Migratory songbirds in the East Asian-Australasian Flyway: a review from a conservation perspective

Abstract

The East Asian-Australasian Flyway supports the greatest diversity and populations of migratory birds globally, as well as the highest number of threatened migratory species of any flyway, including passerines (15 species). However it is also one of the most poorly understood migration systems, and little is known about the populations and ecology of the passerine migrants that breed, stop over and winter in the habitats along this flyway. We provide the first flyway-wide review of diversity, ecology, and conservation issues relating to 170 species of long-distance and over 80 short-distance migrants from 32 families. Recent studies of songbird migration movements and ecology is limited, and is skewed towards East Asia, particularly Mainland China, Taiwan, Russia, Japan and South Korea. Strong evidence of declines exists for some species, e.g. Yellow-breasted Bunting Emberiza aureola , but tends to be fragmentary, localised or anecdotal for many others. More species have small breeding ranges (< 250,000 km 2 ) and/or are dependent on tropical forests as wintering habitat than those in any other Eurasian migratory system, and are thus more vulnerable to habitat loss and degradation throughout their ranges. Poorly regulated hunting for food and the pet trade, invasive species and collisions with man-made structures further threaten migratory songbirds at a number of stop-over or wintering sites, while climate change and habitat loss may be of increasing concern in the breeding ranges. A key conservation priority is to carry out intensive field surveys across the region while simultaneously tapping into citizen science datasets, to identify important stop-over and wintering sites, particularly for poorly-known or globally threatened species across South-East Asia and southern China for targeted conservation actions. Additionally, the advent of miniaturised tracking technology, molecular and isotopic techniques can provide novel insights into migration connectivity, paths and ecology for species in this migration system, complementing data from banding exercises and observation-based surveys, and could prove useful in informing conservation priorities. However, until most states along the East Asian-Australasian flyway ratify the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS) and other cross-boundary treaties, the relative lack of crossboundary cooperation, coordination and information sharing in the region will continue to present a stumbling block for effective conservation of migratory passerines.

Global population collapse in a superabundant migratory bird and illegal trapping in China

“…; Yong et al. ). Most studies have examined the effects of trapping only on a local level (Liang et al.…”

“…Since the late 1990s, there has been growing anecdotal evidence of widespread local extinctions and rapid declines of the species across its range (Chan ; Yong et al. ). This resulted in an increasingly less favorable conservation status: 2004, near threatened (BirdLife International 2004); 2008: vulnerable, 2014: endangered (BirdLife International 2014).…”

“…Especially in East Asia, where the consumption of wildlife products for medical, superstitious, and nutritional reasons is culturally rooted and widespread (Sodhi et al 2004;Nijman 2010), hunting and overexploitation are major causes of species extinctions (Yiming & Wilcove 2005). Persecution pressure is well studied for enigmatic and conspicuous species in East Asia (e.g., Gao & Clark 2014;Liu & Weng 2014), but little is known about the effect of large-scale trapping and consumption on abundant and widespread terrestrial biodiversity (Sodhi et al 2004;Yong et al 2015). Most studies have examined the effects of trapping only on a local level (Liang et al 2013).…”

Challenges and opportunities for transboundary conservation of migratory birds in the East Asian‐Australasian flyway

“…Besides waterbirds, the EAAF is used by many species of migratory landbirds, including by more migratory species on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List than any other flyway (15 songbirds, 1 bustard, and 4 birds of prey) (Yong et al. ). Threats faced by migratory species in the EAAF are multiple, complex, and formidable.…”

Public Health Implications of Intestinal Microbiota in Migratory Birds

“…It encompasses large parts of East Asia, all of Southeast Asia, and includes eastern India and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The scale of avian movements along the flyway is awesome, with over 50 million migratory birds using the route annually [38]. Bacterial community compositions in migratory birds from the East Asia/Australasia flyway are described in the section below.…”