Scholars@Duke
Chi Yeung Choi

Chi Yeung Choi

Assistant Professor of Environmental Science at Duke Kunshan University
DKU Faculty

Selected Publications

Conservation-oriented management benefits the Black-faced Spoonbill, an endangered migratory waterbird

Journal Article Global Ecology and Conservation · October 1, 2024 Active conservation management is crucial for maintaining and recovering populations of threatened species. Yet, there are remarkably few studies quantifying the benefits of conservation management and comparing ecological and anthropogenic influences on p ... Full text Cite

Mercury contamination is an invisible threat to declining migratory shorebirds along the East Asian-Australasian Flyway.

Journal Article Communications biology · May 2024 Exposure to pollutants is a potentially crucial but overlooked driver of population declines in shorebirds along the East Asian-Australasian Flyway. We combined knowledge of moult strategy and life history with a standardised sampling protocol to assess me ... Full text Cite

Running the gauntlet; flyway-wide patterns of pollutant exposure in blood of migratory shorebirds.

Journal Article Environmental research · April 2024 Shorebirds (order Charadriiformes) are among the world's most threatened avian taxa. Within the East Asian-Australasian Flyway (EAAF), a major threat to shorebirds' survival may be the gauntlet of pollution along the flyway. Metals, persistent organic poll ... Full text Cite

Intraseasonal movements between staging sites by migrating great knots: Longer distances to alternatives decrease the probability of such moves

Journal Article Biological Conservation · April 1, 2024 Distance is a key constraint for animals in moving between suitable habitats, but is this also the case in staging long-distance migrating shorebirds that habitually cover thousands of kilometers during migrations? We conducted multi-year field observation ... Full text Cite

Raptor migration at Guantouling, south-west China: phenology, weather influence and persecution pressure

Journal Article Bird Conservation International · November 11, 2023 South-west China, particularly between the Himalayas and the Beibu Gulf, constitutes an important corridor for migratory raptors along the East-Asian continental flyway. However, a lack of ornithological assessment and the common practice of illegal huntin ... Full text Cite

The effect of Spartina alterniflora eradication on waterbirds and benthic organisms

Journal Article Restoration Ecology · November 1, 2023 There has been an increasing number of coastal restoration projects to eradicate Smooth cordgrass (Spartina alterniflora) and restore bare tidal flats to conserve waterbirds. However, the evidence for the assumed benefits to waterbirds and benthic organism ... Full text Cite

Arriving late and lean at a stopover site is selected against in a declining migratory bird population.

Journal Article The Journal of animal ecology · October 2023 Loss and/or deterioration of refuelling habitats have caused population declines in many migratory bird species but whether this results from unequal mortality among individuals varying in migration traits remains to be shown. Based on 13 years of body mas ... Full text Cite

Individuals of a group-living shorebird show smaller home range overlap when food availability is low.

Journal Article Movement ecology · October 2023 BackgroundGroup living animals, such as shorebirds foraging on intertidal mudflats, may use social information about where to find hidden food items. However, flocking also increases intraspecific competition for resources, which may be exacerbate ... Full text Cite

Host Migration and Size Do Not Influence the Prevalence of Most Chewing Lice (Phthiraptera: Amblycera and Ischnocera) on Shorebirds (Aves: Charadriiformes) across the World

Journal Article Diversity · February 1, 2023 Patterns of prevalence in chewing lice (Phthiraptera) on wild birds are poorly known, as are the underlying factors that influence these patterns. Here, we analyze a data set consisting of published prevalence data of lice on shorebirds, as well as new pre ... Full text Cite

Achievements, challenges, and recommendations for waterbird conservation in China's coastal wetlands

Journal Article Avian Research · January 1, 2023 China's coastal wetlands provide breeding, migration stopover, and wintering habitats for about 230 waterbird species, which is more than a quarter of all waterbirds in the world. Large-scale and high intensity human activities have resulted in serious los ... Full text Cite

Corrigendum to “Achievements, challenges, and recommendations for waterbird conservation in China's coastal wetlands” [Avian Res. 14 (2023) 100123] (Avian Research (2023) 14, (S205371662300049X), (10.1016/j.avrs.2023.100123))

Journal Article Avian Research · January 1, 2023 The authors regret that Fig. 1 and its caption should be replaced as below.[Formula presented] In addition, the last sentence of the third paragraph of section “3.1. Policy and administration” should be: To improve the conservation of key waterbird habitat ... Full text Cite

