环境变化对全球带来的深刻影响会改变生命体的运动模式及其生活史，如气候变化、栖息地丧失和退化会改变鸟类的迁徙策略和个体适合度。由于鸟类为生态系统提供多种服务功能，其迁徙策略的改变也将影响生态系统的结构、功能和动态。因此，环境变化对鸟类迁徙策略及其个体适合度的影响成为重要的前沿科学问题。在定位追踪等新技术的支撑下，鸟类迁徙策略的研究不断取得突破。在长距离迁徙的鸟类中，由于生态生理的限制，大型鸟类的生存更容易受环境变化的威胁。本项目拟研究生理差异对东亚鸭科鸟类中4个大型物种迁徙策略及个体适合度的影响，通过定位追踪和野外观察相结合的研究手段，阐明东亚鸭科鸟类迁徙行为的特征参量和变化规律，以及幼鸟迁徙策略的发育模式，揭示气候变化和栖息地丧失等对大型鸟类个体适合度的影响机制，为东亚水鸟迁徙路线物种和栖息地保护提供理论依据和技术支撑，并推动国内以及东亚水鸟迁徙的研究。

Environmental changes are having profound global effects on individual movement patterns of migratory birds and will ultimately impact life histories. For example, climate change and habitat degradation/loss will affect bird migration strategies and individual fitness by the imposition of additional energetic costs. Birds provide fundamental ecosystem services, so modifications to their migration strategies are highly likely to influence ecosystem community function, structure and dynamics. Understanding how environmental changes are affecting migration strategies and individual fitness therefore lies at the frontiers of contemporary ornithological science. The application of new technologies, such as telemetric tracking of individual geese and swans, has provided recent breakthroughs in studies of individual bird migration strategies. Limited by eco-physiological characters, large migratory birds tend to be amongst the most threatened of avian species. In this project, we combine the investigation of physiological constraints on migratory strategies with the study of the effects of migratory decisions on individual fitness amongst four large Anatidae waterbird species (Tundra Swan Cygnus columbianus, Swan Goose Anser cygnoides, Greater White fronted Goose Anser albifrons and Lesser White-fronted Goose Anser erythropus) in East Asia. We combine gsm tracking, field observation and mathematic modeling to understand how: 1) contrasting behaviours contribute to individual fitness amongst species of contrasting flyway corridors and body size in East Asia; 2) migratory strategies of juveniles develop during maturation and 3) completing the annual cycle of large waterbirds is threatened by climate change and habitat loss. Our results will provide the theoretical basis and technical support for the conservation of both migratory species and habitats conservation in East Asian Flyway, and substantially advance studies on waterbird migration in both China and throughout East Asia.