Ding Peng, Song Zitan, Liu Yang, Székely Tamás, Shi Lei, Turghan Mardan Aghabey
College of Animal Sciences, Xinjiang Agricultural University, Urumqi 830052, China.
State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol, School of Ecology, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China.
Animals (Basel). 2023 Jul 10;13(14):2260. doi: 10.3390/ani13142260.
Due to the influence of bio-geographical and environmental factors, as well as anthropogenic landscape features, organisms show different reproductive strategies among different populations. There is a lack of detailed information on the reproductive biology of Kentish plover in arid lands in Central Asia. In this study, we summarized the characteristics of the reproductive biology of three geographically distinct plover populations in Aibi Lake in northwestern Xinjiang, Taitema Lake in southern Xinjiang and artificial reservoirs around Urumqi City in northern Xinjiang, based on 440 eggs from 158 nests observed and analyzed from April to July of 2019 and 2020. We found that there was no significant difference in clutch size among the three populations. However, the egg size of the Taitema Lake population was significantly larger than those of the other two populations, whilst the egg volume and clutch volume of the artificial reservoirs' populations were significantly larger than that of Aibi Lake. With the postponement of laying dates, the northern and northwestern populations showed the characteristics of a small clutch size and a relatively small egg size, respectively, and a decrease in reproductive output. The heavier female plovers in Taitema Lake laid eggs earlier, and there was a significantly positive correlation between female body mass and clutch size and egg size. The tarsometatarsus length of the female plovers was significantly positively correlated with the reproductive output in all three populations. The model selection results show that female body size and ambient temperature restrict the egg size and reproductive output of Kentish plovers, which is consistent with the upper limit hypothesis of the maternal condition and maternal constraint. Our data support the hypothesis that Kentish plovers show distinct flexibility in their breeding strategies to cope with the harsh natural environment in the arid lands of Xinjiang, China. The results of a relatively high average clutch size and average egg size imply that the saline wetlands of Western China are important breeding habitats for Kentish plovers.
由于生物地理和环境因素以及人为景观特征的影响，不同种群的生物表现出不同的繁殖策略。中亚干旱地区环颈鸻的繁殖生物学缺乏详细信息。在本研究中，我们基于2019年4月至7月以及2020年同期观察和分析的158个鸟巢中的440枚鸟蛋，总结了新疆西北部艾比湖、新疆南部台特玛湖以及新疆北部乌鲁木齐市周边人工水库这三个地理上不同的环颈鸻种群的繁殖生物学特征。我们发现这三个种群的窝卵数没有显著差异。然而，台特玛湖种群的蛋大小显著大于其他两个种群，而人工水库种群的蛋体积和窝卵体积显著大于艾比湖种群。随着产卵日期的推迟，北部和西北部种群分别表现出窝卵数少和蛋大小相对较小的特征，繁殖产出下降。台特玛湖较重的雌鸟产卵较早，雌鸟体重与窝卵数和蛋大小之间存在显著正相关。在所有三个种群中，雌鸟的跗跖长度与繁殖产出显著正相关。模型选择结果表明，雌鸟体型和环境温度限制了环颈鸻的蛋大小和繁殖产出，这与母体条件和母体限制的上限假说一致。我们的数据支持以下假说：环颈鸻在其繁殖策略上表现出明显的灵活性，以应对中国新疆干旱地区恶劣的自然环境。相对较高的平均窝卵数和平均蛋大小的结果表明，中国西部的盐碱湿地是环颈鸻重要的繁殖栖息地。
