Habitat use, survival, and migration of a little-known East Asian endemic, the yellow-throated bunting Emberiza elegans.

Basic information on the ecology of species is key for their conservation. Here we study the ecology of the little-known yellow-throated bunting Emberiza elegans based on a multi-year study on its breeding grounds in the Russian Far East. For the first time in this species, we quantified breeding habitat parameters, calculated sex-specific apparent survival, and determined individual nonbreeding locations using light-level geolocation. We found that the habitat around song posts of male yellow-throated buntings is characterized by tree and shrub layers on richly littered moist ground. Habitat use overlaps with co-occurring Tristram's Buntings Emberiza tristrami and Black-faced Buntings E. spodocephala, but territories differ especially in tree cover and litter cover. Based on 4 years of color-ringing data of 72 individuals, we calculated an apparent survival rate of 36%, with higher survival estimates for male than for female yellow-throated buntings. We found no effect of carrying a geolocator on survival. We retrieved six geolocators from males. All birds migrated south-westward during autumn and spent the nonbreeding season at locations in China 700-1700 km away from their breeding sites. At least two individuals spent the boreal winter outside of the known range in northern or central China. Birds left the breeding area between early October and early November and returned between mid-March and mid-April. Our data on habitat use, survival rate, and migratory connectivity will help to assess threats to the populations of this enigmatic species, which might include habitat loss due to forest fires on the breeding grounds, and unsustainable harvest for consumption during the nonbreeding season.

Multi-sensor geolocators unveil global and local movements in an Alpine-breeding long-distance migrant.

BACKGROUND: To understand the ecology of long-distance migrant bird species, it is necessary to study their full annual cycle, including migratory routes and stopovers. This is especially important for species in high-elevation habitats that are particularly vulnerable to environmental change. Here, we investigated both local and global movements during all parts of the annual cycle in a small trans-Saharan migratory bird breeding at high elevation. METHODS: Recently, multi-sensor geolocators have opened new research opportunities in small-sized migratory organisms. We tagged Northern Wheatears Oenanthe oenanthe from the central-European Alpine population with loggers recording atmospheric pressure and light intensity. We modelled migration routes and identified stopover and non-breeding sites by correlating the atmospheric pressure measured on the birds with global atmospheric pressure data. Furthermore, we compared barrier-crossing flights with other migratory flights and studied the movement behaviour throughout the annual cycle. RESULTS: All eight tracked individuals crossed the Mediterranean Sea, using islands for short stops, and made longer stopovers in the Atlas highlands. Single non-breeding sites were used during the entire boreal winter and were all located in the same region of the Sahel. Spring migration was recorded for four individuals with similar or slightly different routes compared to autumn. Migratory flights were typically nocturnal and characterized by fluctuating altitudes, frequently reaching 2000 to 4000 m a.s.l, with a maximum of up to 5150 m. Barrier-crossing flights, i.e., over the sea and the Sahara, were longer, higher, and faster compared to flights above favourable stopover habitat. In addition, we detected two types of altitudinal movements at the breeding site. Unexpected regular diel uphill movements were undertaken from the breeding territories towards nearby roosting sites at cliffs, while regional scale movements took place in response to local meteorological conditions during the pre-breeding period. CONCLUSION: Our data inform on both local and global scale movements, providing new insights into migratory behaviour and local movements in small songbirds. This calls for a wider use of multi-sensor loggers in songbird migration research, especially for investigating both local and global movements in the same individuals.

Bilateral asymmetry in left handers increased concerning morphological laterality in a recent sample of young adults.

SUMMARY: Handedness is a major trait of humans, generating a measurable directional bilateral asymmetry in the upper extremities. In most cultures, right handedness is genetically more frequent (90%) and socially supported, even if reskilling became unusual. The present anthropometric study was conducted in 2014 with 76 right and 26 left handers born after 1985 to detect, whether right as well as left handedness produces significant morphological differences in the bones of the person's upper extremity and its handgrip strength, as it has been proven repeatedly only for right handers. In this sample, right handers show a clear right directional asymmetry in 5 out of 8 measures, with the highest differences between their right and left extremity in hand breadth and forearm length. Left handers have a significant higher left elbow breadth compared to their right extremity, but did not show any other measurable differences. This indicates a more symmetric training of their arms and less influence of handedness, even if reskilling and specialised manual activities were excluded in this study. Further, there still have to be differences in the usage of the main hand in everyday life for right and left handers. Probably, left handers still have to use the right hand more often for unimanual tasks than right handers their left hand. Nevertheless, our results indicate a slight change to more morphological laterality in left handers in the past 30 years.