The role of demography and climatic events in shaping the phylogeography of Amazona aestiva (Psittaciformes, Aves) and definition of management units for conservation

Abstract

Aim The blue‐fronted amazon (Amazona aestiva) is a widely distributed Neotropical parrot with two recognized sub‐species, which are mainly characterized by the colour of the shoulder. We explored mitochondrial DNA variability to determine how demographic processes and historical climatic fluctuations may have contributed to phylogeographical pattern and morphological variation of A. aestiva, and how this information could be useful to understand the evolutionary relationship of this species and the Amazona ochrocephala complex and to determine management units for conservation purposes. Location Brazil and north‐eastern Argentina. Methods We analysed a fragment of COI gene of 78 A. aestiva and 27 A. ochrocephala. We computed a median‐joining network, and the population structure of A. aestiva populations was assessed using a hierarchical analysis of nucleotide diversity. The mismatch distribution, Fu's Fs‐test of neutrality and R2 test were used to detect past population expansion. Results All A. aestiva haplotypes and A. ochrocephala subspecies from north‐eastern and southern South America were recovered within the South American clade. Hierarchical analysis of nucleotide diversity of A. aestiva populations detected two geographical groups as obtained by median‐joining network. These two A. aestiva groups showed evidence of a recent population expansion. The time of populations splitting estimated corresponding to the Middle Pleistocene. Main conclusions The two A. aestiva genetic groups identified in our analyses agree with the morphological variation, corresponding to named subspecies. These two A. aestiva groups have undergone a recent population expansion, with low gene flow between them. The expansion of savannah areas may have contributed to the population expansion of these two groups. We concluded that introgression after isolated diversification may better explain haplotype sharing between A. aestiva and A. ochrocephala subspecies. We suggest that management and conservation strategies should consider these two A. aestiva groups (or subspecies) as different management units and should maintain viable populations of these two management units.

An Online mtDNA Tool for Identification of Neotropical Psittacid Species and Taxonomic Issues: A Study Case of the <i>Amazona ochrocephala</i> Complex

“…Our data endorse previous studies [6] [7] [20] as members of the A.aestiva/A. ochrocephala complex are more closely related amongst themselves than to other A. ochrocephala subspecies from Central America.We confirmed previous results [6] [7] [20] [35] that indicated that within this species complex there are three lineages (South America-SA, Central America-CA and North South America-NSA).…”

“…NSA corresponds to a highly divergent A. ochrocephala individual from Colombia, which is frequently observed in close relationship with other specimens from Venezuela using other molecular markers in previous [20], but included more branches and new haplotypes (Supplementary Material SM3). The same general group arrangement was also found based only on ND2 (Supplementary Material SM4).…”

“…Thus, we generated and analyzed these two sections of this gene. The nomenclature and abbreviations used for phylogenetic groups and clades found in our results, tables and figures follow the same ones used in previous studies [7] [19] [20].…”

“…Final consensus sequences for each individual are deposited in GenBank (accession numbers JX476306 to JX476426). ND2 and/or COI sequences from 86 individuals of A. aestiva and 53 of A. ochrocephala (30 of South American subspecies and 23 of Central American subspecies) were downloaded from GenBank [5] [7] [20]. Sequence alignments were obtained using MUSCLE [27] implemented in the program MEGA v5.01 [28].…”

Nest Survival and Predation in Blue-Fronted ParrotsAmazona aestiva: Effects of Nesting Behaviour and Cavity Characteristics

“…The Blue-fronted Parrot Amazona aestiva lives in subtropical forests and savannas of central South America (Caparroz et al 2009). Like all Amazon parrots, it is a secondary cavity nester (Berkunsky & Reboreda 2009).…”