Xinjiang Pink Starlings Breeding Ecology And Migratory Diffusion Preliminary Study

The Sturnus roseus belongs to the Sturnidae. Every May, Rosy starlings fly from India and Sri Lanka to Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region for the breeding season, during which they feed on locusts. According to other researchers' calculations, during a breeding season each rosy starling can exert population control over locusts across a surface area of nearly1330m2, and thus it is assumed that rosy starlings have great utility as a locust damage controlin grasslands.We observed rosy starling populations and their breeding behavior from2010to2011in the Altay. During the two observation seasons, we recorded parental behavior and flight patterns, chick development and diet. We also obtained blood samples and, using the microsatellite DNA, we studied the relationships between populations of rosy starling found in different breeding locations. Our results suggest that at least theoretically the Sturnus roseus can be attracted to a particular location by creating man-made objects suitable for nesting.1. While the nests of Sturnus roseus are composed primarily of plant material, gloves, cotton, rope, as well as other man─made materials were also used in nests established in relative proximity to human settlements.2. Two years of observation revealed that Sturnus roseus very rarely abandon their nests, with the rate of nest abandonment at only6.67%, and the high rate of nest retention ensuring the success of the crucial breeding season.3. The Sturnus roseus usually arrive in Xinjiang UAR within a period of ten days in the middle of May and lay eggs from the end of May to the beginning of June. Each nest contained from2to9eggs, 91.43%had an egg count that ranged from3to6, with an average of4.36+0.54eggs per nest. It takes from about3to4days for an entire nest of chicks to hatch, while the feeding of nestlings requires14to17days.4. The foraging grounds of rosy starlings vary from distances of4km to20km, mostly in grassland regions. Feeding mainly on Orthoptera insects, locusts amount to94.07%of chicks'total diet.5. During the breeding time the parents have very vigilant natures, only entering the nest to care for their chicks after flying around the area for20seconds to3minutes to ensure the safety of the nest.6. The body weight and claw size of the chicks generally plateau in growth within11days of hatching. At around17days of age, chicks first begin to learn how to fly from their parents.7. Microsatellite frequencies show that allelic genetic structure of Sturnus roseus populations in most of the sites with shared alleles also have exclusive allelic structures, indicating that these populations also share a common origin, and moreover have varying degrees of genetic differentiation. The five locations of study in Xinjiang UAR, with the exception of Altay Jeminay (AJ) all exhibited heterozygosity, allelic richness, and diversity which is higher than Findings in other species.8. While the genetic differences between populations did not reach values of Fst>0.15, which would indicate a large standard deviation(Nei, M.1972), the populations of Altay Jeminay(AJ)exhibited values of Fst that exceeded those of the populations of the other four locations by0.089. The Altay Jeminay (AJ) population exhibited significant P values (P<0.01), indicating that this population is different from those of the other four locations.