at either 1 or 4 m from the edge of forest cover (potential refuge), in either the presence or absence of a nearby simulated predation threat (a sharp-shinned hawk Accipiter striatus model). Compared with the control treatment, we observed proportionally fewer bird visits to the food patch, and the birds took longer to re-emerge from forest refuge and return to feed at the food patch, after the hawk presentation than before it. The observed threat-sensitive latency-to-return response was stronger when the food patch was further away from the nearest refuge. Overall, our results are consistent with the predictions of the threat-sensitive predator avoidance hypothesis in that wild passerine birds (primarily black-capped chickadees Poecile atricapillus) exhibited more intense antipre- dator behavioural responses with increasing level of apparent threat. The birds were thus sensitive to their local perceived threat of predation and traded-off safety from predation (by refuging) and foraging gains in open habitat in a graded, threat-sensitive manner [Current Zoology 60 (6): 719-728, 2014].

Satellite-tracking technology has allowed scientists to make a quantum leap in the field of migration ecology. Nowadays, the basic description of migratory routes of many species of birds has been reported. However, the investigation of bird migration at individual level (i.e. repeatability in migratory routes and timing) still remains seldom explored. Here, we investigated repeated migratory trips of a trans-Saharan endangered migratory raptor, the Egyptian Vulture Neophron percnopterus, tracked by GPS satellite telemetry. We compared between- and within-individual variation in migratory routes and timing in order to assess the degree of repeatability (or conversely, the flexibility) in migration. To this end, we analysed a dataset of 48 trips (23 springs and 25 autumns) recorded for six adult birds during 2007-2013. Our results showed consistent migration timing at the individual level, both in spring and autumn. Interestingly, there was a high degree of flexibility in the routes followed by the same individual in different years, probably due to variations in meteorological conditions. Contrary to expectations of a faster migration in spring than in autumn owing to a time-minimization strategy for breeding, birds spent less time in autumn migration (13 ± 2 days, range = 9-18 d) than in spring migration (19 ± 3 days, range = 13-26 d), which can be explained by differences in environmental con- ditions en route. Egyptian vultures showed a consistent clockwise loop migration through western Africa, following more easterly routes in autumn than in spring. Finally, our results provide supporting evidence of low phenotypic plasticity in timing of migration (i.e. strong endogenous control of migration) and high flexibility in routes [Current Zoology 60 (5): 642-652, 2014].

从亘古时代,候鸟从未改变过古老的旅行规则:跨越重洋,循环往复,一鼓作气.候鸟的万里迁徙,如同史诗般令人瞠目.以红腹滨鹬为例,每年四月,这种鸟儿从南半球起飞.在万里行程之前,它们会铆足了劲,先吃成大胖子,还会将一些暂不需要的生殖器官如子宫等萎缩,之后不停歇、不睡觉、不进食,沿着东亚-澳大利西亚一线连续飞行6000公里,历时7天抵达渤海湾后,只剩下约不到一半