中华凤头燕鸥（Thalasseus bernsteini），原名黑嘴端凤头燕鸥，属极危物种,长期以来缺乏研究。原有繁殖区域包括山东和福建沿海，目前仅在浙江和福建外海存在两个繁殖种群，且均混在同属的大凤头燕鸥（T. bergii）群中繁殖。通过繁殖生态研究和种群监测，我们对该物种有了初步认识，但对其濒危机制依然缺乏了解，实施有效保护依然面临许多困境。开展保护遗传学研究是实施濒危物种保护的重要手段，也是保护生物学的主要内容。本项目拟采用线粒体和微卫星(SSR)等中性分子标记、基因组学和生物信息学的方法探究中华凤头燕鸥的物种形成和分化模式，分析种群遗传结构和遗传多样性，估测有效种群大小，推断种群历史，探寻种群瓶颈效应，界定中华凤头燕鸥和大凤头燕鸥的分群关系，评估两者的近交、渐渗和杂交威胁等。其成果将为中华凤头燕鸥这一濒危物种的拯救和保护提供直接的依据，同时丰富海鸟保护生物学的理论和方法。

The Chinese Crested Tern (Thalasseus bernsteini) is a poorly known and critically endangered species. Traditional breeding areas include Shandong and Fujian coast. Currently there are only two breeding colonies existing off Zhejiang and Fujian coast. All their nests were found mixed in big colonies of the Greater Crested Terns（T. bergii）. We began to understand this species through studies on reproductive ecology and population monitoring, but its endangered mechanism remains unknown. Conservation genetics is not only an important tool of understanding and conservation of endangered species, also the major part of conservation biology. This project intends to use techniques of neutral molecular markers, such as Mitochondria and microsatellite (SSR), and recently developed genomics and bioinformatics to explore the Chinese crested tern in speciation and population history, to analyze its population genetic structure and genetic diversity, to estimate its effective population size, to assess the inbreeding, introgression and hybridization threats between the Chinese Crested Tern and Greater Crested Terns etc. The results, on the one hand, will be very helpful to making the conservation plan for this critically endangered species, on the other hand, will make contributions to seabird biology and conservation biology in theory and methodology as well.