Prioritizing species conservation: does the Cape Verde kite exist?
Abstract
The Cape Verde kite (Milvus milvus fasciicauda) is considered to be one of the rarest birds of prey in the world and at significant risk of extinction. For this reason there is great interest in both the taxonomic and the population status of this group. To help resolve its taxonomic status, we provide phylogenetic analyses based on three mitochondrial genes for a sampling of kites in the genus Milvus, including a broad geographical sampling of black kites (Milvus migrans), red kites (Milvus milvus), Cape Verde kite museum specimens collected between 1897 and 1924, and five kites trapped on the Cape Verde Islands during August 2002. We found that the historical Cape Verde kites, including the type specimen, were non-monophyletic and scattered within a larger red kite clade. The recently trapped kites from the Cape Verde Islands were all phylogenetically diagnosed as black kites. Our findings suggest that the traditional Cape Verde kite is not a distinctive evolutionary unit, and the case for species status, as recently suggested by others, is not supported. We do find support for recognition of at least one clade of yellow-billed kites, traditionally considered as a black kite subspecies, as a distinctive phylogenetic species.
References
-
Agapow P.-M, Bininda-Edwards O.R.P, Crandall K.A, Gittleman J.L, Mace G.M, Marshall J.C& Purvis A . 2004 The impact of species concept on biodiversity studies. Q. Rev. Biol. 79, 161–179. Crossref, PubMed, ISI, Google Scholar -
Avise J.C Molecular markers, natural history, and evolution. 2004 Sunderland, MA:Sinauer Associates, Inc. Google Scholar -
Bannerman D.A& Bannerman W.M History of the birds of the Cape Verde Islands. 1968 Edinburgh:Oliver & Boyd. Google Scholar -
Burbidge M.L, Colbourne R.M, Robertson H.A& Baker A.J . 2003 Molecular and other biological evidence supports the recognition of a least three species of brown kiwi. Conserv. Genet. 4, 167–177. Crossref, ISI, Google Scholar -
Clement M, Posada D& Crandall K.A . 2000 TCS: a computer program to estimate gene genealogies. Mol. Ecol. 9, 1657–1659. Crossref, PubMed, ISI, Google Scholar -
Cooper A& Poinar H . 2000 Ancient DNA: do it right or not at all. Science. 289, 1139. Crossref, PubMed, ISI, Google Scholar -
de Naurois R . 1987 Les oiseaux de l'archipel du Cap Vert, peuplements, adaptations, endémisme. Bulletin de la Société Zoologique de France. 112, 307–326. Google Scholar -
de Queiroz K The general lineage concept of species, species criteria, and the process of speciation: a conceptual unification and terminological recommendation. Endless forms, species and speciation, Howard D.J& Berlocher S.H . 1998pp. 57–75. Eds. Oxford:Oxford University Press. Google Scholar -
Frankham R, Ballou J.D& Briscoe D.A An introduction to conservation genetics. 2002 Cambridge:Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar -
Gains C.A, Hare M.P, Beck S.E& Rosenbaum H.C . 2005 Nuclear markers confirm taxonomic status and relationships among highly endangered and closely related right whale species. Proc. R. Soc. B. 272, 533–542.doi:10.1098/rspb.2004.2895. . Link, ISI, Google Scholar -
Hartert E . 1914 Milvus milvus fasciicauda subsp. n. Bull. Br. Ornithol. Club. 33, 89–91. Google Scholar -
Hazevoet C.J The birds of the Cape Verde Islands. BOU check-list No. 13 1995 Tring, UK:British Ornithologists’ Union. Google Scholar -
Hille S . 1998 Zur Situation der Milane Milvus milvus fasciicauda (Hartert, 1915) und Milvus m. migrans (Boddaert, 1783) auf den Kapverdischen Inseln. J. Ornithol. 139, 73–75. Crossref, ISI, Google Scholar -
Hille S& Thiollay J.-M . 2000 The imminent extinction of the kites Milvus milvus fasciicauda and Milvus m. migrans on the Cape Verde Islands. Bird Conserv. Int. 10, 361–369. Crossref, ISI, Google Scholar -
Hoelzer G.A . 1997 Inferring phylogenies from mtDNA variation: mitochondrial-gene trees versus nuclear-gene trees revisited. Evolution. 51, 622–626. Crossref, PubMed, ISI, Google Scholar -
Huelsenbeck J.P& Ronquist F.R . 2001 MrBayes: Bayesian inference of phylogeny. Bioinformatics. 17, 754–755. Crossref, PubMed, ISI, Google Scholar -
Karl S.A& Bowen B.W . 1999 Evolutionary significant units versus geopolitical taxonomy: molecular systematics of an endangered sea turtle (genus Chelonia). Conserv. Biol. 13, 990–999. Crossref, ISI, Google Scholar -
Lerner, H. R. L. & Mindell, D. P. In Press. Phylogeny of eagles, Old World vultures and other Accipitridae based on nuclear and mitochondrial DNA. Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. Google Scholar
-