Identifying the wetlands of international importance in Beibu Gulf along the East Asian – Australasian Flyway, based on multiple citizen science datasets

Journal Article Frontiers in Marine Science · January 1, 2023 The Beibu Gulf (Gulf of Tonkin, Vinh Bac Bo in Vietnamese), located midway along the East Asian-Australasian Flyway (EAAF), is a critical stopover and wintering region for migratory waterbirds. This transboundary coastal region, spanning between China and ... Full text Cite

Corrigendum: Identifying the wetlands of international importance in Beibu Gulf along the East Asian – Australasian Flyway, based on multiple citizen science datasets (Front. Mar. Sci., (2023), 10, 1222806, 10.3389/fmars.2023.1222806)

Journal Article Frontiers in Marine Science · January 1, 2023 In the published article, there was an error. The number of nationally protected animal species and the number of Endangered species on the IUCN Red List are incorrect. A correction has been made to Abstract. This sentence previously stated: “Among surveys ... Full text Cite

Review of contaminant levels and effects in shorebirds: Knowledge gaps and conservation priorities.

Journal Article Ecotoxicology and environmental safety · September 2022 Environmental pollution has emerged as a major threat to bird populations. Many shorebird populations are declining, although contamination has been documented in some shorebirds, evidence of negative impacts is sparse and this important topic remains unde ... Full text Open Access Cite

Gaps in coastal wetlands World Heritage list.

Journal Article Science (New York, N.Y.) · June 2022 Full text Open Access Cite

Impacts of habitat loss on migratory shorebird populations and communities at stopover sites in the Yellow Sea

Journal Article Biological Conservation · May 1, 2022 Migratory birds generally use one or more stopover sites for rest and/or refuelling during long-distance migration where a large abundance of diverse species can concentrate into temporary assemblages. Habitat loss at stopover sites has resulted in populat ... Full text Open Access Cite

China's Ecological Conservation Redline policy is a new opportunity to meet post-2020 protected area targets

Journal Article Conservation Letters · March 1, 2022 Designating protected and conserved areas is a critical component of biodiversity conservation. The 10th Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in 2010 set global targets for the areal extent of protected areas (PAs) that were met partially in 2020, yet ... Full text Cite

An emerging coastal wetland management dilemma between mangrove expansion and shorebird conservation.

Journal Article Conservation biology : the journal of the Society for Conservation Biology · February 2022 Coastal wetlands around the world have been degraded by human activities. Global declines in the extent of important habitats including mangroves, salt marsh and tidal flats necessitate mitigation and restoration efforts, however some well-meaning manageme ... Full text Cite

Unlocking the Potential of Deep Learning for Migratory Waterbirds Monitoring Using Surveillance Video

Journal Article Remote Sensing · January 21, 2022 Estimates of migratory waterbirds population provide the essential scientific basis to guide the conservation of coastal wetlands, which are heavily modified and threatened by economic development. New equipment and technology have been increasingl ... Full text Cite

Coastal wetlands in Lianyungang, Jiangsu Province, China: probably the most important site globally for the Asian Dowitcher (Limnodromus semipalmatus)

Journal Article Avian Research · December 1, 2021 Background: Despite an increasing number of surveys and a growing interest in birdwatching, the population and distribution of Asian Dowitcher (Limnodromus semipalmatus), a species endemic to the East Asian–Australasian and Central Asian Flyways, remains p ... Full text Cite

Re-evaluation of solutions to the problem of unprofessionalism in peer review.

Journal Article Research integrity and peer review · February 2021 Our recent paper ( https://doi.org/10.1186/s41073-020-00096-x ) reported that 43% of reviewer comment sets (n=1491) shared with authors contained at least one unprofessional comment or an incomplete, inaccurate of unsubstantiated critique (IIUC). Publicati ... Full text Cite

Remote Observations in China’s Ramsar Sites: Wetland Dynamics, Anthropogenic Threats, and Implications for Sustainable Development Goals

Journal Article Journal of Remote Sensing (United States) · January 1, 2021 The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands is an international framework through which countries identify and protect important wetlands. Yet Ramsar wetlands are under substantial anthropogenic pressure worldwide, and tracking ecological change relies on multitempo ... Full text Cite

Collect, connect, upscale: Towards coordinated monitoring of migratory shorebirds in the asia-pacific

Journal Article Australian Zoologist · January 1, 2021 Monitoring migratory species can be extremely challenging. For example, millions of migratory shorebirds migrate from breeding grounds in northern China, Mongolia and Russia to East Asia and Australasia each year, traversing more than 20 countries while on ... Full text Cite

Dual threat of tidal flat loss and invasive Spartina alterniflora endanger important shorebird habitat in coastal mainland China.

