Abstract:Tracking the migration of migratory birds is an important way to understand the annual cycle of their life history. The Whimbrel (Numenius phaeopus) is widely distributed in the world, with a lack of tracking studies along the East Asian-Australasian Flyway. In February 2018, adult Whimbrels were captured in Broome, northwest Australia and were deployed with platform transmitter terminals (PTTs) or Global Positioning System-Global System for Mobile Communications (GPS-GSM) tags to explore their migration timing, migration routes, and the locations of stopover and breeding sites. A total of 6 378 records of geographical locations with higher than 1 km from seven individuals (three with PTTs and four with GPS-GSM tags) were used for analysis. We defined that birds stopped migratory flight when there were at least two geographical locations within 25 km were recorded in over 24 h. If the data before or after the critical time were absent, the median of adjacent values were used as the inference value. The migration duration was defined as the number of days between the date that birds started migration and the date that birds arrived at migration destination. The total stopover duration was defined as the sum of length of time that birds stayed at all the stopover sites along their migration route. The great-circle distance between two adjacent stopover site was used as migration distance. Results shows that during spring migration, the migration duration was 36 ± 4 d; birds spent 23 ± 2 d at 1﹣3 stopover sites; the total migration distance was 9 795 ± 346 km (n = 7, Table 1, 2) in spring. The breeding sites of Whimbrels were located in eastern and central Russia. The latitudes of breeding sites were similar among individuals while the longitudes of breeding sites greatly varied (Fig. 1). In autumn, the migration duration was 90 ± 27 d; birds stayed for 79 ± 29 d at 2﹣4 stopover sites; the total migration distance was 10 101 ± 520 km (n = 5, Table 1, 2). Stopover sites were widely distributed in coastal and inland regions in East and Southeast Asia during both spring and autumn migration. Most individuals used the similar migration routes in spring and autumn. All the individuals with tracking data for a year used the same wintering sites as the previous winter (Fig. 1), indicating that Whimbrels are highly faithful to their wintering sites.

Abstract:The Camphor Tree (Cinnamomum camphora) is an evergreen broad-leaved tree species with abundant fruits and a long fruit period, which is widely distributed in subtropical areas. With Safari l0 × 26 zoom binoculars, the focus scanning method was adopted to observe the bird behavior of visiting Camphor trees in Nanjing Zhongshan Botanical Garden, China, from November 2018 to February 2019. The information of bird species, foraging substrates, foraging frequency, foraging time, foraging amount and foraging methods were recorded. For the 48 effective days of observation, a total of 1 021 foraging behavior of 27 species of birds were recorded with 2 foraging substrates (ground and tree) and 3 foraging methods (swallow the fruits, pecking at pulp and seed predation) (Table 1). One-Sample T-test showed that there were significant differences in foraging frequency among different bird species (t = 3.096, df = 26, P < 0.01). There were significant differences in the average number of visits, average foraging frequency, average foraging time and foraging amount between birds in different months (P < 0.001, Fig. 1). Light-vented Bulbul (Pycnonotus sinensis), Chinese Blackbird (Turdus mendarinus) and Azure-winged Magpie (Cyanopica cyanus) are the three types of birds with the most visit and foraging amount (Fig. 2). One-way ANOVA showed that there were significant differences in foraging amount among the three species (F3, 598 = 25.219, P < 0.001). In terms of time, more species and quantity of birds visited in November in comparison with those in other months, and the foraging frequency, time and amount on the fruits in January were the largest. The morphological characteristics (body weight, body length and bill length) of birds were positively correlated with the foraging amount of the fruits (Fig. 4). Effects of body weight and body length on the foraging amount were more significant than that of the bill length, but bill length could affect the feeding methods significantly (Fig. 3). Many seeds with clean surface and no pulp wrapped were found under the trees acting as roosting site of birds. Many Camphor seedlings of can be seen in plantations and natural regeneration woodlands, which indicates that birds may play a role in seed dispersal of Camphor trees.