Mayr E& Cottrell G.W 2nd edn. vol. 1 1979 Cambridge, MA:Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University. Google Scholar -
Mindell D.P& Thacker C.E . 1996 Rates of molecular evolution: phylogenetic issues and applications. Ann. Rev. Ecol. Syst. 27, 279–303. Crossref, Google Scholar -
Moore W.S . 1995 Inferring phylogenies from mtDNA variation: mitochondrial-gene trees versus nuclear-gene trees. Evolution. 49, 718–726. PubMed, ISI, Google Scholar -
Moritz C . 2002 Strategies to protect biological diversity and the evolutionary processes that sustain it. Syst. Biol. 51, 238–254. Crossref, PubMed, ISI, Google Scholar -
Omland K.E, Tarr C.L, Marzluff J, Boarman W& Fleischer R.C . 2000 Cryptic genetic variation and paraphyly in ravens. Proc. R. Soc. B. 267, 2475–2482.doi:10.1098/rspb.2000.1308. . Link, ISI, Google Scholar -
Ortlieb H . 1988 Milvus milvus fasciicauda in danger of extinction?. Newsl. World Working Group Birds Prey Owls. 8, 12. Google Scholar -
Palkovacs E.P, Marschner M, Ciofi C, Gerlach J& Caccone A . 2003 Are the native giant tortoises from the Seychelles really extinct? A genetic perspective based on mtDNA and microsatellite data. Mol. Ecol. 12, 1403–1413. Crossref, PubMed, ISI, Google Scholar -
Posada D.A& Crandall K.A . 1998 Modeltest: testing the model of DNA substitution. Bioinformatics. 14, 817–818. Crossref, PubMed, ISI, Google Scholar -
Purvis A, Brooks T& Gittleman J Phylogeny and conservation. 2004 Cambridge:Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar -
Ravaoarimanana I.B, Tiedmann B, Montagnon D& Rumpler Y . 2004 Molecular and cytogenetic evidence for cryptic speciation within a rare endemic Malagasy lemur, the northern sportive lemur (Lipilemur septentrionalis). Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 31, 440–448. Crossref, PubMed, ISI, Google Scholar -
Rodriguez F, Oliver J.F, Marin A& Medina J.R . 1990 The general stochastic model of nucleotide substitution. J. Theor. Biol. 142, 485–501. Crossref, PubMed, ISI, Google Scholar -
Rosenburg N.A . 2003 The shapes of neutral gene genealogies in two species: probabilities of monophyly, paraphyly, and polyphyly in a coalescent model. Evolution. 57, 1465–1477. Crossref, PubMed, ISI, Google Scholar -
Rubinoff D& Sperling F.A.H . 2004 Mitochondrial DNA sequence, morphology and ecology yield contrasting conservation implications for two threatened buckmoths (Hemileuca: Saturniidae). Biol. Conserv. 118, 341–351. Crossref, ISI, Google Scholar -
Ryan P.G& Bloomer P . 1999 The long-billed lark complex: a species mosaic in southwestern Africa. Auk. 116, 194–208. Crossref, ISI, Google Scholar -
Sangster G . 2000 Taxonomic stability and avian extinctions. Conserv. Biol. 14, 579–581. Crossref, ISI, Google Scholar -
Sangster G, van den Berg A.B, van Loon A.J& Roselaar C.S . 2003 Dutch avifaunal list: taxonomic changes in 1999–2003. Ardea. 91, 279–286. ISI, Google Scholar -
Schreiber A, Stubbe M& Stubbe A . 2000 Red kite (Milvus milvus) and black kite (M. migrans): minute genetic interspecies distance of two raptors breeding in a mixed community (Falconiformes: Accipitridae). Biol. J. Linn. Soc. 69, 351–365. Crossref, ISI, Google Scholar -
Sites J.W& Marshall J.C . 2003 Delimiting species: a Renaissance issue in systematic biology. Trends Ecol. Evol. 18, 462–470. Crossref, ISI, Google Scholar -
Soltis P.S& Gitzendanner M.A . 1998 Molecular systematics and the conservation of rare species. Conserv. Biol. 13, 471–483. Crossref, ISI, Google Scholar -
Swofford D.L PAUP*, phylogenetic analysis using parsimony (* and other methods). 4th edn. 2003 Sunderland, MA:Sinauer. Google Scholar -
Wiens J.J& Servedio M.R . 2000 Species delimitation in systematics: inferring diagnostic differences between species. Proc. R. Soc. B. 267, 631–636.doi:10.1098/rspb.2000.1049. . Link, ISI, Google Scholar -
Yuri T& Mindell D.P . 2002 Molecular phylogenetic analysis of nine-primaried oscines (Aves: Passeriformes: Fringillidae). Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 23, 229–243. Crossref, PubMed, ISI, Google Scholar -
Zink R.M . 2004 The role of subspecies in obscuring avian biological diversity and misleading conservation policy. Proc. R. Soc. B. 271, 561–564.doi:10.1098/rspb.2003.2617. . Link, ISI, Google Scholar -
Zink R.M& Weckstein J.D . 2003 Recent evolutionary history of the fox sparrows (genus: Passerella). Auk. 120, 522–527. Crossref, ISI, Google Scholar -
Zink R.M, Barrowclough G.F, Atwood J.L& Blackwell-Rago R.C . 2000 Genetics, taxonomy, and conservation of the threatened California gnatcatcher. Conserv. Biol. 14, 1394–1405. Crossref, ISI, Google Scholar