Journal Article Journal of environmental management · January 2021 China's coastal wetlands are critically important to shorebirds. Substantial loss of tidal flats, shorebirds' primary foraging grounds, has occurred from land claim and other processes, and is driving population declines in multiple species. Smooth cordgra ... Full text Cite

Favourable inland wetland conditions increase apparent survival of migratory shorebirds in Australia

Journal Article Emu · January 1, 2021 Many migratory shorebird species using the East Asian–Australasian Flyway are declining rapidly. While the loss of staging habitats in East Asia is considered the primary cause, stressors to fitness often occur throughout the geographic range of declining ... Full text Cite

Dunlin subspecies exhibit regional segregation and high site fidelity along the East Asian-Australasian Flyway

Journal Article Condor · December 1, 2020 The degree to which individuals migrate among particular breeding, migration, and wintering sites can have important implications for prioritizing conservation efforts. Four subspecies of Dunlin (Calidris alpina) migrate along the East Asian-Australasian F ... Full text Cite

The southern Jiangsu coast is a critical moulting site for Spoon-billed Sandpiper Calidris pygmaea and Nordmann's Greenshank Tringa guttifer

Journal Article Bird Conservation International · December 1, 2020 The extent of intertidal flats in the Yellow Sea region has declined significantly in the past few decades, resulting in severe population declines in several waterbird species. The Yellow Sea region holds the primary stopover sites for many shorebirds dur ... Full text Cite

Transboundary Frontiers: An Emerging Priority for Biodiversity Conservation.

Journal Article Trends in ecology & evolution · August 2020 The world's biomes and their associated ecosystems are artificially fractured by geopolitical boundaries that define countries. Yet 'transboundary' landscapes often overlap with biodiversity hotspots, contain surprisingly important ecosystems, and provide ... Full text Cite

Navigating coasts of concrete: Pervasive use of artificial habitats by shorebirds in the Asia-Pacific

Journal Article Biological Conservation. · July 2020 Loss and degradation of wetlands has occurred worldwide, impacting ecosystems and contributing to the decline of waterbirds, including shorebirds that occur along the heavily developed coasts of the East Asian-Australasian Flyway (EAAF). Artificial (i.e. h ... Full text Cite

Extent and potential impact of hunting on migratory shorebirds in the Asia-Pacific

Journal Article Biological Conservation. · June 2020 Harvesting has driven population declines of migratory species. In the East Asian-Australasian Flyway (EAAF), declines of migratory shorebirds have been largely attributed to habitat loss. However, despite concerns about hunting, no study has considered th ... Full text Cite

Quantifying professionalism in peer review.

Journal Article Research integrity and peer review · January 2020 BackgroundThe process of peer-review in academia has attracted criticism surrounding issues of bias, fairness, and professionalism; however, frequency of occurrence of such comments is unknown.MethodsWe evaluated 1491 sets of reviewer com ... Full text Cite

Migration timing influences the responses of birds to food shortage at their refuelling site

Journal Article Ibis · October 1, 2019 Because migration is highly time-constrained and migration timing varies among individuals, the responses of migrants to food shortage at a refuelling site could differ between individuals that arrive early and late at the site. To test this hypothesis, we ... Full text Cite

Policy-driven changes in enclosure fisheries of large lakes in the Yangtze Plain: Evidence from satellite imagery.

Journal Article The Science of the total environment · October 2019 Enclosure fisheries have accommodated the widespread expansion of aquaculture in many lakes throughout the Yangtze Plain (YP), China, for over four decades. Such practices have increased food provision but have also triggered various detrimental environmen ... Full text Cite

Where to draw the line? Using movement data to inform protected area design and conserve mobile species

Journal Article Biological Conservation. · June 2019 Protected areas (PAs) are a cornerstone of modern conservation. For PAs that are established to conserve mobile species, it is important to cover all the key areas regularly used by these species. However, zonation and boundaries of PAs have often been est ... Full text Cite

Morphological and digestive adjustments buffer performance: How staging shorebirds cope with severe food declines.