Abstract:The Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica) is widely distributed in China, and the research on its reproduction ecology in different latitudes is helpful to reveal its adaptation to different environments. At present, the available records of the breeding ecology of the Barn Swallow is mainly focused on the subspecies of H. r. gutturalis, while data from other subspecies is lacking. From April to October in 2016 and 2017, we studied the H. r. mandschurica subspecies of Barn Swallow, which distributed only in Heilongjiang Province, in Northeast Forestry University in Harbin of China. At the same time, the reproductive ecology data were supplemented to explore whether there were differences in reproductive ecology among subspecies with different phenotypes. The reproductive behaviors were observed daily after immigrating. The morphology (including body weight, body length, wing length, tarsus length, bill length and tail length) of the nestlings were measured daily. The data was sorted and analyzed with SPSS 22.0. Our results showed that swallows arrived at the breeding areas in late April or early May and migrated southward in late September or early October. The clutch size was 4﹣6 (n = 19), long diameter of egg was 18.7 ± 1.4 mm (15.9﹣22.5 mm), short diameter of egg was 13.0 ± 0.5 mm (12.2﹣14.2 mm), egg mass was 1.6 ± 0.1 g (1.3﹣1.9 g, n = 35), and the incubation period was 16 ± 2 d (14﹣18 d, n = 19). The nestling-feeding period was 17 ± 1 d (16﹣18 d, n = 6). Nestlings’ growth curves (for body length, wing length and tail length) fitted well with a Logistic Growth Curve (Table 2). Body weight and tarsus grew the fastest at the age of 5 days, while body length and wing length increased the fastest at the age of 7 days (Table 1). The growth pattern of the nestlings conforms to the Energy Distribution Hypothesis. There are many differences in reproductive parameters between the swallows in the study area and other populations of H. r. gutturalis, including: eggs were smaller in size, lighter in weight, incubation period was similar to but feeding period was shorter than that of some southern populations of H. r. gutturalis. This may be caused by the differences of local food richness and parental feeding strategies among different populations.

Abstract:Obligate avian brood parasites lay their eggs in nests belonging to other host species, accordingly, they imposed the costs of parental care to their victims. Hosts evolve defenses to counter brood parasitism such as egg recognition and egg rejection, also nest defense, these host-parasites system well-known arms race are regarded as a textbook example of co-evolutionary Interactions. Natural selection favors the brood parasites such as parasitic cuckoos to evolve effective parasitic strategies under the pressure of anti-parasitism to improve their reproductive fitness. Previous studies revealed that some brood parasites might take the “farming” strategy, which means that they would destroy the content (eggs/nestlings) of host nests, forcing the hosts to re-nest, so they could gain new parasitic opportunities. However, reports on such events in the field are extremely rare in all avian parasitism systems. In May 2018, one case of such farming behavior by the Common Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus) in its Daurian Redstart (Phoenicurus auroreus) host was confirmed by the video recording in Liuzhi area of Guizhou Province, China. By reviewing literatures about farming behaviors in the Common Cuckoo (Table 1), we found that the farming behavior of the Common Cuckoo being more common than previously thought, and the strategy could increase its breeding success.

Abstract:With limited population size in the world, the Black Stork (Ciconia nigra) is listed as the First Class State Key Protected Wild Bird in China, and it is urgent to know more about its breeding biology and strengthen the protection measures for the recovery of this rare bird. The Saihanwula National Nature Reserve in Inner Mongolia is an important breeding habitat for the Black Storks. During 2012 to 2015, we worked on observations of the breeding of two nesting-sites of the Black Stork. On 14 May of 2012, the first nest was found with four eggs during incubating period, four hatchlings were found in June and they stayed in the nest until the end of August when successfully fledged. The storks used the same nest-site in 2013 with five eggs were found in April and one hatched in May, the incubation period lasted 33 days, however, the other eggs disappeared for unknown reasons, and the predation from snakes might be the disturbance factor. In 2014, we found another nesting-site in August with three sub-adults exercising flying and all the birds left the nest successfully. The storks used this nest-site in 2015 again with four hatchlings were recorded, but the chicks dead of bad weather in June. Altogether 7 Black Stork chicks were successfully grown up in the four years, indicating that the reserve should be a good breeding site of the bird. This study provided basic data for the subsequent study of this rare bird and planning habitat protection measures.

