Abstract:There is currently little information on resting behavior of wild Guizhou snub-nosed monkeys (Rhinopithecus brelichi). This field study on the ecology and behaviors of this species was conducted in Fanjingshan National Nature Reserve, China. Parameters related to resting behavior including the posture, forest/tree strata, support diameter and inclinations, and numbers in huddling groups were recorded by ad libitum sampling method from December 2008 to April 2009. Our results showed that sitting was the most common posture (99%); the middle tree stratum was most frequently used (52%) during resting periods; the medium diameter of support branches (5﹣10 cm) and the approaching level of support branches inclinations were most frequently used (Table 1); and huddling group most frequently comprised of two individuals. And there was a negative correlation between tree strata and the diameter of support branches (r =﹣0.478, P < 0.05, n = 50). There was also a significant difference of average huddling group size between different tree strata (Fig. 1, Fig. 2). Vertical distribution of support resources may influence both huddling group size and tree strata use in Rhinopithecus brelichi.

Abstract:To study the distribution pattern and changing mechanism of small mammals in the Dongting Lake from the perspective of animals using water to migrate and diffuse, we captured 13 adult Striped Field Mouse (Apodemus agrarius) and 11 adult Grey Shrew (Crocidura attenuata) in the Dongting Lake area for swimming tests at the end of July 2018, observed their swimming behavior, and measured their fur absorption of water for 3 minutes, 5 minutes, 10 minutes, and 30 minutes. The data were analyzed using repeated measures analysis of variance. The results showed that: (1) The Grey Shrew use the horizontal dog-paddle posture during swimming and stroke water with all limbs (Fig.1), which the water absorption rate of fur increased with the swimming time but there was no gender difference (P > 0.05, Table 1). (2) The Striped Field Mouse, who use the horizontal dog-paddle posture during swimming, mainly use hindlegs to draw water and can float with no paddle (Fig.2), and the water absorption rate of fur increased with the swimming time with no gender difference (P > 0.05, Table 2). (3) The waterproofness of the fur between the two mammals was significantly different (P < 0.05, Table 3): the water absorption rate of Grey Shrew was 12.7%, 18.22%, 26.31% and 26.46% respectively, and that of Striped Field Mouse was 9.16%, 12.41%, 13.87% and 15.90% respectively (Table 3); the water absorption growth rate of Grey Shrew was 4.232%/min, 1.105%/min, 0.809%/min, 0.005%/min, and that of Striped Field Mouse was 3.054%/min, 0.650%/min, 0.146%/min, 0.068%/min (Fig.3), indicating that the Striped Field Mouse’s fur waterproofness is better than that of Grey Shrew. The experiment shows that both Striped Field Mouse and Grey Shrew have some swimming ability, but the adaptability of the Striped Field Mouse to the water environment is stronger than that of the Grey Shrew, which may be one of the reasons why it is widely distributed in the Dongting Lake area.

Abstract:In birds, sibling competition of nestlings could be controlled by feeding position of parents on the nest edge, and asynchrony hatching might exacerbate this competition. In the meantime, the nestlings can get more food for their growth and survival by competing for advantageous positions in the nest. From April to August in 2013 and 2014, 22 nests of Rufous-tailed Shrike (Lanius isabellinus) in Gansu Anxi Extreme-Arid Desert National Nature Reserve had been found, and we videotaped the feeding behavior of these nests from 1-day-old nestling until fledglings to check the parents feeding positions and nestlings food-receiving sites. Meanwhile, we measured body weight of all nestlings every two days using electronic scale (precision of 0.01 g) to calculate the growth curves. All data analysis was made in SPSS 19.0. Specifically, Chi-square test was used to find significant difference among four feeding positions of parents, and one-way ANOVA was used to analyze the relationship between the hatching order of nestlings and the frequency which the nestlings occupied linear or bilateral sites in the nest when they got food, and the relation between the hatching order of nestlings and the average times of nestlings getting food. Our results showed that the parents feeding positions were predictable and mainly gathered at 1 (n = 13, proportion > 50%) or 2 sites (n = 9, addition proportion > 60%) (Table 1), and the nestlings in the straight line of the parents feeding position got more food than those in the two sides (n = 22, P < 0.001, Table 2). Furthermore, the hatching order of nestlings was not correlated with the frequency they occupied linear (df = 4, F = 0.211, P > 0.05, Fig. 2) or bilateral (df = 4, F = 0.068, P > 0.05, Fig. 2) positions in the nest, and there was no significant difference in food getting frequency among the nestlings with different hatching order (df = 4, F = 0.090, P > 0.05, Table 3). The growth rate of nestlings’ weight in different hatching order did not show significant difference (df = 4, F = 0.637, P > 0.05, Table 4). The parents of Rufous-tailed Shrike preferred to feed in a straight direction with fixed feeding position to control the sibling competition of nestlings, but the shrike siblings were in week competition, we suggest that it was associated with the short-term food richness of the breeding areas, and the trade-off between begging and food intake of the nestlings themselves.