Journal Article Ecology and evolution · April 2019 Organisms cope with environmental stressors by behavioral, morphological, and physiological adjustments. Documentation of such adjustments in the wild provides information on the response space in nature and the extent to which behavioral and bodily adjust ... Full text Cite

Multiple habitat use by declining migratory birds necessitates joined-up conservation.

Journal Article Ecology and evolution · March 2019 Many species depend on multiple habitats at different points in space and time. Their effective conservation requires an understanding of how and when each habitat is used, coupled with adequate protection. Migratory shorebirds use intertidal and supratida ... Full text Cite

Persistent use of a shorebird staging site in the Yellow Sea despite severe declines in food resources implies a lack of alternatives

Journal Article Bird Conservation International · December 1, 2018 Many shorebird populations are in decline along the East Asian-Australasian Flyway. The rapid loss of coastal wetlands in the Yellow Sea, which provide critical stop-over sites during migration, is believed to be the cause of the alarming trends. The Yalu ... Full text Cite

Reach and messages of the world's largest ivory burn.

Journal Article Conservation biology : the journal of the Society for Conservation Biology · August 2018 Recent increases in ivory poaching have depressed African elephant populations. Successful enforcement has led to ivory stockpiling. Stockpile destruction is becoming increasingly popular, and most destruction has occurred in the last 5 years. Ivory destru ... Full text Cite

Migration departure strategies of shorebirds at a final pre-breeding stopover site

Journal Article Avian Research · May 18, 2018 Background: Departure decisions and behaviors of migratory birds at stopover sites are expected to maximize fitness by trade-offs among avoiding predators, optimizing refueling (energy) capacity, and matching other life-history events. We predict that spec ... Full text Cite

Biodiversity and China's new Great Wall

Journal Article Diversity and Distributions · February 1, 2018 Coastal armouring and the reclamation of intertidal areas through the use of seawalls and other artificial structures has been practiced for thousands of years, but its recent expansion in China and elsewhere in Asia has been unprecedented in its rate and ... Full text Cite

The intertidal wetlands of southern Jiangsu Province, China - Globally important for Spoon-billed Sandpipers and other threatened waterbirds, but facing multiple serious threats

Journal Article Bird Conservation International · September 1, 2017 The Yellow Sea region is of high global importance for waterbird populations, but recent systematic bird count data enabling identification of the most important sites are relatively sparse for some areas. Surveys of waterbirds at three sites on the coast ... Full text Cite

How migratory shorebirds selectively exploit prey at a staging site dominated by a single prey species

Journal Article Auk · January 1, 2017 Competition intensity depends on the number of competitors and the amount of resources available. Coexistence of potential competitors can be enabled through niche differentiation or high resource availability. Using diet analysis, we investigated which of ... Full text Cite

Continental-scale decreases in shorebird populations in Australia

Journal Article Emu · January 1, 2016 Decreases in shorebird populations are increasingly evident worldwide, especially in the East Asian-Australasian Flyway (EAAF). To arrest these declines, it is important to understand the scale of both the problem and the solutions. We analysed an expansiv ... Full text Cite

Phenology of southward migration of shorebirds in the East Asian-Australasian Flyway and inferences about stop-over strategies

Journal Article Emu · January 1, 2016 The southward migration strategies of shorebirds remain poorly understood in the East Asian-Australasian Flyway, yet understanding such strategies is critical to shorebird conservation. We estimate passage dates of 28 species of shorebird from count data a ... Full text Cite

Conservation without borders - Solutions to declines of migratory shorebirds in the East Asian-Australasian Flyway

Journal Article Emu · January 1, 2016 Globally, populations of migratory shorebirds are threatened and declining rapidly. This is especially true for those using the East Asian-Australasian Flyway (EAAF), where loss of intertidal mudflats in crucial staging areas, especially around the Yellow ... Full text Cite

The importance of Yalu Jiang coastal wetland in the north Yellow Sea to Bar-tailed Godwits Limosa lapponica and Great Knots Calidris tenuirostris during northward migration

Journal Article Bird Conservation International · March 12, 2015 Summary Bar-tailed Godwits Limosa lapponica and Great Knots Calidris tenuirostris are long-distance migratory shorebirds with declining numbers in the East Asian-Australasian Flyway. One of the most important staging sites for these two species during nort ... Full text Cite

Adjusting migration schedules at stopping sites: time strategy of a long-distance migratory shorebird during northward migration

Journal Article Journal of Ornithology · January 1, 2015 Selection of timing to match optimal environments is crucial for migrants that breed at high latitudes where there is a narrow time window suitable for breeding. However, birds generally depart from non-breeding grounds in a broad time window. How birds ad ... Full text Cite

Factors Affecting the Distribution Patterns of Benthic Invertebrates at a Major Shorebird Staging Site in the Yellow Sea, China

Journal Article Wetlands · November 27, 2014 The tidal flats of the Yellow Sea support benthic communities that are vitally important to migratory birds, but baseline information on benthic community structure and variability is largely lacking. We investigated spatial and temporal patterns of macrob ... Full text Cite

Effects of invasive cordgrass on presence of Marsh Grassbird in an area where it is not native.

