How the Yellowhammer became a Kiwi: the history of an alien bird invasion revealed

Pipek, Pavel; Pyšek, Petr; Blackburn, Tim M.

doi:10.3897/neobiota.24.8611

Cited by 15 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…Moulton et al 's work (2011Moulton et al 's work ( , 2012b demonstrates how variable the well-cited key sources of information can be. A single species case study on the Yellowhammer (Emberiza citrinella) by Pipek et al (2015) in New Zealand shows the value of using additional primary sources of information. The problems do not just relate to the number of animals released and are therefore not just restricted to questions regarding propagule size.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Inaccuracies in the history of a well-known introduction: a case study of the Australian House Sparrow (Passer domesticus)

Andrew

Griffith

2016

Avian Res

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Background: Modern ecosystems contain many invasive species as a result of the activity of acclimatisation societies that operated in the second half of the nineteenth century, and these species provide good opportunities for studying invasion biology. However, to gain insight into the ecological and genetic mechanisms that determine the rate of colonization and adaptation to new environments, we need a good understanding of the history of the introduced species, and a knowledge of the source population, timing, and number of individuals introduced is particularly important. However, any inaccuracies in the history of an introduction will affect subsequent assumptions and conclusions.Methods: Focusing on a single well-known species, the House Sparrow (Passer domesticus), we have documented the introduction into Australia using primary sources (e.g. acclimatisation records and newspaper articles). Results:Our revised history differs in a number of significant ways from previous accounts. Our evidence indicates that the House Sparrow was not solely introduced from source populations in England but also from Germany and most strikingly also from India-with the latter birds belonging to a different race. We also clarify the distinction between the number released and the number of founders, due to pre-release captive breeding programs, as well as identifying inaccuracies in a couple of well-cited sources with respect to the range expansion of the introduced populations. Conclusions:Our work suggests that caution is required for those studying introductions using the key sources of historical information and ideally should review original sources of information to verify the accuracy of published accounts.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Inaccuracies in the history of a well-known introduction: a case study of the Australian House Sparrow (Passer domesticus)

Andrew

Griffith

2016

Avian Res

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“…However, it was probably not economically viable to import this species to Britain, where it was amongst the most common bird species (Holloway ). Furthermore, this scenario cannot explain the patterns around Dunedin, as it is well documented that all yellowhammers released in that area were caught in the vicinity of Brighton (Pipek et al ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…Two corresponding areas of origin and introduction identified from historical records (Pipek et al 2015), southern England and the Dunedin area on the South Island of New Zealand, do not match in dialect composition (Fig. 2B).…”

Section: History Preserved In a Song: A Greater Diversity Of Dialectsmentioning

confidence: 98%

Dialects of an invasive songbird are preserved in its invaded but not native source range

et al. 2017

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Biological invasions are not only events with substantial environmental and socioeconomic impacts but are also interesting natural experiments, allowing the study of phenomena such as the cultural evolution of bird song following introduction. We took an excellent opportunity to compare the distribution of dialects of the yellowhammer Emberiza citrinella, a small Eurasian passerine, in its native source region (Great Britain) and invaded range (New Zealand) more than hundred years after relocation. Recent field recordings (including those provided by volunteers within a citizen science project) were complemented by those from archives, each assigned to appropriate dialect by visual inspection of a sonogram, and the resulting spatial patterns of dialect distribution were interpreted using historical data on the yellowhammer invasion. The two countries differ markedly in the composition and distribution of dialects. New Zealand populations sing a greater number of different dialects, seven in total, five of which were not detected in the current British population, but have been reported by previous studies from the continental Europe. Two identified localities of capture (Brighton, Sussex, UK) and release (Dunedin, Otago, NZ) differ even more strikingly, having no dialects in common. The largely sedentary nature of yellowhammers allows for two mutually exclusive explanations for European dialects being detected in New Zealand but not in Great Britain: 1) the corresponding song types have emerged de novo in New Zealand, through convergent cultural evolution; 2) the dialects have disappeared from Great Britain, while being preserved in New Zealand. Indirect evidence from the widespread occurrence of these dialects in continental Europe and the reported stability of yellowhammer song, supports the latter explanation. We suggest that the yellowhammer dialect system is an avian equivalent of a phenomenon already noted in human languages, in which ancient words or structures are retained in expatriate communities. IntroductionBiological invasions can be a potential threat to the environment (Pyšek et al. 2012, Kumschick et al. 2015, Martin-Albarracin et al. 2015 and economy (Pimentel et al. 2005, Kettunen et al. 2009), but they can also provide a golden opportunity to study evolutionary, behavioural or ecological phenomena on spatial and temporal scales ResearchDialects of an invasive songbird are preserved in its invaded but not native source range

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“…Even here, however, we cannot guarantee the perfect knowledge of introduction events that we need to ensure that type 1 or type 2 error rates are maintained at optimal levels: deeper investigations of the acclimatisation history of New Zealand are revealing more detail that suggests that available data may not be as close to Model 1 as we would like (e.g. Pipek, Pyšek, & Blackburn, ,b). This raises the question of how good really is our understanding of determinants of establishment success?…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

How to incorporate information on propagule pressure in the analysis of alien establishment success

2017

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Identifying the factors that determine the success of biological invasions has major consequences for both ecological theory and conservation decision‐making. Reliably inferring these factors depends on adequately accounting for the known effects of propagule pressure on establishment success, but detailed information on the size and number of introduced populations is often lacking. Here, we conduct simulations to explore the effects of incomplete knowledge of propagule pressure on inferences regarding the correlates of establishment success. We compare situations where we have complete information on propagule number and propagule size across species, allowing success to be modelled at the population scale (population‐level analysis), with those where data for propagule size (species‐level analysis) and both propagule size and number (location‐level analysis) are unavailable. We assess the ability to correctly infer the effects of a covariate on establishment success when this covariate exhibits varying degrees of correlation with propagule pressure. We show that when establishment success is modelled at the level of species, rather than populations, this leads to an elevated tendency to incorrectly infer the effects of species‐level traits on establishment success (higher type 1 error and lower power), particularly when traits in question are strongly associated with propagule pressure. These biases are magnified when using proxies for propagule pressure, such as the number of locations where species have been introduced, and are magnified further when these proxies are converted to binary variables. Our results validate the current best practice for the analysis of establishment success in alien species at the population level, when the effects of propagule size and a covariate predicting establishment probability can both be reliably inferred. However, given the growing interest in understanding correlates of biological invasions, they strongly urge caution in interpreting results based on incomplete knowledge of propagule pressure.

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How the Yellowhammer became a Kiwi: the history of an alien bird invasion revealed

Cited by 15 publications

References 36 publications

Inaccuracies in the history of a well-known introduction: a case study of the Australian House Sparrow (Passer domesticus)

Inaccuracies in the history of a well-known introduction: a case study of the Australian House Sparrow (Passer domesticus)

Dialects of an invasive songbird are preserved in its invaded but not native source range

How to incorporate information on propagule pressure in the analysis of alien establishment success

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