Metagenomic analysis of vitamins B and K2 biosynthesis by gut microbiota in wild birds
June 2026
The role of gut microbiota in vitamin biosynthesis in wild birds, which is essential for understanding avian health and ecological adaptation, remains largely unexplored. In this study, metagenomic...
Balancing energy efficiency and avian conservation: divergent nest-site selection responses of Barn Swallows and Red-rumped Swallows to attached sunspaces in cold rural landscapes
March 2026
Human-modified landscapes serve as ecological filters, determining species distributions and persistence. Energy-efficient technologies, while crucial for climate change mitigation, represent novel...
Urbanization alters the seasonality of bird communities across China
March 2026
Urbanization has profoundly reshaped biodiversity, yet its impacts on community seasonal changes remain poorly understood. Here, we used citizen science data from 839 bird species in 37 cities and their...
Escape behavior and refuge selection preferences by two common urban birds
March 2026
Urbanization destroys wildlife habitats, fragmenting them into small patches with poor connectivity, leading to population declines in species sensitive to such changes. Escape is the most common anti-predator...
Patterns and drivers of beta diversity in bird communities associated with blue-green infrastructure in rapidly urbanizing landscapes
March 2026
Habitat loss driven by land-use change is a major factor shaping the dynamics of urban bird community structures. However, the potential mechanisms by which the spatial configuration and composition...
The satellite tracking of Great Snipes from European Russia reveals low migratory connectivity
March 2026
Great Snipe (Gallinago media) is a shorebird which has a Near Threatened status on the global scale. However, little is known about its migration strategy from the breeding range in Russia. This study...
Are the impacts of artificial light exposure at night on bird's cognitive performances always negative?
March 2026
Artificial light at night (ALAN), as an emerging pollutant, disrupts wild animals' nocturnal behaviours and physiological processes. Recent evidence indicates that ALAN can also impair diurnal cognition,...
Spatial pattern and conservation challenges of migratory waterbirds in Asian flyways
March 2026
Migratory birds undertake regular seasonal movements between breeding and non-breeding grounds each year, often spanning intercontinental distances. Several migratory waterbirds are declining globally,...
Coping with extremes: diet and phylogeny shape gut microbiota in six passerine species inhabiting the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau
March 2026
Understanding how diet and host phylogeny shape gut microbiota is fundamental to elucidating host-microbe interactions in extreme environments. The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (QTP), characterized by harsh...
SDNet: A self-supervised bird recognition method based on large language models and diffusion models for improving long-term bird monitoring
March 2026
The collection and annotation of large-scale bird datasets are resource-intensive and time-consuming processes that significantly limit the scalability and accuracy of biodiversity monitoring systems....
Satellite tracking reveals a migratory divide and population-specific migratory strategies in White-naped Cranes
March 2026
Migratory divides, where individuals from distinct breeding populations within a species exhibit divergent migratory routes and strategies, play a critical role in shaping avian ecology and evolution....
Hide-in-Bird Pond: A new pathway to synergize biodiversity conservation and sustainable development in China
March 2026
Reconciling biodiversity conservation with economic advancement represents a defining challenge of the Anthropocene epoch. Although ecotourism is widely promoted as a strategy capable of delivering...
No egg or nestling-retrieval behavior in a cavity-nesting cuckoo host
March 2026
The arms race between avian brood parasites and their hosts provides a classic model for studying coevolution. In one of the most widespread obligate brood parasites, the Common Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus),...
Effects of photoperiod on basal metabolism and substrate metabolism in Zebra Finches
March 2026
Photoperiod serves as an essential environmental cue that facilitates seasonal acclimatization and thermoregulation in birds. However, its effects on basal and substrate metabolism in Zebra Finches...
Cell-autonomous determination of sex dimorphism in neuromodulation of a gynandromorphic Zebra Finch
March 2026
Gynandromorphs, rare in vertebrates, exhibit distinct sex-determining gene expression on each side of the body despite sharing a uniform hormonal environment. This provides a unique opportunity to investigate...
Microgeographic variation in the songs of an endemic Hawaiian honeycreeper
March 2026
Many bird species are known to differ in their vocal repertoires between populations across a range of geographic scales. This is generally assumed to be caused by acoustic drift and social learning...
Spatiotemporal variation in potential gosling development windows across Mongolian Plateau in relation to climate change
March 2026
Climate change is altering vegetation phenology, differentially affecting food quality and availability for the gosling development (and therefore fitness) of migratory herbivores, especially those...
Decadal banding efforts pay off: Assessing Chinese Crested Tern conservation through resighting data
March 2026
The critically endangered Chinese Crested Tern (Thalasseus bernsteini, CCT) and its common flocking companion, the Greater Crested Tern (Thalasseus bergii, GCT), have been the focus of targeted recovery...
Diversity and prevalence of avian haemosporidians across Afrotropical urban and non-urban habitats
March 2026
Haemosporidian parasites are widespread among birds globally, with impacts ranging from severe disease to negligible effects, particularly in host species that have coevolved with their parasites. Despite...
Spatiotemporal variation and driving mechanisms of nest predation on Spotted Doves along an urbanization gradient
March 2026
Nest predation is a critical driver of avian reproductive success, yet its response to urbanization remains controversial. Using infrared camera traps to monitor 133 artificial nests and 32 natural...
CDA-Net: Cross dimensional attention network for wetland bird detection
March 2026
Monitoring waterbirds is vital for evaluating the ecological health of wetlands, and object detection offers an automated solution for identifying birds in monitoring imagery. However, conventional...
Avian neuronal morphology reveals pallial adaptations in Pigeons (Columba livia)
March 2026
Avian cognitive abilities rival those of primates. These capacities have been linked to high pallial neuronal density and prefrontal cortex-like dorsal ventricular ridge (DVR) circuitry. Although the...
Spatiotemporal dynamics of migratory shorebird populations in Korean coastal wetlands within the East Asian–Australasian Flyway
March 2026
Shorebirds migrate long-distances along the East Asian–Australasian Flyway (EAAF), exhibiting distinct spatiotemporal fluctuations in population dynamics. Because of habitat degradation and population...
Phylogenomic insights into the taxonomy and evolutionary relationships of penduline tits (Remiz spp.)
March 2026
Penduline tits (genus Remiz) are small passerines distributed across Europe, Central and East Asia, and North Africa, renowned for their elaborate nests and unusually diverse mating systems. However,...