What protection level does the black-faced spoonbill have? A detailed look at its appearance and migratory bird status
What does the black-faced spoonbill look like? Hearing the name, you might wonder whether it looks similar to a pipa. That is exactly right, because its long, flat, spoon-shaped bill is extremely similar to the pipa, a Chinese musical instrument, and that is how it got its name. Is the black-faced spoonbill a migratory bird? Yes, it also migrates. It is also a Class II protected wild animal.
As the black-faced spoonbills were returning north, a research team from the Endemic Species Research Institute and the Department of Life Science at National Taiwan Normal University produced a draft genome of the black-faced spoonbill that was the first of its kind in the world, aiming to unlock the secrets of the black-faced spoonbill's population over tens of thousands of years. Of the more than 4,000 black-faced spoonbills worldwide, about two-thirds spend the winter in Taiwan, China. The key contributors that allowed researchers to decipher the draft genome of 1.19 billion base pairs were black-faced spoonbill samples obtained from a botulism poisoning event in 2002, as well as high-quality DNA samples obtained from rescuing an injured black-faced spoonbill in Tainan in 2015.
Yao Cheng-te, an associate research fellow at the Endemic Species Research Institute, said that through the draft genome of the black-faced spoonbill, it can be learned that the population began to decline after the ice age 18,000 years ago, but the estimated population could still reach more than 60,000. However, with changes in human life, such as war and pesticide use, the global black-faced spoonbill population dropped to fewer than 300 in the 1990s, once forcing the black-faced spoonbill into close inbreeding. Later, through continuous habitat conservation efforts by various countries, the population recovered to more than 4,000 within 30 years. The bottleneck effect once caused by the population decline also made the research team worry whether it would reduce the genetic diversity of the black-faced spoonbill, and over the long term affect the population's environmental adaptability.
The bottleneck effect has little impact. Black-faced spoonbill population diversity continues to increase. "Our analysis shows that the population and population diversity are in a synchronized state. As the population recovers, population diversity is also gradually catching up. The negative effects caused by inbreeding have also gradually eased. This is a doubly optimistic situation." Yao Cheng-te believes that although the genome map is quite optimistic, in reality it still depends on habitat conservation to allow the black-faced spoonbill population and genetic diversity to continue to grow.
Black-faced spoonbill habitats are scattered. Wetland conservation must keep up. At present, there are still some differences between the black-faced spoonbill conservation wetlands designated in Taiwan, China and the actual gathering hotspots of black-faced spoonbills. The largest number is about 469 at Tucheng Wetland in Tainan, followed by 389 at Budai in Chiayi. Some land subsidence areas have also begun to attract black-faced spoonbills because the water has not receded. According to a 2018 survey by the Chinese Wild Bird Federation and bird societies nationwide, it also shows that black-faced spoonbills are currently more widely distributed in Taiwan, China, which can reduce survival risks. However, habitat conservation work also needs to progress in step so that black-faced spoonbills can continue to come to Taiwan, China for the winter.