Abstract:We conducted a bat species survey in Danxiashan National Nature Reserve by checking the daily/night roost sits and capturing bats by mist-net at their foraging area in the year 2017 and 2018. Totally, 23 species of 13 genera and 5 families, were found. Of 15 species (9 genera) were belonged to Vespertilionidae, 4 species (1 genus) were Rhinolophidae, 2 species (1 genus) were Hipposideridae, 1 species was Megadermatidae and 1 species was Molossidae (Table 1). For fauna composition of them 23, of 19 species belong to the Oriental kingdom, 1 species is Palaearctic kingdom and the rest 3 species are widely distributed in China. These bats have roosted at caves (15 species), arboreal (12 species) and buildings (5 species). Of them 9 species can roost at two kind of habitats. One species of bat Hypsugo cadornae was the first recorded in China. Myotis indochinensis has been confirmed distributed in China again.

Abstract:Three shrew specimens were collected from a conifer-broadleaf forest in the Taiping Lake National Wetland Park, Huangshan (30°34′42″ N, 118°41′47″ E) and Ejiaqiao, Jingde, Xuancheng (30°21′26″ N, 118°30′11″ E), Anhui Province, in November 2018. These specimens are small with a mean weight of 12 g (11﹣14 g). Their dorsal pelage is dark grey and ventral pelage is slightly paler grey. The tail is bicolored, short and strong, with the proximal 2/3 covered by silver vibrissae. These morphological characters are similar with Crocidura tanakae. The maximum likelihood tree based on the Cytochrome b sequences shows these individuals belong to the same monophyletic clade with C. tanakae (BS = 100%). The genetic distance between the population in Anhui and Taiwan is only 0.76%﹣0.85%. These results suggested the three specimens were C. tanakae, a new record of mammals in Anhui Province and East China.

Abstract:A shrew specimen which has not been recorded in Hubei Province before was collected Xingshan county, Hubei on December 2016. Morphologically it was grey and brown, with a head and body length of 75.00 mm, a relatively long tail (82.00 mm) and tiny eyes. Its cranium was flat and fairly solid and its teeth tips had light reddish-brown spots. Its species identity was established phylogenetically, based on the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene sequence, and combined with the homologous sequences of six other Chodsigoa species obtained from NCBI database. These individuals clustered with C. hoffmanni and combined into a monophyletic clade in the phylogenetic tree, with a closer genetic distance to C. hoffmanni than to any other species. On the basis of this morphological and phylogenetic evidence, this specimen was confirmed as a Hoffmann’s long-tailed shrew (C. hoffmanni). This species was also recorded formerly in Yunnan province, China and Vietnam. Our finding extended the previously known geographical range of this shrew species.

Abstract:Our study showed visible spatial and temporal patterns of amphibian and reptile diversity in Hupingshan National Nature Reserve. The patrolling and monitoring data from 2013 to 2016 was used to assess amphibian and reptile diversity of Hunan Hupingshan National Nature Reserve. In order to carry out routine monitoring, Hupingshan Reserve set 25 amphibian and reptile investigating transects at 8 monitoring stations, including 14 daytime transects with an average length of 4 km and 11 nighttime transects with an average length of 0.75 km (Fig. 1). Each transect was investigated 3 times per month on average. During these 4 years, 62 amphibian and reptile species were recorded in total, accounting for 38.04% of the amphibian and reptilian species in Hunan province. We calculated the alpha diversity index of each monitoring site and the beta diversity index of the whole reserve monthly and compared the Hellinger distance of species composition in different stations among seasons. And we respectively applied ANOVA to analyze significances. The results showed that there was no significant difference among amphibian and reptile diversity in different locations, monitoring stations and in different years, which means the ecological environment of reserve is relatively stable. However, species composition fluctuated drastically in several stations located in or near experimental zone of reserve, which means human activities are influential to the distribution of amphibian and reptilian species. Besides, there were significant seasonal differences in species composition and diversity of amphibians and reptiles in the reserve, which is related to the biological characteristics of amphibians and reptiles. The results above indicate that the diversity structure of amphibians and reptiles in Hupingshan Reserve is stable yet sensitive, which can be considered as a monitoring index for the biodiversity level in the reserve.

