Adaptive radiation is the rapid diversification of a single lineage into many species that inhabit a variety of environments or use a variety of resources and differ in traits required to exploit these. Why some lineages undergo adaptive radiation is not well-understood, but filling unoccupied ecological space appears to be a common feature. We construct a complete, dated, species-level phylogeny of the endemic Vangidae of Madagascar. This passerine bird radiation represents a classic, but poorly known, avian adaptive radiation. Our results reveal an initial rapid increase in evolutionary lineages and diversification in morphospace after colonizing Madagascar in the late Oligocene some 25 Mya. A subsequent key innovation involving unique bill morphology was associated with a second increase in diversification rates about 10 Mya. The volume of morphospace occupied by contemporary Madagascan vangas is in many aspects as large (shape variation)-or even larger (size variation)-as that of other better-known avian adaptive radiations, including the much younger Galapagos Darwin's finches and Hawaiian honeycreepers. Morphological space bears a close relationship to diet, substrate use, and foraging movements, and thus our results demonstrate the great extent of the evolutionary diversification of the Madagascan vangas.daptive radiation is the rapid diversification of a single lineage into many species that inhabit a variety of environments or niches and differ in the morphological and/or physiological traits required to exploit these environments (1-4). Well-known examples of adaptive radiations include Galapagos finches (5), Hawaiian honeycreepers (6), Hawaiian lobeliads (7), and Caribbean anoles (8). Although evolutionary biologists do not understand why some lineages undergo adaptive radiation and others do not, ecological opportunity appears to be a common feature. Opportunity might arise as a new food resource, a mass extinction of competitors and/or predators, and the colonization of new land or environments (4, 9, 10). Adaptive radiation is ultimately the outcome of divergent natural selection arising from occupation of different environments, use of different resources, or resource competition (4). The progressive filling of ecological space, and the accompanying decrease in ecological opportunity, is expected to result in a decrease in rates of diversification and morphological evolution over time (11,12).The bird family Vangidae (15 genera, 22 species) is endemic to Madagascar and considered an extraordinary example of adaptive radiation. This is due particularly to the wide range of foraging strategies as well as to the evolution of striking differences in bill morphology that have allowed vangid species to exploit diverse foraging niches (13,14). However, the evolutionary history of the group remains poorly understood. Previous systematic analyses have not included all members of the group (15)(16)(17), and these studies have not investigated morphological traits in a comparative phylogenetic framework, pre...

SummaryHuman-induced environmental change and habitat fragmentation pose major threats to biodiversity and require active conservation efforts to mitigate their consequences. Genetic rescue through translocation and the introduction of variation into imperiled populations has been argued as a powerful means to preserve, or even increase, the genetic diversity and evolutionary potential of endangered species [1, 2, 3, 4]. However, factors such as outbreeding depression [5, 6] and a reduction in available genetic diversity render the success of such approaches uncertain. An improved evaluation of the consequence of genetic restoration requires knowledge of temporal changes to genetic diversity before and after the advent of management programs. To provide such information, a growing number of studies have included small numbers of genomic loci extracted from historic and even ancient specimens [7, 8]. We extend this approach to its natural conclusion, by characterizing the complete genomic sequences of modern and historic population samples of the crested ibis (Nipponia nippon), an endangered bird that is perhaps the most successful example of how conservation effort has brought a species back from the brink of extinction. Though its once tiny population has today recovered to >2,000 individuals [9], this process was accompanied by almost half of ancestral loss of genetic variation and high deleterious mutation load. We furthermore show how genetic drift coupled to inbreeding following the population bottleneck has largely purged the ancient polymorphisms from the current population. In conclusion, we demonstrate the unique promise of exploiting genomic information held within museum samples for conservation and ecological research.

Changes in morphology have been postulated as one of the responses of animals to global warming, with increasing ambient temperatures leading to decreasing body size. However, the results of previous studies are inconsistent. Problems related to the analyses of trends in body size may be related to the short-term nature of data sets, to the selection of surrogates for body size, to the appropriate models for data analyses, and to the interpretation as morphology may change in response to ecological drivers other than climate and irrespective of size. Using generalized additive models, we analysed trends in three morphological traits of 4529 specimens of eleven bird species collected between 1889 and 2010 in southern Germany and adjacent areas. Changes and trends in morphology over time were not consistent when all species and traits were considered. Six of the eleven species displayed a significant association of tarsus length with time but the direction of the association varied. Wing length decreased in the majority of species but there were few significant trends in wing pointedness. Few of the traits were significantly associated with mean ambient temperatures. We argue that although there are significant changes in morphology over time there is no consistent trend for decreasing body size and therefore no support for the hypothesis of decreasing body size because of climate change. Non-consistent trends of change in surrogates for size within species indicate that fluctuations are influenced by factors other than temperature, and that not all surrogates may represent size appropriately. Future analyses should carefully select measures of body size and consider alternative hypotheses for change.

BackgroundAvian malaria occurs almost worldwide and is caused by Haemosporida parasites (Plasmodium, Haemoproteus and Leucocytozoon). Vectors such as mosquitoes, hippoboscid flies or biting midges are required for the transmission of these parasites. There are few studies about avian malaria parasites on Madagascar but none about suitable vectors.MethodsTo identify vectors of avian Plasmodium parasites on Madagascar, we examined head, thorax and abdomen of 418 mosquitoes from at least 18 species using a nested PCR method to amplify a 524 bp fragment of the haemosporidian mitochondrial cytochrome b gene. Sequences obtained were then compared with a large dataset of haemosporidian sequences detected in 45 different bird species (n = 686) from the same area in the Maromizaha rainforest.ResultsTwenty-one mosquitoes tested positive for avian malaria parasites. Haemoproteus DNA was found in nine mosquitoes (2.15%) while Plasmodium DNA was found in 12 mosquitoes (2.87%). Seven distinct lineages were identified among the Plasmodium DNA samples. Some lineages were also found in the examined bird samples: Plasmodium sp. WA46 (EU810628.1) in the Madagascar bulbul, Plasmodium sp. mosquito 132 (AB308050.1) in 15 bird species belonging to eight families, Plasmodium sp. PV12 (GQ150194.1) in eleven bird species belonging to eight families and Plasmodium sp. P31 (DQ839060.1) was found in three weaver bird species.ConclusionThis study provides the first insight into avian malaria transmission in the Maromizaha rainforest in eastern Madagascar. Five Haemoproteus lineages and seven Plasmodium lineages were detected in the examined mosquitoes. Complete life-cycles for the specialist lineages WA46 and P31 and for the generalist lineages mosquito132 and PV12 of Plasmodium are proposed. In addition, we have identified for the first time Anopheles mascarensis and Uranotaenia spp. as vectors for avian malaria and offer the first description of vector mosquitoes for avian malaria in Madagascar.

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