High Genetic Diversity among Breeding Red-Backed Shrikes Lanius collurio in the Western Palearctic
1
Institute of Pharmacy and Molecular Biotechnology, Department Biology, Heidelberg University, Im Neuenheimer Feld 364, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany
2
Institute of Avian Research “Vogelwarte Helgoland”, An der Vogelwarte 21, Wilhelmshaven 26386, Germany
*
Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Diversity 2019, 11(3), 31; https://doi.org/10.3390/d11030031
Received: 12 February 2019 / Accepted: 21 February 2019 / Published: 26 February 2019
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Selected Papers from International Eurasian Ornithology Congress (IEOC 2018))
Revealing the genetic population structure in abundant avian species is crucial for understanding speciation, conservation, and evolutionary history. The Red-backed Shrike Lanius collurio, an iconic songbird renowned for impaling its prey, is widely distributed as a breeder across much of Europe, Asia Minor and western Asia. However, in recent decades, many populations have declined significantly, as a result of habitat loss, hunting along migration routes, decrease of arthropod food, and climate change e.g., severe droughts in Africa. Within this context, gene flow among different breeding populations becomes critical to ensure the survival of the species, but we still lack an overview on the genetic diversity of the species. In this paper, we analyzed the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene (mtDNA) and the cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 gene (mtDNA) of 132 breeding Red-backed Shrikes from across the entire breeding range to address this knowledge gap. Our results revealed consistent genetic diversity and 76 haplotypes among the Eurasian populations. Birds are clustered in two major groups, with no clear geographical separation, as a direct consequence of Pleistocene glaciations and apparent lineage mixing in refugia. This has led to genetic panmixia.
View Full-Text
Keywords:
mitochondrial DNA; phylogeography; Lanius collurio; Red-backed Shrike; Western Palearctic; population; genetic diversity; panmixia
▼
Show Figures
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited
- Supplementary File 1:
ZIP-Document (ZIP, 41169 KiB)
MDPI and ACS Style
Pârâu, L.G.; Frias-Soler, R.C.; Wink, M. High Genetic Diversity among Breeding Red-Backed Shrikes Lanius collurio in the Western Palearctic. Diversity 2019, 11, 31. https://doi.org/10.3390/d11030031
AMA Style
Pârâu LG, Frias-Soler RC, Wink M. High Genetic Diversity among Breeding Red-Backed Shrikes Lanius collurio in the Western Palearctic. Diversity. 2019; 11(3):31. https://doi.org/10.3390/d11030031
Chicago/Turabian StylePârâu, Liviu G.; Frias-Soler, Roberto C.; Wink, Michael. 2019. "High Genetic Diversity among Breeding Red-Backed Shrikes Lanius collurio in the Western Palearctic" Diversity 11, no. 3: 31. https://doi.org/10.3390/d11030031
Find Other Styles
Note that from the first issue of 2016, MDPI journals use article numbers instead of page numbers. See further details here.
Search more from Scilit