The costs of keeping cool in a warming world: implications of high temperatures for foraging,thermoregulation and body condition of an arid‐zone bird

Recent mass mortalities of bats, birds and even humans highlight the substantial threats that rising global temperatures pose for endotherms. Although less dramatic, sublethal fitness costs of high temperatures may be considerable and result in changing population demographics. Endothermic animals exposed to high environmental temperatures can adjust their behaviour (e.g. reducing activity) or physiology (e.g. elevating rates of evaporative water loss) to maintain body temperatures within tolerable limits. The fitness consequences of these adjustments, in terms of the ability to balance water and energy budgets and therefore maintain body condition, are poorly known. We investigated the effects of daily maximum temperature on foraging and thermoregulatory behaviour as well as maintenance of body condition in a wild, habituated population of Southern Pied Babblers Turdoides bicolor. These birds inhabit a hot, arid area of southern Africa where they commonly experience environmental temperatures exceeding optimal body temperatures. Repeated measurements of individual behaviour and body mass were taken across days varying in maximum air temperature. Contrary to expectations, foraging effort was unaffected by daily maximum temperature. Foraging efficiency, however, was lower on hotter days and this was reflected in a drop in body mass on hotter days. When maximum air temperatures exceeded 35.5 °C, individuals no longer gained sufficient weight to counter typical overnight weight loss. This reduction in foraging efficiency is likely driven, in part, by a trade‐off with the need to engage in heat‐dissipation behaviours. When we controlled for temperature, individuals that actively dissipated heat while continuing to forage experienced a dramatic decrease in their foraging efficiency. This study demonstrates the value of investigations of temperature‐dependent behaviour in the context of impacts on body condition, and suggests that increasingly high temperatures will have negative implications for the fitness of these arid‐zone birds.     

贵州习水发现淡绿[贝鸟]鹛

2017年5 月,采用样带法于贵州省习水县箐山森林公园进行全省繁殖鸟类多样性监测,在公园内(106°11"13.51,E,28°20"17.11N,海拔1362m)的针阔混交林中发现2只形态相似的鸟类并拍摄照片,经过鉴定,该物种为雀形目(Passeriformes)画眉科(Sylviidae)鵙鹛属(Pteruthius)的淡绿鵙鹛(Pteruthius xanthochlorus),系贵州省鸟类新纪录。     

西藏墨脱发现黑胸楔嘴鹩鹛（Sphenocichla humei）

2014年11月10日在西藏自治区林芝地区墨脱县于墨脱公路海拔1 437 m处(29°35′45″N,95°28′25″E)路边灌丛中发现1群约7只黑胸楔嘴鹩鹛(Sphenocichla humei),经查阅文献,确认这是该物种在中国于印控藏南地区之外的首次记录。     

Regent Honeyeater Habitat Restoration Project Lurg Hills, Victoria

Summary  The Regent Honeyeater Habitat Restoration Project is a landscape scale community effort to protect and restore all significant remnants of native woodland habitat in the agricultural district of the Lurg hills, Victoria. While focus is placed on the Regent Honeyeater, many other declining birds and mammals also benefit from the restoration project. Over 14 years of sustained effort, the project has involved 115 local landholders (approximately 95% of local farms) and about 17 000 volunteers. Together, they have protected relatively healthy remnants by fencing, planted or direct seeded depleted understoreys and replanted open areas that had been cleared for agriculture. Other restoration activities include ecological thinning of 'pole forests', mistletoe removal, environmental weeding, feral animal control, kangaroo reduction, systematic monitoring of a range of threatened and declining woodland birds, and nest box placement for hollow-dependent mammals. The works have achieved the rapid closing of some high-priority gaps in the local landscape, connecting the Lurg hills project area to other major regional habitats nearby. The oldest tree plantings are now 12 yrs old and 6-m high and the first Ironbarks flowered in 2006. While the Regent Honeyeater has not yet returned in numbers (because the trees have not yet reached optimum flowering age), surveys and nest box monitoring reveal a range of threatened birds and mammals are already using this project's regenerated and reconstructed habitats.     

A comparison of bird communities in mixed fruit orchards and natural forest at Khao Luang, southern Thailand

The avifauna of a mixed fruit orchard and nearby isolated forest patch on the mountain of Khao Luang, southern Thailand, was compared with that in natural forest. The orchard was about 75% as rich in bird species as the forest and was dominated by smaller frugivores, nectarivores and widespread generalists. Sundaic birds contributed 26% of sightings in the orchard, and understorey insectivores were poorly represented. The avifauna of the 4.5-ha forest patch was similarly depauperate and bore greater resemblance to that in the orchard than to that in forest. These results have implications for management since increasing emphasis is being placed upon the rights of local communities to manage and exploit resources in protected areas. While agricultural diversification may assist in restoring modest levels of diversity in areas already degraded or committed to human use, it should not be seen as a substitute for conventional protection of forest and wildlife through exclusion of such use.     

小杜鹃对小鳞胸鹪鹛的巢寄生

鸟类的巢寄生现象一直被作为生物协同演化的典型模式系统之一。对杜鹃选择宿主及其巢寄生情况进行调查和观测,能够为协同演化研究提供重要基础资料。2015年7月,我们在四川省雷波县发现一个被杜鹃寄生的鸟巢。通过野外观测和分子生物学检测,确定宿主为小鳞胸鹪鹛(Pnoepyga pusilla),而寄生者为小杜鹃(Cuculus poliocephalus)。     

斑翅鹩鹛一新亚种——南川亚种

本文报道了斑翅鹩鹛一新亚种,命名为斑翅鹩鹛南川亚种(Spelaecrnis troglodytoidesnanchuanensis),并记述了新亚种同已知亚种区别的形态特征。