Biparental incubation emerges from the balance between cooperation and conflict. Because only one parent can sit on the nest at a time, any environment-linked change in one parent's schedule compels a reallocation by the partner. Yet most field studies collapse incubation data to daily totals and rarely model continuous 24-h, sex-specific rhythms, masking how environmental context reshapes between-parent dynamics. We used minute-resolution incubation records (13,632 nest-hours from 45 nests) to examine temporal and spatial variations in incubation by Kentish Plovers (Anarhynchus alexandrinus) breeding in northern Bohai Bay, China. By pairing daily summaries with cosinor-based models of sex-specific hourly incubation, we revealed context-dependent diel timing shifts that coarser methods missed. Consistent with previous work, we found females dominated daytime incubation and males at night, yielding female-biased daily totals. Hourly analyses, however, revealed context-dependent retiming in our study. As season warmed, males increased midday attendance but delayed the onset of their night shift; while female attendance declined, producing a more even division between parents with male daily attendance remaining unchanged. Across habitats, total attendance was similar, but in rocky sites, where nocturnal predation was higher, males reallocated effort from night to day and exceeded females in daily totals. Increased male daytime involvement was accompanied by more frequent changeovers, which were more responsive to environmental context than daily attendance. These findings show that environmental variation primarily reorganises when parents incubate rather than simply how much they incubate, and that between-parent dynamics are best examined at hourly scales. Hourly sex-specific analyses thus provide a clearer bridge between environmental context and parental decision-making—insights that matter for forecasting reproductive outcomes under warming climates and changing predator communities.

Birds exhibit a high degree of migratory diversity, which is influenced by various ecological factors and life history strategies. Conducting studies on tropical bird migration, of which research is scarce, and comparing it with temperate birds can enhance our understanding of bird migration behaviour and its underlying mechanisms. In this study, we explored the migration behaviour of a breeding population of the Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica) in Zhanjiang, southern China, a region located in the northern tropics, using light-level geolocators. From 2021 to 2023, we deployed geolocators on 92 breeding swallows and retrieved geolocators successfully from 23 individuals. These swallows all exhibited migratory behaviour, and wintering on various islands in Southeast Asia. They displayed sex differences in their wintering locations. All males concentrated in Borneo, while females primarily chose Borneo but also dispersed to the Philippines, South China Sea, and Vietnam for wintering. The studied swallow population adopted a seasonal migration pattern of "indirect in autumn, direct in spring", bypassing the ecological barrier of the South China Sea in autumn and tending to directly cross it in spring migration. Moreover, the distance and duration of autumn migration was significantly longer than those of the spring migration. Compared to temperate Barn Swallows, the Barn Swallow population breeding in Zhanjiang adopts a pattern of "intra-tropical migration" and initiates autumn migration earlier. The formation of their migration pattern may be limited by ecological and physiological factors.

Population genomic data could provide valuable information for conservation efforts; however, limited studies have been conducted to investigate the genetic status of threatened pheasants. Reeves’s Pheasant (Syrmaticus reevesii) is facing population decline, attributed to increases in habitat loss. There is a knowledge gap in understanding the genomic status and genetic basis underlying the local adaptation of this threatened bird. Here, we used population genomic data to assess population structure, genetic diversity, inbreeding patterns, and genetic divergence. Furthermore, we identified candidate genes linked with adaptation across the current distribution of Reeves’s Pheasant. The present study assembled the first de novo genome sequence of Reeves’s Pheasant and annotated 19,458 genes. We also sequenced 30 individuals from three populations (Dabie Mountain, Shennongjia, Qinling Mountain) and found that there was clear population structure among those populations. By comparing with other threatened species, we found that Reeves’s Pheasants have low genetic diversity. Runs of homozygosity suggest that the Shennongjia population has experienced serious inbreeding. The demographic history results indicated that three populations experienced several declines during the glacial period. Local adaptative analysis among the populations identified 241 candidate genes under directional selection. They are involved in a large variety of processes, including the immune response and pigmentation. Our results suggest that the three populations should be considered as three different conservation units. The current study provides genetic evidence for conserving the threatened Reeves’s Pheasant and provides genomic resources for global biodiversity management.

