Threats and Vision for the Conservation of Galápagos Birds

Jiménez-Uzcátegui, Gustavo; Wiedenfeld, David A.; Valle, Carlos A.; Vargas, Hernán; Piedrahíta, Paolo; Muñoz‐Abril, Laia; Alava, Juan José

doi:10.2174/1874453201912010001

Cited by 18 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 51 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Galápagos Rails, once abundant as reported by Darwin in 1896 [1], depend on the presence of wetlands and dense vegetation. These habitats were eroded by agricultural expansion and overgrazing by goats and were further altered by invasive plant species [31,32]. Likewise, predation by rats and cats had a devastating effect on rails given their inability to fly [25].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evolutionary History of the Galápagos Rail Revealed by Ancient Mitogenomes and Modern Samples

et al. 2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The biotas of the Galápagos Islands are one of the best studied island systems and have provided a broad model for insular species’ origins and evolution. Nevertheless, some locally endemic taxa, such as the Galápagos Rail Laterallus spilonota, remain poorly characterized. Owing to its elusive behavior, cryptic plumage, and restricted distribution, the Galápagos Rail is one of the least studied endemic vertebrates of the Galapagos Islands. To date, there is no genetic data for this species, leaving its origins, relationships to other taxa, and levels of genetic diversity uncharacterized. This lack of information is critical given the adverse fate of island rail species around the world in the recent past. Here, we examine the genetics of Galápagos Rails using a combination of mitogenome de novo assembly with multilocus nuclear and mitochondrial sequencing from both modern and historical samples. We show that the Galápagos Rail is part of the “American black rail clade”, sister to the Black Rail L. jamaicensis, with a colonization of Galápagos dated to 1.2 million years ago. A separate analysis of one nuclear and two mitochondrial markers in the larger population samples demonstrates a shallow population structure across the islands, possibly due to elevated island connectivity. Additionally, birds from the island Pinta possessed the lowest levels of genetic diversity, possibly reflecting past population bottlenecks associated with overgrazing of their habitat by invasive goats. The modern and historical data presented here highlight the low genetic diversity in this endemic rail species and provide useful information to guide conservation efforts.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evolutionary History of the Galápagos Rail Revealed by Ancient Mitogenomes and Modern Samples

et al. 2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Pox infects a number of endemic Galápagos passerines including Darwin's finches (Thraupidae), Galápagos flycatchers (Myiarchus magnirostris), and Galápagos mockingbirds (Mimus spp.) and has recently been reported in the critically endangered waved albatross (Phoebastria irrorata) (Jiménez-Uzcátegui et al, 2019;Tompkins, Anderson, Pabilonia, & Huyvaert, 2017) (Fig 1). Prevalence of avian pox varies among species of Darwin's finches and may be related to variation in innate immune function (Zylberberg et al, 2012a).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 54%

Transcriptomic responses of Galápagos finches to avian pox virus infection

McNew

Yepez

Loyola³

et al. 2021

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Emerging pathogens can have devastating effects on naive hosts, but disease outcomes often vary among hosts. Comparing the cellular response of different host species to infection can provide insight into mechanisms of host defense and the basis of host susceptibility to disease. Here, we used RNA-seq to characterize the transcriptomic response of Darwin's finches to avian poxvirus, which is introduced to the Galapagos Islands. We tested whether gene expression differs between infected and uninfected birds, and whether transcriptomic differences were related either to known antiviral mechanisms and/or the co-option of the host cellular environment by the virus. We compared two species, the medium ground finch (Geospiza fortis) and the vegetarian finch (Platyspiza crassirostris), to determine whether related species have similar responses to the same novel pathogen. We found that medium ground finches had a strong transcriptomic response to infection, upregulating genes involved in the innate immune response including interferon production, inflammation, and other immune signaling pathways. In contrast, vegetarian finches had a more limited response to infection. Our results also revealed evidence of viral manipulation of the host's cellular function and metabolism, providing insight into the ways in which poxviruses affect their hosts. Many of the transcriptomic responses to infection mirrored known processes seen in model and in-vitro studies of poxviruses indicating that many pathways of host defense against poxviruses are conserved among vertebrates and present even in hosts without a long evolutionary history with the virus. At the same time, the variation we observed between closely related species indicates that some endemic species of Galapagos finch may be more susceptible to avian pox than others.

show abstract

“…Potential threats for this species include introduced parasites, diseases, rats, bad weather events and food availability (Wiedenfeld and Jiménez-Uzcátegui, 2008, Jiménez-Uzcátegui et al 2019). We report P. downsi parasitism in two Galapagos Martin nests for the first time, but the impact this parasite might have on the populations is unclear.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The conservation status of the Galapagos MartinProgne modesta: Assessment of historical records and results of recent surveys

Anchundia

Feßl

2020

Bird Conservation International

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Summary The endemic Galapagos Martin Progne modesta is a rare species. Population sizes in the past are unknown, but the few reports available suggest that it has become rarer in some sites. To obtain a better understanding of its population status, a simultaneous survey was conducted in 2017 around the coastline of 14 islands and 23 islets resulting in sightings of only 26 individuals. A simultaneous survey on Sierra Negra volcano on Isabela Island added five more individuals. However, observations from early expeditions and expeditions since 2015 have shown that the volcanoes of Isabela Island are important feeding areas and probable breeding areas for the Galapagos Martin, but these were largely excluded from the survey in 2017 due to logistical reasons. Historical and recent nesting sites include Tagus Cove on Isabela Island and Daphne Major Island. During our 2017 count, three possible new nesting sites were discovered: Daphne Minor, Santiago and a small crater on Punta Cristóbal on southwestern Isabela Island. From 2015 to 2018, 15 nests were also observed on the cliff in Tagus Cove. Two accessible nests were collected and revealed the first records of Philornis downsi in Galapagos Martin nests. The impact of parasitism by P. downsi is unknown but potentially severe. Given the lack of general knowledge about the biology of this species and its apparent low population sizes, further studies are urgently needed.

show abstract

Threats and Vision for the Conservation of Galápagos Birds

Cited by 18 publications

References 51 publications

Evolutionary History of the Galápagos Rail Revealed by Ancient Mitogenomes and Modern Samples

Evolutionary History of the Galápagos Rail Revealed by Ancient Mitogenomes and Modern Samples

Transcriptomic responses of Galápagos finches to avian pox virus infection

The conservation status of the Galapagos MartinProgne modesta: Assessment of historical records and results of recent surveys

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About