All pangolin species globally are now listed under Appendix I of CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) due to escalating demand for their meat and scales, often for use in traditional medicine. While China has introduced pangolin trade restrictions, the country continues to represent the largest market and destination for pangolin products. We summarize pangolin seizure data reported in public media from 2008 to 2016, incorporating often neglected small seizures reported in Chinese. During that period, the equivalent of 65,849 pangolin individuals (23,109 individuals and 21,377 kg of scales) was recorded in 206 seizures in China. Using social network analysis, Guangzhou, Fangchenggang, and Kunming were identified as key nodes of the illegal pangolin market. Our work highlights the scale and scope of pangolin trade in China, applies novel methods for analyzing trade patterns, and offers guidance for future law enforcement and policy interventions for combatting wildlife trade internationally.

Morphology mediates the relationship between an organism's body temperature and its environment. Dark organisms, for example, tend to absorb heat more quickly than lighter individuals, which could influence their responses to temperature. Therefore, temperature‐related traits such as morphology may affect patterns of species abundance, richness, and community assembly across a broad range of spatial scales. In this study, we examined variation in color lightness and body size within butterfly communities across hot and cool habitats in the tropical woodland–rainforest ecosystems of northeast Queensland, Australia. Using thermal imaging, we documented the absorption of solar radiation relative to color lightness and wingspan and then built a phylogenetic tree based on available sequences to analyze the effects of habitat on these traits within a phylogenetic framework. In general, darker and larger individuals were more prevalent in cool, closed‐canopy rainforests than in immediately adjacent and hotter open woodlands. In addition, darker and larger butterflies preferred to be active in the shade and during crepuscular hours, while lighter and smaller butterflies were more active in the sun and midday hours—a pattern that held after correcting for phylogeny. Our ex situ experiment supported field observations that dark and large butterflies heated up faster than light and small butterflies under standardized environmental conditions. Our results show a thermal consequence of butterfly morphology across habitats and how environmental factors at a microhabitat scale may affect the distribution of species based on these traits. Furthermore, this study highlights how butterfly species might differentially respond to warming based on ecophysiological traits and how thermal refuges might emerge at microclimatic and habitat scales.

1. Morphological characteristics, especially coloration, are related to thermoregulation and camouflage, both of which are crucial for species survival and fitness. In cool environments such as the understorey of closed rainforests, darker organisms have thermal advantages and may be able to absorb heat more efficiently. However, such habitats are also suitable for darker organisms with respect to camouflage, making it difficult to elucidate whether the association of dark-coloured organisms with shady environments is a consequence of thermal stress or predation pressure, or both.2. In this study, butterfly communities were surveyed and artificial butterflies (mealworms attached to plastic sheeting to mimic adult butterflies) used to test whether differences in wing luminance are related to predation rates within open and closed habitats in monsoonal tropical forests of southwestern China.3. Using artificial butterflies, significantly lower predation rates were found for dark-coloured artificial butterflies within closed habitats, whereas such relationships were not found within open habitats. It was found that actual butterfly communities were also significantly darker in closed than in open habitats.4. These results demonstrate that darker colours may have the effect of reducing predation rates in shady environments and that different habitat types can have contrasting effects on luminance and therefore predation risk.

Morphological traits can determine the ecological niches and performance of ectotherms and structure their distributions along environmental gradients. The thermal melanism hypothesis and Bergmann's rule describe patterns of body colour luminance and body size along environmental gradients shaped by thermal influences on morphology. However, these patterns have rarely been investigated at the interspecific level for subtropical and tropical mountain environments. In this study, we sampled butterfly assemblages along elevations across three subtropical and tropical locations in China and examined how environmental factors affected body colour luminance and body size. We additionally reconstructed phylogenetic relationships among the sampled butterfly species and investigated morphology-elevation relationships within an evolutionary framework. Butterfly assemblages were consistently darker and larger at higher elevations across three replicate locations. Furthermore, based on a phylogenetic comparative analysis, we found that body colour luminance and body size of butterfly assemblages responded to elevation through both long-term processes and more recent environmental influences. Our findings support the thermal melanism hypothesis and Bergmann's rule from diverse subtropical and tropical butterfly assemblages, indicating elevation may structure the distributions of tropical species through morphology. The thermal functions of morphology should therefore be considered when investigating species distribution patterns and responses to environmental changes.

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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.

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Aim Climate change is driving many species towards higher latitudes and higher elevations. However, empirical studies documenting these changes have largely focused on presence/absence based range shifts in temperate regions. Studies in lowland tropical ecosystems that control for detection probabilities are especially lacking. Location Hong Kong SAR, China. Methods By analysing a 15‐year trapping dataset of geometrid moths along a lowland elevation gradient (0–600 m) in Hong Kong, we used multiple metrics and approaches to estimate occurrence shifts with elevation, changes to range limits, and community‐wide shifts in elevation. Our approaches used Bayesian occupancy models to account for false absences, which may bias naïve measures of range shifts over time. Results Over the study period, we detected only subtle changes in forest cover but a notable increase in maximum temperatures (~0.5°C per decade) and extreme weather events. Of geometrid moths, one out of the 123 examined species exhibited increased occurrence probabilities across all elevations after accounting for uncertainty in detection; all other species exhibited no significant change in occupancy with elevation. However, at least two species became newly established in Hong Kong over the decade, and 32 species showed significant elevational shifts in lower or upper range limits. At the community level, geometrid moths showed a noticeable upslope shift at all but one of the examined sites. Main conclusions The complex patterns observed highlight the difficulties and limitations in detecting climate change impacts on diverse tropical communities. Our conservative results indicate early responses of tropical species over a relatively short timespan to a decade of environmental change, and the necessity of long‐term monitoring for providing insights into the management and conservation of vulnerable species.