Abstract:According to the field investigation in Yellow River Estuary at February May and August in 2013, the characteristics of intertidal macrozoobenthic community from 2 sections in 3 seasons, including its species, abundance, biomass, dominant species and diversity, were analyzed. The community composition and structure were analyzed, and ecological quality was also evaluated by AMBI and m-AMBI. A total of 52 macrobenthic species were collected and identified. Polychaete was the most speciose group with 24 species (46.15%), followed by Mollusca (14 species), crustacea (12 species), fish (1 species) and Nemertinea (1 species). Species number was highest in spring (38 species), and lowest in summer (16 species) (Table 1). Seasonal variations were identified for abundance and biomass. Abundance was highest in spring (3 549.33 ind/m2), much higher than in winter (256.67 ind/m2) and summer (100.67 ind/m2) (Table 3). Neverita didyma was the major contributor, accounting for 75.44% of the total abundance. Biomass also showed significant seasonal variation, highest in spring, followed by summer and then winter (Table 3). Macrophthalmus japonicus was the most important contributor to the total biomass, accounting for 49.86% across all sampling seasons. These results were also confirmed by CLUSTER and SIMPER analysis (Fig. 2). The change of community structure was caused by unstable substance near the Yellow River Estuary and seasonal variation of environmental factors such as salinity, and some kinds of human activities. The analyses of AMBI and m-AMBI showed that the ecological status here was slightly disturbed (Table 4).

Abstract:Toll-like receptors (TLRs) are a family of proteins that recognize highly conserved pathogen- related molecular patterns (PAMPs) in pathogens, and play an important role in initiating innate immunity. Point mutations in the human tlr4 gene have been shown to be associated with many diseases, such as respiratory syncytial virus infection, atherosclerosis, malaria, etc., and these mutations are often racially specific. The Chinese Crocodile Lizard (Shinisaurus crocodilurus) is an ancient reptile which belongs to the national first-class protection animal. Due to anthropogenic disturbance, such as illegal hunting and habitat destruction, the number of the Chinese Crocodile Lizard is extremely rare. In recent years, a large number of death of the Chinese Crocodile Lizard has been caused due to various diseases, and the diseases are different among different populations, often with different disease symptoms, which are possibly caused by different pathogens. We predict that point mutations in the tlr4 gene might be distributed differently among the Chinese Crocodile Lizard populations to accommodate different local pathogens. Therefore, the aim of this study is to preliminarily explore the genetic diversity of tlr4 gene and the distribution characteristics of SNPs in the Chinese Crocodile Lizard by using PCR product direct sequencing and bioinformatics analysis, and to verify whether the point mutation on the gene has the population-specific distribution, and to test whether its non-synonymous substitution has an impact on the structure and function of protein. The amplified fragment length was 1 694 bp (Fig. 1), and the genetic diversity of each population was different, with Linzhouding population the highest and Dayaoshan population the lowest, which corresponds to the largest population of Linzhouding and the smallest population of Dayaoshan (Table 1). A total of 27 point mutations were found in 52 individuals (GenBank accession: MN380726﹣MN380777) from five populations, leading to nine non-synonymous substitutions (Table 2), three of which were predicted to affect the function and structure of proteins (Table 4). Twelve of the 27 point mutations were distributed in only one population, while four point mutations were not specific to any population, with wild-types and mutant types in each population, and the other eleven point mutations were distributed in two to three populations (Table 3). Only three of the 31 haplotypes were shared among populations, while the rest were distributed in a single population (Fig. 2). The results have shown that the genetic polymorphism of tlr4 gene is not consistent among different populations, and point mutations have population-specific distribution characteristics, reflecting the fact that different geographical populations are affected by different pathogenic pressures. It is suggested that attention should be paid to the maintenance of genetic diversity in future conservation of this species.