Abstract:With the continuous acceleration of urbanization, noise levels in urban areas have significantly increased, which could mask the communication signals and thus pose a challenge to vocal communication of birds. Because the frequency of urban noise is generally low, birds could sing at high frequencies to avoid being masked in noisy urban environments. Lower frequency of vocalizations is an important indicator of male quality, however, the higher frequency of vocalizations would reduce the attractiveness of the vocalizations to females. Consequently, there is a trade-off for birds between raising and keeping vocalization frequency. With the aim to examine the effects of urban noise on vocalization of Tree Sparrows (Passer montanus), we compared the breeding songs of tree sparrows at six study sites in Shenyang with different noise levels from April to July 2019. We recorded the songs of Tree Sparrows at breeding stage using directional microphones and measured noise levels using a calibrated sound pressure level meter. Differences in song parameters and noise levels between urban and suburban sampling sites were analyzed by nested ANOVA. The Unary linear regression analysis was carried out on the mean of song parameters and the mean of noise for six study point tree sparrows, with noise level as an independent variable. Our results showed that the urban sites had higher noise levels than the suburban sites (P < 0.01, Table 2). Tree Sparrows in the urban sites had significantly higher maximum frequency (P < 0.01), higher minimum frequency (P < 0.05), higher peak frequency (P < 0.01), and wider bandwidth (P < 0.01) (Table 2). There was no significant difference of vocalization duration between tree sparrows in urban and suburban sites (P > 0.05, Table 2). The maximum frequency (P > 0.05), bandwidth (P > 0.05), peak frequency (P > 0.05), and duration (P > 0.05) were not significantly correlated with the noise (P > 0.05) (Fig. 3). The minimum frequency was positively correlated with the noise level (P < 0.01, Fig. 3). Our results indicated that, Tree Sparrows choose to increase the minimum frequency for better signal transmission in noisy environments.

Abstract:The Amur Paradise-Flycatcher (Terpsiphone incei) is a bird species belonging to the family Monarchinae of the Passeriformes and is broadly distributed across most part of China. Previous studies have reported its reproductive habits in some areas of China, however, the morphological types of male and female individuals are lack of description. For the purpose of better understanding its breeding ecology and morphological types, we conducted a study on the Amur Paradise-Flycatcher in the Dongzhai National Nature Reserve of Henan Province between 2014 and 2017. From May to July of each year, we located their nests and tracked their breeding activities by regular checking the nests. Both parents were found to attend nest construction, incubation and nestling provisioning. At our study area, the species usually started nest construction in late May and nests were mostly placed on plants such as Robinia pseudoacacia and Quercus acutissima. Clutch size were 3.8 ± 0.6 (± SD, same below; n = 25 nests) and incubation period were 12﹣13 d (n = 4 nests). Average hatching success of the nests was 91.7% ± 17.7% (n = 9 nests) and mean brood size was 3.6 ± 0.8 (n = 19 nests). Nestlings were fed by parents for about 10 days before fledging. Nesting success were 35.5% (n = 29 nests) with nest abandonment and predation being the major reason for nest failure. We found there were two types of female morphs, namely, rufous-coloured and short-tailed female, and rufous-coloured and long-tailed female, and three types of male morphs, namely, rufous-coloured and long-tailed male, white-coloured and long-tailed male, and rufous- coloured and short-tailed male (Table 1, Fig. 2). The rufous-coloured and long-tailed males were most common, occurring in 69.4% of the nests (n = 36). In addition, we recorded a case of a male with a rufous-coloured body but a long white tail (Fig. 3). These results will contribute to the understanding of the breeding habits and morphological patterns of Amur Paradise-Flycatchers.

