| The Rufous-backed Shrike(Lanius schach) belong to Laniidae Passeriformes. It is one of the species which have color polymorphism. They are widely distributed in China, and there are different morphs coexist in some regions, such as brown morph, black morph, the color morph between brown and black and so on. Recently researchers found that a new color morph, which is different from black morph by having white flight feather, was identified and only recorded in Haifeng, Guangdong. Color polymorphism is meaningful in understanding the heredity, variation and evolution of species, and taxonomic status of different morphs are controversial but there is rare report about color polymorphism of L. schach in china.Hence, we carried out the comparison research on ecology and MC1R of three morphs of L. schach, The main results were as following:Lanius schach is a representative species with color polymorphism. During the period between Nov 2008 and Apr 2009, we studied the home ranges of Lanius schach, by means of GPS technical tracked goals in Gongping site of the Haifeng Avian Nature Reserve, Guangdong Province. The data was analyzed with Arcview3.2 and SPSS 13.0. The results showed:1) The difference of the winter home range size between black morph and brown morph was not significant with the average of 11270.96±1807.72 m2,13425.83±3038.82 m2 respectively. Home range sizes of three types in spring were 11691.60±1131.16 m2, 13644.60±5015.89m2,13345.95±354.47m2, and there were also no significant differences; 2) The shapes of the home range were both irregular and few overlapping occurred between neighbors (<1%).3) There were no significant differences in the mean daily activity time of different morphs (P>0.05). Hence, we concluded that there was no obvious deviation between the characters of home ranges of different color morphs.From March to April 2009, we compared the differences of the characters of nest and the morphs of nestlings among different mating types of L.schach in Haifeng Avian Nature Reserve, Guangdong Province. The results showed:1)there was no reproductive isolation between the two morphs; 59 nests were found in total. There were 6 pairs nest type of dark morph and dark morph, and 11 pairs nest type of dark morph and brown morph.2)The materials of the nests have few differences and are extensive. There were no significant differences in nest measurements (P>0.05).3) Color ratio of offsprings is similar to the Segregation of the recessive gene on the whole.DNA sequence were used to analyze the single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in MCIR gene exon of different color morphs of Lanius schach. We also constructed phylogenetic trees of MC1R genes and its protein sequences.The results showed indicated:1) 4 haplotypes were discovered in the total individuals. There were 47 variable sites discovered during the 899 bp of the MC1R gene from codons 34 to 931 among all Lanius schach sampled,and there were some deletions detected in some haplotypes from codons 268 to 303.2) phylogenetic trees constructed by comparing MCIR genes of different haplotypes showed that embranchments of the three morphs mixed,and it is difficult to distinguish them.In sum, we do not support the viewpoint that improper morphs of Lanius schach are independent species, and infer MCIR gene is the candidate gene that regulates melanin traits in Lanius schach. The future research can continue in-depth study of the following aspects: To follow the F1 is to determine whether it is fertility; Compare the differences between the regional eco-environments whether color polymorphism of Lanius schach exists; Study other related genes to explore the formation of color polymorphism in the internal genetic mechanisms.
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