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Systematics and conservation of an endemic radiation of Accipiter hawks in the Caribbean islands
Journal article   Peer reviewed

Systematics and conservation of an endemic radiation of Accipiter hawks in the Caribbean islands

Therese A Catanach, Matthew R Halley, Julie M Allen, Jeff A Johnson, Russell Thorstrom, Samantha Palhano, Chyna Poor Thunder, Julio C Gallardo and Jason D Weckstein
Ornithology, v 138(3), pp 1-23
29 Jun 2021
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/ornithology/ukab041
Featured in Collection :   UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel

Abstract

Accipiter striatus Cuba elementos ultraconservadores Gavilán estriado Hispaniola island radiation La Española morfometría morphometrics Puerto Rico radiación insular Sharp-shinned Hawk SPECIAL FEATURE: SPECIES LIMITS AND TAXONOMY IN BIRDS taxonomy taxonomía ultraconserved elements
More than one-third of the bird species found in the Caribbean are endemic to a set of neighboring islands or a single island. However, we have little knowledge of the evolutionary history of the Caribbean avifauna, and the lack of phylogenetic studies limits our understanding of the extent of endemism in the region. The Sharp-shinned Hawk (Accipiter striatus) occurs widely across the Americas and includes 3 endemic Caribbean taxa: venator on Puerto Rico, striatus on Hispaniola, and fringilloides on Cuba. These island populations have undergone extreme declines presumably due to ecosystem changes caused by anthropogenic factors, as well as due to severe hurricanes. Sharp-shinned Hawks, in general, and Caribbean Sharp-shinned Hawks, in particular, have not been placed in a modern phylogenetic context. However, the island taxa have historically been presumed to have some ongoing gene flow with mainland populations. Here we sequenced ultraconserved elements (UCEs) and their flanking regions from 38 samples, focusing on Caribbean taxa. Using a combination of UCEs, mitochondrial genome sequences, and single-nucleotide polymorphisms, we investigated the phylogenetic relationships among Caribbean lineages and their relationships to mainland taxa. We found that Caribbean Sharp-shinned Hawks are reciprocally monophyletic in all datasets with regard to mainland populations and among island taxa (with no shared mtDNA haplotypes) and that divergence in the NADH dehydrogenase 2 gene (ND2) between these mainland and island groups averaged 1.83%. Furthermore, sparse non-negative matrix factorization (sNMF) analysis indicated that Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, and mainland samples each form separate populations with limited admixture. We argue that our findings are consistent with the recognition of the 3 resident Caribbean populations as species-level taxa because nuclear and mitochondrial genetic data indicate reciprocal monophyly and have species-level divergences, there is no sharing of mitochondrial haplotypes among or between island taxa and those on the mainland; and they are diagnosable by plumage. LAY SUMMARY Using ultraconserved elements we reconstructed relationships among Sharp-shinned Hawk (Accipiter striatus) taxa in the Caribbean and mainland. Sharp-shinned Hawks in the Caribbean have undergone population declines and, in Puerto Rico, they are federally listed as endangered. Our analysis of both nuclear and mitochondrial genetic data supports the recognition of each Caribbean island population of Sharp-shinned Hawk as an endemic species.

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Web of Science research areas
Ornithology
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