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,...
A case study comparing line transect and Indian White-eye mobbing call playback for detecting forest birds in subtropical Yunnan
Available online 13 March 2026
Detection bias in avian monitoring is a critical constraint on the accurate assessment of community structure. This study presents a detailed field-based comparative case study between the playback...
Parental feeding behavior in Southern House Wren (Troglodytes musculus): Effects of brood size and nestling age on the delivery of potential pest prey within an agroecological orchard
Available online 13 March 2026
Insectivorous birds can play an important role in regulating arthropod populations in agroecosystems, including species considered agricultural pests. The Southern House Wren (Troglodytes musculus)...
Assessing temporal and spatial variation in the diet of the Common Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus) using web-sourced photography
Available online 13 March 2026
Food serves as the fundamental source of energy for animal survival and reproduction, directly shaping individual fitness and population dynamics, and has therefore long been a central focus in animal...
Removing non-avian sounds enhances correlations between acoustic indices and bird vocal activity in urban environments
Available online 12 March 2026
Acoustic indices have been increasingly explored as possible proxies for biodiversity, yet in complex environments non-avian sounds often mask bird vocalizations, compromising assessment accuracy and...
Determinants of secondary school students’ conservation willingness toward the Great Bustard (Otis tarda) in riparian cities along the Yellow River in Henan Province, China
Available online 11 March 2026
Understanding public conservation willingness is crucial for mitigating the global decline in avian diversity. Secondary school students, as key future actors and stakeholders in biodiversity conservation,...
Host ecology shapes chigger mite parasitism on wild, captive, and domestic birds across Malaysia and Thailand
Available online 11 March 2026
Southeast Asia is one of the global biodiversity hotspots, renowned for its rich bird fauna and diverse arthropod communities among other taxa. This comprehensive multisite study investigated trombiculid...
Global patterns and data gaps in avian genetic diversity based on mitochondrial Cyt b and COI sequences
Available online 10 March 2026
Genetic diversity is a fundamental component of biodiversity, with far-reaching implications for the stability and resilience of ecosystems. Despite the growing recognition of the importance of genetic...
Risk analysis of cross-interface spillover of avian influenza between terrestrial bird and seabird hosts
Available online 9 March 2026
The emergence of avian influenza virus (AIVs) in seabird populations has intensified in recent years, signaling a significant shift in host ecology and transmission dynamics. To address this, this study...