Abstract:The Khanka Lake of Heilongjiang Province is located in northeast China, and shared between China and Russia. Waterbird conservation at Khanka Lake is highly concerned by the governments and conservation organizations of China and neighboring countries. We analyzed the waterbird migration patterns of Khanka Lake by summarizing of the banding and recovery data. During 2010 to 2019, of 968 waterbird individuals totally banded, we got 29 records of recovery of 23 individuals, including six White-naped Cranes, eight Oriental White Storks, three Spot-billed Ducks, three Mallards, seven Shovellers, one Tufted Duck and one Bean Goose (Appendix). By analyzing these data, we discovered some important points of waterbird migration patterns, and confirmed the importance of Khanka Lake as a key corridor on the waterbird migration in northeast Asia (Fig.1), and further provided scientific basis for joint conservation of waterbird between China and neighboring countries.

Abstract:The Saker Falcon (Falco cherrug) is a national level II key protected wild animal, and listed as an endangered species by IUCN. One Saker Falcon was successfully equipped with a satellite tracker on September 26, 2018 in Baoding City, Hebei Province. The bird’s migration route involved six provinces and regions of Hebei Province, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Shanxi Province, Shanxi Province, Gansu Province and Qinghai Province, with the direction from east to west, and finally arrived at its wintering area of Pingchuan District, Baiyin City of Gansu Province. The migration process is divided into three stages, namely release stage, wandering period and migration period. The flight distances of each stage are 297.62 km, 1 129.69 km and 2 040.9 km respectively (Fig. 1). According to our analysis of the satellite tracking data, the bird flew during daytime and its daily flight time was 7:33 ± 2:01 to 18:12 ± 1:09, with the average of 10.44 ± 1.76 h. There were three peaks of average flight speeds in a day, being 9:00, 14:00 and 18:00 respectively (Fig. 2). In the whole migration process, the average flight speed was 45.77 ± 20.88 km/h, with the average daily flight distance was 188.65 ± 113.90 km. The bird did not have a fixed place to rest at night in the winter. The altitude of resting place was 1 500﹣2 000 m, and 90 % of the home range size was 85.5 km2. On March 7, 2019, it was found that the bird was electrocuted and hung on a telegraph pole. The electric leakage of telegraph poles could be the death traps for the Saker Falcon and other birds (Fig. 3).

Abstract:The beak was the main feeding organ of cephalopods which contained abundant information of fishery biology and ecology. Based on the 1 009 Purple-back Flying Squid (Sthenoteuthis oualaniensis) samples which collected by Chinese lighting falling-net vessel in the northwest Indian Ocean from March to May 2019, the beak pigmentation was divided and determined. SPSS was used to conduct the ANCOVA test to determine whether gender studies were needed. The relationships between the beak pigmentation and the mantle length (L), body weight (W), sexual maturity and the external morphological parameters of the beak were analyzed by generating a box graph, the median values of the samples were fitted linearly. The results showed that the stage 2 was the dominant portion, accounting for 33.87% of the total samples during March to May, and the level of pigmentation stage increased with the time passed from March to May. There were significantly sexual differences in the relationships between beak pigmentation and mantle length, body weight, the external morphological parameters and sexual maturity (P < 0.05). The relationships between beak pigmentation and mantle length, body weight, the external morphological parameters of the beak (lower hood length, lower rostrum length, lower lateral wall length, lower wing length) were significantly relevant. The correlation coefficients (R2) between pigmentation stage and mantle length, body weight were 0.877 8, 0.863 5, 0.730 4 and 0.842 4 (Fig. 4). Under the same pigmentation stage, the range of mantle length and body weight of the males was smaller than that of females, indicating that females developed pigmentation faster than males. The minimum correlation coefficients (R2) between pigmentation stage and the external morphological parameters of the beak was 0.66 (Fig. 5) and his is higher than other cephalopods. The beak pigmentation stage increased with the increasing of sexual maturity (Table. 1). This study provides a basis for the fishery ecology research, effective exploitation and scientific management of S. oualaniensis resource based on the beaks.

