Aim: Seasonal variation in community composition and species distributional ranges along elevational gradients remain poorly known but are essential to inform conservation. In this study, we aim to understand how species richness, community composition and elevational ranges of montane birds change between the breeding and the non‐breeding season.Location: The east slope of the southern Gaoligong Mountains, Yunnan, southwest China, elevational range: 700–3,400 m a.s.l.; latitudinal range: 24°56′–26°09′N.Methods: We compared species richness and community composition of birds in nine 300‐m elevational bands in the breeding (April–May) and non‐breeding (December–January) seasons. We also calculated seasonal elevational shifts of 97 species with sufficient data recorded in both seasons and assessed how species' traits influenced these shifts.Results: Species richness declined in high and low elevations between the breeding and the non‐breeding season. The temporal beta diversity shift from the breeding to the non‐breeding season was mainly caused by species losses rather than species gains in high‐ and low‐elevation communities. Communities in middle elevations showed a contrasting pattern, with seasonal composition change resulting mainly from species gains. We also found that species' seasonal distribution shifts were mainly associated with breeding elevation and diet. Notably, high‐ and middle‐elevation breeders and insectivores significantly shifted their elevational ranges downslope in the non‐breeding season. In addition, species that participate in mixed‐species flocks and that rely on forests also showed significant downslope shifts in the non‐breeding season.Main conclusions: These results show complex patterns of the interconnectedness of bird communities along the elevational gradient. Keeping forests at middle elevations intact appears especially important as they are used in winter by species that breed at both high and middle elevations. Furthermore, our results suggested conservation actions maintaining connectedness in low and middle elevations are urgently needed to conserve regional biodiversity and highlight the importance of seasonality in montane ecosystem research.

The pace‐of‐life hypothesis predicts no impact of urbanization on stress responses. Accordingly, several studies have been inconsistent in showing differences in breath rate (BR), a proxy of acute stress responses to handling in passerines, between rural and urban areas. However, this evidence is limited to a single bird species and a limited geographic region (SW Europe). No study addressed whether this pattern is also apparent in other species or regions, such as in tropical environments, or whether it is dependent on the level of diet specialization, given that diet restriction and change influence stress responses. Here, we tested whether there were differences in BR between habitats and diet groups using eight highly diverse passerine assemblages experiencing different levels of anthropogenic disturbance (i.e., natural, rural, and urban locations) in SW China. We predicted that insectivores and herbivores (frugivores, nectarivores, and seed‐eating species) would show higher BR than omnivores. We also predicted no differences in BR among habitat types. BR was a moderately repeatable trait, which showed a negative relationship with body mass and a positive relationship with the time of the day. We also recorded a relatively strong phylogenetic bias in the expression of this trait. Confirming our predictions, our results showed no differences in BR among natural, rural, and urban locations. Similarly, within species, there were no differences in BR between rural and urban locations. However, we also found that herbivores showed higher BR than omnivores. Overall, our results provide support to the pace‐of‐life hypothesis, but suggest acute stress responses can be diet‐mediated, which may help to explain the marked decline of specialized trophic guilds around the world in response to anthropogenic disturbance.

We studied the breeding biology of the Fire-tailed Myzornis (Myzornis pyrrhoura) in an alpine environment (3000–3800 m) of the Gaoligong Mountains in southwestern China during its breeding seasons in 2013 and 2014. Nests were built by both sexes and mainly contained moss and rhododendron flakes. They were located on vertical banks or rock faces, about 20–152 cm above the ground. This species was socially monogamous and sexually dimorphic both in plumage pattern and body size. Egg-laying was mainly initiated in mid-April and ended in early July, and the mean date of clutch initiation was 25 April in 2013 (n = 4) and 27 April in 2014 (n =5), respectively. The clutch size averaged 3.00 ± 0.15 (n = 10), and fresh eggs weighed 1.84 ± 0.19 g (n = 11). Males and females made virtually equal contributions in breeding activities, including incubation, provisioning, brooding, and nest sanitation. Incubation lasted for 15 days (n = 2) with a notably high nest attendance (eggs were incubated 99.48% of the ti...

Nuthatches (genus Sitta; family Sittidae) are a passerine genus with a predominantly Nearctic and Eurasian distribution. To understand the phylogenetic position of Sitta and phylogenetic relations within this genus, we sequenced the complete mitochondrial genomes of three Sitta species (S. himalayensis, S. nagaensis, and S. yunnanensis), which were 16,822–16,830 bp in length and consisted of 37 genes and a control region. This study recovered the same gene arrangement found in the mitogenomes of Gallus gallus, which is considered the typical ancestral avian gene order. All tRNAs were predicted to form the typical cloverleaf secondary structures. Bayesian inference and maximum likelihood phylogenetic analyses of sequences of 18 species obtained a well-supported topology. The family Sittidae is the sister group of Troglodytidae, and the genus Sitta can be divided into three major clades. We demonstrated the phylogenetic relationships within the genus Sitta (S. carolinensis + ((S. villosa + S. yunnanensis) + (S. himalayensis + (S. europaea + S. nagaensis)))).