Phylogeography of the white‐tailed eagle, a generalist with large dispersal capacity

Abstract

Aim Late Pleistocene glacial changes had a major impact on many boreal and temperate taxa, and this impact can still be detected in the present-day phylogeographic structure of these taxa. However, only minor effects are expected in species with generalist habitat requirements and high dispersal capabihty. One such species is the white-tailed eagle, Haliaeetus albicilla, and we therefore tested for the expected weak population structure at a continental level in this species. This also allowed us to describe phylogeographic patterns, and to deduce Ice Age refugia and patterns of postglacial recolonization of Eurasia.Location Breeding populations from the easternmost Nearctic (Greenland) and across the Palaearctic (Iceland, continental Europe, central and eastern Asia, and Japan).Methods Sequencing of a 500 base-pair fragment of the mitochondrial DNA control region in 237 samples from throughout the distribution range.Results Our analysis revealed pronounced phylogeographic structure. Overall, low genetic variability was observed across the entire range. Haplotypes clustered in two distinct haplogroups with a predominantly eastern or western distribution, and extensive overlap in Europe. These two major lineages diverged during the late Pleistocene. The eastern haplogroup showed a pattern of rapid population expansion and colonization of Eurasia around the end of the Pleistocene. The western haplogroup had lower diversity and was absent from the populations in eastern Asia. These results suggest survival during the last glaciation in two refugia, probably located in central and western Eurasia, followed by postglacial population expansion and admixture. Relatively high genetic diversity was observed in northern regions that were ice-covered during the last glacial maximum. This, and phylogenetic relationships between haplotypes encountered in the north, indicates substantial population expansion at high latitudes. Areas of glacial meltwater runoff and proglacial lakes could have provided suitable habitats for such population growth.Main conclusions This study shows that glacial climate fluctuations had a substantial impact on white-tailed eagles, both in terms of distribution and demography. These results suggest that even species with large dispersal capabilities and relatively broad habitat requirements were strongly affected by the Pleistocene climatic shifts.

Coexistence and population genetic structure of the whooper swan Cygnus cygnus and mute swan Cygnus olor in Lithuania and Latvia

“…Mute swans breeding in this region are [46]. High gene diversity, reflecting an earlier climate history (during the Quaternary period) and gene flow among populations, has been reported for various bird species [47][48][49][50].…”

Genetic structure confirms female-biased natal dispersal in the White-tailed Eagle population of the Carpathian Basin

“…When we analysed females and males separately, similar lack of fine-scale genetic structure was found, with even the slope ln(dist) being nonsignificant. Nevertheless, the species is philopatric, as showed both by mark-resight data (Helander 2003, Helander & Stjernberg 2003, Struwe-Juhl & Grünkorn 2007, Whitfield et al 2009a) and the presence of genetic structure at wide geographical range inferred from microsatellite data (Hailer et al 2007, Honnen et al 2010, Nemesházi et al 2016. Moreover, the Carpathian Basin population maintains a local, unique mitochondrial haplotype as well (Honnen et al 2010, Nemesházi et al 2016.…”

“…Despite their juvenile vagrancy, similarly to other large raptor species, WTEs are philopatric (i.e. they start breeding relatively close to their natal area), as supported by both ringing data (Helander 2003, Helander & Stjernberg 2003, StruweJuhl & Grünkorn 2007, Whitfield et al 2009a and genetic structure of their wild populations (Hailer et al 2007, Honnen et al 2010, Nemesházi et al 2016. Still, some level of long distance gene flow was recently suggested in the Carpathian Basin population (Nemesházi et al 2016).…”

Distinct and extinct: Genetic differentiation of the Hawaiian eagle

“…For comparison, data from recent phylogeographic studies of White-tailed Eagles (Hailer et al, 2006(Hailer et al, , 2007Honnen et al, 2010;Langguth et al, 2013;Ponnikas et al, 2013) were used, plus the sequence of a Steller's Sea Eagle (GenBank accession AM156946). Because no mtDNA control region samples from Bald Eagles were available on GenBank, we also sequenced 12 Bald Eagle nestlings from northern Wisconsin, each from a different nest.…”

“…Since the publication of Fleischer et al (2000), extensive studies have been conducted on the phylogeography of the White-tailed Eagle, examining the highly variable mtDNA control region (Hailer et al, 2006(Hailer et al, , 2007Honnen et al, 2010;Langguth et al, 2013;Ponnikas et al, 2013 Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 83 (2015) [40][41][42][43] Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution j o u r n a l h o m e p a g e : w w w . e l s e v i e r .…”