biology

White-faced plover

White-faced plover is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand White-faced plover rather than just read about it. In short: The white-faced plover (Anarhynchus dealbatus) is a small shorebird predominantly found along the coastal shores of subtropical and tropical eastern Asia. Initially described by British ornithologist Robert Swinhoe, the bird resembles the east Asian subspecies of the Kentish plover (A. a. nihonensis) with which it has been much confused and sometimes considered to be a subspecies.

Key takeaways

White-faced plover belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect White-faced plover to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of White-faced plover from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The white-faced plover (Anarhynchus dealbatus) is a small shorebird predominantly found along the coastal shores of subtropical and tropical eastern Asia. Initially described by British ornithologist Robert Swinhoe, the bird resembles the east Asian subspecies of the Kentish plover (A. a. nihonensis) with which it has been much confused and sometimes considered to be a subspecies.

Taxonomy The white-faced plover was first described in 1870 by the English naturalist Robert Swinhoe. The type specimen came from the island of Formosa (Taiwan) and he gave it the name Aegialites dealbatus. Since then the bird has been the subject of much debate and has variously been classified as being conspecific with Anarhynchus marginatus, Anarhynchus alexandrinus, Anarhynchus nivosus, Anarhynchus javanicus and Anarhynchus ruficapillus. Some authors consider it to be a subspecies of A. alexandrinus while others give it full species status as A. dealbatus. However, the white-faced plover is now acknowledged as a distinct species by prominent international checklists, aligning with the recommendations based on recent genetic, ecological, and demographic findings.

Description The white-faced plover grows to a length of about 17 cm (6.7 in). It has a rounded head with a white fore-crown and a white supercilium. The crown is pale rufous brown upper parts are pale brownish-grey. The hind collar, throat and underparts are white. The beak and legs are dark and the tail short. Compared to the rather similar Kentish plover, it has a thicker, blunter beak, white lores, paler crown and upperparts, less black on the lateral breast patches and a larger white wingbar.

Distribution and habitat This bird is found along a wide seaboard area of southern China and adjacent northern Vietnam; its wintering range extends south across eastern Indochina towards Sumatra. It typically inhabits sandy beaches, mudflats and saltpans, and outside the breeding season visits reclaimed areas.

Ecology The diet of this bird has been little studied but is presumed to be similar to that of the Kentish plover which feeds on small invertebrates such as insects and their larvae, spiders, molluscs, crustaceans and marine worms. It feeds on the foreshore, searching visually for prey then dashing forward to catch the prey or probing the substrate with its beak. Its breeding habits are not known.

References

External links White-Faced Plover

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with White-faced plover

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what White-faced plover claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to White-faced plover before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about White-faced plover ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of White-faced plover

In research: White-faced plover appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses White-faced plover in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: White-faced plover is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Anarhynchus, Birds described in 1870, Birds of South China, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for White-faced plover outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study White-faced plover in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what White-faced plover means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain White-faced plover out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is White-faced plover in simple terms?

Why does White-faced plover matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study White-faced plover?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on White-faced plover.