Abstract:In order to know the structural characteristics of the main organs and tissues of the world’s endangered species, S. tatarica, a national first-level protected wild animal, in this study, the paraffin tissue sectioning and light microscopy were used to examine the structures of heart, liver, spleen, lung and kidney structures of a female adult individual died of a fetal coat. The myocardial muscle fibers of S. tatarica are cylindrical and branched, and their nuclei are located at the edge of the cells. The ends of each branch of myocardial fiber are related to each other to form a muscle fiber network, and the intercalated disk is obvious (Fig. 1). Liver tissue structure is compact with a little interstitial tissue, while the boundary between hepatic lobules is not clear. The section of hepatic lobules is irregular polygon, and the hepatocytes are radially arranged around the central vein (Fig. 2). The capsule of spleen is thicker, the splenic trabeculae are formed by the joint of the capsule and the connective tissue of splenic portal, which are connected to each other and stretch into the splenic parenchyma to form a coarse scaffold of the spleen. The parenchymal part can be clearly divided into white and red pulps. The white pulp is mainly distributed around the arterioles in the spleen, and its internal splenic nodules are round or oval in shape. The red pulp is mainly distributed around the white pulp area, which is filled with a large number of red blood cells (Fig. 3). The bronchioles and terminal bronchioles are mainly visible in the air conduction part of the lung parenchyma, the luminal surface of bronchioles is rich in longitudinal folds, and the mucosal epithelium is pseudostratified columnar ciliated epithelium. A large number of alveolar ducts, alveolar sacs and alveoli can be observed in the respiratory tract, and the alveolar structure is clearly discernible (Fig. 4). The kidney of S. tatarica belongs to monopapilla-shaped kidney, consisting of capsule and parenchyma. The parenchyma is clearly divided into cortex and medulla, a large number of renal corpuscles and a small amount of connective tissue can be observed in the cortex (Fig. 5). Compared with other ruminants, there is no significant difference in the structure of the main organs of S. tatarica.

Abstract:The formation of primordial follicles in mice is most intense within 3 days after birth, and a large number of oocytes are lost during this period. The primordial follicle pool is established shortly after birth. Newborns will experience starvation for a period of time before ingesting breast milk nutrition. When mice are starved after birth, dynamic changes in autophagy and apoptosis occur. Both autophagy and apoptosis can affect the survival of cells, which is probably related to the loss of oocytes during the formation of primordial follicles. In this study, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) was used to research morphological alterations of ovaries starved for 1.5 d and 2 d, respectively. The ovaries of the newborn mice (Mus musculus domesticus) were collected from mice with different treatments for making electron microscope sections. Electron micrographs of ovarian sections were taken by TEM. Compared with normal control oocytes (Fig. 1a), most of the oocytes starved for 1.5 d (Fig. 1b) maintained normal cell morphology, while a large number of apoptotic or pre-apoptotic cells appeared in the ovaries of mice starved for 2 days (Fig. 1c), and almost no normal cells were observed. It was found that the number of autophagosomes in oocytes was significantly increased in mice starved for 1.5 days compared with the control (Fig. 2). All data were analyzed with GraphPad Prism software and were represent as the Mean ± SD of at least three independent experiments. Student's t-test was used to compare the difference between treatment group and the control. The ovaries of mice starved for 2 days showed evident damages to the ovary. Mice starved for 2 days were at the threshold of life, and a small number of individuals died. TEM morphological observation showed that compared with the control group, the number of autophagosomes in the oocytes of mice starved for 2 days was significantly reduced, and there were more signs of apoptosis in most oocytes (Fig. 3), which suggested that excessive starvation would cause reduced autophagy and apoptosis of a large number of oocytes. The results of this experiment show that starvation treatment affects the dynamic changes of autophagy and apoptosis during the formation of primordial follicles.