Evaluating the genetic status of threatened species is an essential task in conservation genetics. However, the genetic status of threatened species has been mostly evaluated through techniques that fail to estimate genetic diversity at the whole genomic level. Next generation sequencing can meet this demand, but high quality samples such as blood or muscle tissues are required. However, it is difficult to collect such samples from threatened species because sampling work may impact their health. Therefore, it is essential to design a workflow to evaluate the whole genomic status of threatened species using non-destructive sampling. Even though non-destructive sampling has been used in traditional barcoding technique, the barcoding technique cannot evaluate the whole genomic status. Brown Eared Pheasant (Crossoptilon mantchuricum) is an endangered species, with captive populations maintained in Taiyuan Zoo, China, and Europe. However, the genetic diversity, inbreeding pattern, and mutation load of these two populations are unclear. To uncover the genetic status of these two captive populations, we applied 2b-RAD technology to evaluate the genomic status of these populations using feathers as samples. The feathers could be collected by non-destructive sampling. The results indicate that the Taiyuan Zoo population has a lower genetic diversity and higher inbreeding coefficient than the European population. The Taiyuan Zoo population has lethal mutations when homozygous. The current project uses a non-destructive sampling technique to evaluate the whole genomic status of the two captive populations, providing a paradigm for conservation genetics, which will facilitate the development of conservation biology.

Until recently, Limosa limosa melanuroides was thought to be the only subspecies of Black-tailed Godwit in the East Asian–Australasian Flyway. For this reason, all previous occurrences and counts of Black-tailed Godwits in the flyway have been assigned to melanuroides. However, a larger-bodied subspecies, bohaii, has recently been discovered in the flyway. As a result, the occurrence of Black-tailed Godwits in the flyway needs to be reconsidered such that the specific distribution of each subspecies becomes known. To this end, we developed a simple discriminant function to assign individuals to subspecies based on their bill and wing length. Cross-validation with individuals known to be bohaii or melanuroides, based on molecular analysis, showed the developed function to be 97.7% accurate. When applied to measurements of godwits captured at 22 sites across 9 countries in East–Southeast Asia and Australia, we found that bohaii and melanuroides occurred at most sites and overlapped in their distribution from Kamchatka to Australia. We examined photos from all along the flyway to verify this surprising result, confirming that both subspecies co-occur in most locations. Based on these results, we hypothesise that bohaii and melanuroides from the west of their breeding ranges mostly migrate over Chinese mainland. Birds of both subspecies from the east of their ranges are expected to migrate along the Pacific Ocean. We encourage ringing groups in East–Southeast Asia and Australia to use this simple method to keep adding knowledge about Black-tailed Godwits in the East Asian–Australasian Flyway.

Pied Avocets (Recurvirostra avosetta) are common migratory shorebirds in the East Asian–Australasian Flyway. From 2019 to 2021, GPS/GSM transmitters were used to track 40 Pied Avocets nesting in northern Bohai Bay to identify annual routines and key stopover sites. On average, southward migration of Pied Avocets started on 23 October and arrived at wintering sites (mainly in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River and coastal wetlands) in southern China on 22 November; northward migration started on 22 March with arrival at breeding sites on 7 April. Most avocets used the same breeding sites and wintering sites between years, with an average migration distance of 1124 ​km. There was no significant difference between sexes on the migration timing or distance in both northward and southward migration, except for the departure time from the wintering sites and winter distribution. The coastal wetland of Lianyungang in Jiangsu Province is a critical stopover site. Most individuals rely on Lianyungang during both northward and southward migration, indicating that species with short migration distances also heavily rely on a few stopover sites. However, Lianyungang lacks adequate protection and is facing many threats, including tidal flat loss. We strongly recommend that the coastal wetland of Lianyungang be designated as a protected area to effectively conserve the critical stopover site.

In this study, we report an unusual homing behavior of the Sichuan Partridge (Arborophila rufipectus) at the Laojunshan National Nature Reserve, Sichuan Province, China. Hen Sichuan Partridges led the chicks back to the nests where they hatched in the evening and roosted there over night. This behavior lasted 6.7 ± 4.3 nights (range = 1–15; n = 13) after the chicks hatched. At this stage, the hens became very vigilant to predators and human disturbance. If disturbed, they often abandoned the nests immediately and no longer returned thereafter. The ambient temperature at night during the early brooding period of Sichuan Partridge at our study site was ~ 12.4 ℃. Our findings suggest that hen Sichuan Partridges may make trade-offs between nest predation risks versus the thermoregulatory needs of their young.