Journal Article Conservation biology : the journal of the Society for Conservation Biology · February 2014 The threatened Marsh Grassbird (Locustella pryeri) first appeared in the salt marsh in east China after the salt marsh was invaded by cordgrass (Spartina alterniflora), a non-native invasive species. To understand the dependence of non-native Marsh Grassbi ... Full text Cite

The habitat use and home range analysis of dunlin (calidris alpina) in chongming dongtan, china and their conservation implications

Journal Article Wetlands · January 1, 2014 Natural coastal wetlands are important habitats for shorebirds while flooded agricultural croplands, may also be useful habitats. Shorebirds in East Asia utilize an often highly developed coastal landscape, which may be dissected by seawalls with intertida ... Full text Cite

Differentiating between stopover and staging sites: Functions of the southern and northern Yellow Sea for long-distance migratory shorebirds

Journal Article Journal of Avian Biology · September 1, 2013 Evidence-based protection of migratory birds at flyway levels requires a solid understanding of their use of 'stopping sites' during migration. To characterize the site use of northward-migration great knots Calidris tenuirostris in China, we compared leng ... Full text Cite

Reactions of bar-tailed godwits limosa lapponica to apparent capture by clams

Journal Article Wader Study Group Bulletin · January 1, 2013 Cite

Age structure and age-related differences in molt status and fuel deposition of Dunlins during the nonbreeding season at Chongming Dongtan in east China

Journal Article Journal of Field Ornithology · January 1, 2011 Although most shorebirds exhibit deferred migration and deferred breeding during their first summer, Dunlins (Calidris alpina) migrate to breeding areas and breed during their first summer. First-year and adult Dunlins should, therefore, have similar fueli ... Full text Cite

Age-related plumage differences of Dunlins along the East Asian-Australasian Flyway

Journal Article Journal of Field Ornithology · January 1, 2010 For some populations of Dunlins (Calidris alpina), determining the age of individuals on the nonbreeding grounds can be difficult. This difficulty arises in part because some populations undergo their primary molt during the boreal summer, leaving adult an ... Full text Cite

Alteration of habitat structure and food resources by invasive smooth cordgrass affects habitat use by wintering saltmarsh birds at chongming dongtan, East China

Journal Article Auk · January 1, 2010 The exotic Smooth Cordgrass (Spartina alterniflora) has spread rapidly on the east coast of China over the past three decades and has greatly changed the native saltmarsh vegetation. We conducted bird surveys using mist nets in the exotic Spartina and nati ... Full text Cite

Potential impacts of invasive Spartina alterniflora on spring bird communities at Chongming Dongtan, a Chinese wetland of international importance

Journal Article Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science · June 20, 2009 Invasive smooth cordgrass (Spartina alterniflora, hereafter Spartina) has been expanding rapidly in the estuarine wetlands at Chongming Dongtan (East China) at the expense of native sea-bulrush (Scirpus mariqueter, hereafter Scirpus) and common reed (Phrag ... Full text Cite

Body condition and fuel deposition patterns of calidrid sandpipers during migratory stopover

Journal Article Ardea · January 1, 2009 We compared seasonal variations in body condition and fuel deposition patterns of five calidrid sandpipers at Chongming Dongtan (eastern China), a stopover site in the East Asian-Australasian Flyway. We tested the hypothesis that long-distance migrants sho ... Full text Cite

Wintering bird communities in newly-formed wetland in the Yangtze River estuary

Journal Article Ecological Research · January 1, 2007 We compared wintering bird communities and their habitats among three shoals at Jiuduansha, a newly-formed wetland in the Yangtze River estuary. The highest species richness and diversity were recorded in Shangsha, which is the highest shoal, and the highe ... Full text Cite

The behavior of avian scavenger at Fowlers Gap in Australia

Conference JOURNAL OF ORNITHOLOGY · 2006 Cite