Abstract:Diseases represent a significant threat to the survival of tigers (Panthera tigris). Many previous studies have linked the emergence of the diseases to socio-economic, environmental and ecological factors, but none of these studies specifically analyzed the relationship between these factors and tiger case reports. This study used Excel software to make statistics and present the classification statistics of tiger case reports in the world (Table 1), as well as time-dependent change (Fig. 4, 5). The Poisson regression of SPSS software was used to analyze correlation between case reports’ number and time quantitatively. ArcGIS software was used to present the geographical distribution of tiger case reports worldwide (Fig. 1) and in China (Fig. 2). Furthermore, this study used ArcGIS software to open the spatial interpolation database derived from the ‘Resource and Environment Data Cloud Platform’ which is created by Chinese Academy of Sciences. The properties of grids where tiger distribute in China (Taiwan Province, Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions were not counted) were export to an excel sheet, including whether the grid was tiger case reports positive, the population interpolation of the grid, the precipitation interpolation of the grid, and the air temperature interpolation of this grid. The logistic regression model in SPSS was used to quantify the association’s strength among grids where tiger case reports occurred and factors hypothesized. The response variable (yes, no) was whether the grids occurred tiger case reports. Candidate variables to fit the prediction were population, precipitation and air temperature. The result of analysis confirms that there is a significant positive correlation between tiger case reports and demographic factor (Table 2), suggesting that we should pay more attention to the prevention of tiger diseases in areas with high population density (Fig. 3). This study provides a basis for building a model to predict regions where new tiger diseases are most likely to occur.

Abstract:The White-eared Night-heron, Gorsachius magnificus, is listed as the second class of National Protected Wildlife of China. Here we presented the breeding report of the bird in the Leigongshan National Nature Reserve of Guizhou Province of China. On 18 May 2019, a nest was first found by local people during the nest construction period, which was built on Lithocarpus hancei with twigs and about 7 m above the ground. On 24th July, three nestlings were found at nest and all of them successfully fledged on 12th August. On 17th August, they returned to the nest and stayed there until 2nd September. Based on discovery of the bird at other sites in the reserve, we proposed that there might be at least one or two breeding populations of the White-eared Night-heron in Leigongshan area.

Abstract:In 2019, three new records of bird were found in Shanxi Province with clear photos, including the Glaucous Gull (Larus Hyperboreus) in Pangquangou Town, Jiaocheng County; the Common Koel (Eudynamys scolopaceus) in Lishan Town, Yuanqu County and Zhongcun Town, Qinshui County; and the Chinese Blue Flycatcher (Cyornis glaucicomans) in Lishan Town, Yuanqu County.

Abstract:Stress response is an important mechanism for animals to cope with environmental or social stress. It is characterized by activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA axis) and production of glucocorticoids, which is corticosterone in most bird species. The corticosterone level of a bird can be utilized to determine whether it is under stress, to identify the factors that may induce or influence such stress response, and ultimately, to reveal the mechanism of how the birds adapting to the environmental changes and balancing the energy distribution in different stages of life history. Furthermore, the long-term monitoring of corticosterone level can also provide the survival and health status of individuals, which important implications for conservation of endangered birds. This paper reviewed the factors that induce stress response in birds, including weather, predation pressure, food availability, human interference, urbanization and social stress; summarized the factors that may affect the degree of stress response of birds, including photoperiod, habitat, gender, age, social class and early experience. Moreover, this review also outlined the research contents with high potential for further research, including feather corticosterone determination, chronic stress as well as the application of stress response in the fields of animal personality, cognition and system development.

Abstract:The sex determination types and sex chromosomes of amphibians are characterized by diversity. Among the amphibians in which heteromorphic chromosomes have been found, most species have Y or W chromosomes larger than their corresponding X or Z chromosomes, and a few species have highly differentiated Y or W chromosomes. At the same time, the genome size of amphibians varies greatly, and there are also molecular differences between sex chromosomes. High-frequency turnover, accidental recombination, and chromosomal rearrangement may be key mechanisms in the evolution of sexual chromosomes in amphibians. The review reveals the mechanism of genetic sex determination through in-depth discussion of the evolution of sex chromosomes in amphibians, which is helpful for further exploration of artificially controlling the sex of amphibians.

Abstract:A Collared Finchbill is seen in a tree on the west bank of the jianghuichuan river, north of xiangluzhai village, jiangshui town, xingtai city, north China's hebei province, May 6, 2019.

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