Abstract:Different rhythms of brain electrical activity in humans are related to different consciousness states, while the specificity of different rhythms of neural signals in different states of other species such as birds is not yet clear. In this paper, we studied the rhythm specificity of neural activity in pigeons (Columba livia domestica) under different states of consciousness: anesthetic coma, consciously quiet, and freely exploring, by analyzing the local field potential (LPF) signals. Firstly, LPF signals in different states were collected. Then, five rhythms including delta (1﹣4 Hz), theta (4﹣8 Hz), alpha (8﹣12 Hz), beta (15﹣30 Hz) and gamma (30﹣60 Hz) were extracted.. Finally, time-frequency analysis was carried out by using wavelet transform, studying the characteristics of different rhythms by observation of statistical time-frequency diagram and statistical analysis of wavelet energy. We also analyzed the complexity of signals based on the Sample Entropy to explore the possible reasons for this rhythm specificity. The statistical hypothesis testing was carried out by Friedman test. Results showed that as the brain became clear and clear, the low-frequency rhythms delta, theta, and alpha, were significantly inhibited (P < 0.001, Fig. 3), while the activity of high-frequency rhythm, gamma was significantly enhanced (P < 0.001, Fig. 3). We then did statistical hypothesis testing for sample entropy of neural signal in different rhythms, and the results of Friedman test showed that the higher the rhythm frequency band, the greater the signal sample entropy (P < 0.001, Fig. 4), corresponding to the improvement of consciousness clarity from anesthesia, awakening to free exploring. The study on the rhythm specificity of neural electrical activity in pigeons under different conditions will make contribution to the understanding of the encoding mechanism of neural rhythm in different species.

Abstract:Sipunculan worm (Phascolosoma arcuatum) is an emerging cultural species in recent years. Even though its artificial culture has been expanded, little is known about its biological characteristics. In this paper, the morphological structure and ultrastructure of Sipunculan worm were elucidated by hematoxylin-eosin staining method and scanning electron microscopy, respectively. The results showed that Sipunculan worm was mainly divided into introvert part and trunk parts. The trunk was armed with mastoid, while the introvert was flexible and could be elongated to the length about twice of that of the trunk. The introvert consisted of tentacles and nuchal organ (Fig. 1a). The digestive system of the Sipunculan worm was composed of four parts: mouth, esophagus, intestine and anus (Fig. 4), and the morphology of muscle tissues in the latter three parts was significantly different (Fig. 6). One terminal of the muscle was connected to the introvert (named introvert muscle), while the other terminal of the muscle was divided into 4 branches. Two of the branches were connected to the ventral part (named ventral retractor muscle), while the other two of the branches were connected to the dorsal part (named dorsal retractor muscle). The esophagus was attached to the introvert muscle and it was connected to the intestine. The intestine was divided into ascending loop and descending loop. The ascending loop and descending loop were winding and circling, the terminal of descending loop was linked to the rectum with a rectal blind sac, and eventually it was connected to the anus. There were two nephridium tubes existing in the ventral part (Fig.1b).

Abstract:This work is aimed to investigate the protective effect of curcumin (CRC) against ovarian oxidative stress induced by bisphenol A (BPA) in mice. Firstly, in order to explore the appropriate protective concentration of curcumin, 28-day-old female mice were divided into six groups: control group, curcumin (200 mg/kg) group, bisphenol A (10 mg/kg) group, bisphenol A (10 mg/kg) + curcumin (50 mg/kg) group, bisphenol A (10 mg/kg) + curcumin (100 mg/kg) group, and bisphenol A (10 mg/kg) + curcumin (200 mg/kg) group. Then, 28-day-old female mice were divided into four groups: control group, curcumin (100 mg/kg) group, bisphenol A (10 mg/kg) group, and bisphenol A (10 mg/kg) + curcumin (100 mg/kg) group to explore the protective mechanism of curcumin. Corn oil, bisphenol A and/or curcumin were orally administered for six weeks. After treatment, some ovaries were collected to measure reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels and to observe follicular atresia by histological evaluation after hematoxylin-eosin staining. The mRNA expression and activities of antioxidants such as superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GPx) and catalase (CAT) were also tested. The experimental data were statistically analyzed with variance analysis. The results showed that Bisphenol A exposure increased reactive oxygen species levels and induced ovarian oxidative stress, while co-treatment with curcumin could reverse bisphenol A-induced up-regulation of reactive oxygen species (Table 2). Bisphenol A exposure increased the percentage of atretic antral follicles and co-treatment with curcumin decreased antral follicle atresia (Table 2). Bisphenol A decreased the expression and activities of three key antioxidants, SOD, GPx and CAT. Co-treatment with curcumin could reverse bisphenol A-induced down-regulation of expression and activities of SOD, GPx and CAT (Fig. 2, 3). Therefore, it is possible that bisphenol A induces damage to the ovaries by oxidative stress pathway, and curcumin can reverse the ovary toxicity of bisphenol A to some degree.

Abstract:This study investigated the parthenogenetic activation efficiency of oocytes from expanded (Ex) and compact (Cp) type of cumulus oocyte complexes (COCs) in the breeding and non-breeding seasons of horses (Equus caballus). The somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) using fibroblasts from foals and adult horses was also studied. The results of parthenogenetic activation test showed that the proportions of Ex type oocytes developed to 2-cell, 4-cell and morula stages were 52.8% (19/36), 38.9% (14/36) and 5.6% (2/36) respectively, while those of Cp type oocytes were 47.9% (23/48), 33.3% (16/48) and 6.2% (3/48) respectively in the breeding season. The proportions of Ex type oocytes developed to 2-cell and 4-cell embryos were 37.2% (16/43) and 16.3% (7/43) respectively, while those of Cp type oocytes were 35.1% (27/77) and 11.7% (9/77) respectively, but morula stage embryos were not obtained in non-breeding season (Fig.4; Table 1). There was no significant difference in the rate of embryonic development between Ex and Cp (P > 0.05) groups in the same season, but there was significant difference between Ex and Cp groups in breeding and non-breeding seasons (P < 0.05). The percentages of foal fibroblast-derived SCNT embryos developed to 2-cell, 4-8 cell and morula stages were 41.5% (22/53), 33.9% (18/53) and 15.1% (8/53) respectively, while the percentages of adult horse fibroblast-derived SCNT embryos developed to 2-cell and 4-8-cell stages were 38.9% (7/18) and 22.2% (4/18) respectively, but no morula stage embryos were obtained (Fig.5; Table 2). In summary, season and COCs type affect the efficiency of parthenogenetic activation of horse oocyte, and different sources of nuclear donor cells affect the success rate of cloned embryo development.

Abstract:To investigate the immune functions of CD4+ and CD8+ lymphocyte subsets in peripheral blood of captive-breeding forest musk deer (Moschus berezovskii) and to explore the method for detecting lymphocyte subsets by flow cytometry will provide a scientific basis for studying the pathological mechanism and diagnostic methods of major diseases in this species. Five healthy musk deer and five musk deer with respiratory diseases were selected to compare CD4+ and CD8+ lymphocyte subgroups their peripheral blood by double-color flow cytometry. Data were processed and analyzed by SPSS18.0 software, and statistically described utilizing mean and standard deviation (Mean ± SD). Differences between groups were analyzed by T-test, and P-value < 0.05 was considered significant. The test results showed that flow-cytometric fluorescent antibodies against sheep-derived CD4 and CD8 could label the cells of forest musk deer effectively (Table 1 and Fig. 1, 2). Compared with healthy forest musk deer, the content of CD4+ cells in peripheral blood of diseased forest musk deer increased slightly, but there was no statistical difference (P > 0.05) (Fig. 3), while the content of CD8+ cells decreased significantly (P < 0.01) (Fig. 3), and the ratio of CD4+/CD8+ increased significantly (P < 0.01) (Fig. 3). The changes of CD8+ lymphocyte subsets in peripheral blood of forest musk deer with respiratory inflammatory diseases were significant. Detection of lymphocyte subsets is of great importance in the diagnosis of forest musk deer diseases.

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