| speciational history of australian grass finches (poephila) inferred from thirty gene trees. | multilocus genealogical approaches are still uncommon in phylogeography and historical demography, fields which have been dominated by microsatellite markers and mitochondrial dna, particularly for vertebrates. using 30 newly developed anonymous nuclear loci, we estimated population divergence times and ancestral population sizes of three closely related species of australian grass finches (poephila) distributed across two barriers in northern australia. we verified that substitution rates were ... | 2005 | 16261740 |
| robust and scalable inference of population history from hundreds of unphased whole genomes. | it has recently been demonstrated that inference methods based on genealogical processes with recombination can uncover past population history in unprecedented detail. however, these methods scale poorly with sample size, limiting resolution in the recent past, and they require phased genomes, which contain switch errors that can catastrophically distort the inferred history. here we present smc++, a new statistical tool capable of analyzing orders of magnitude more samples than existing method ... | 2017 | 28024154 |
| a landscape-scale, applied fire management experiment promotes recovery of a population of the threatened gouldian finch, erythrura gouldiae, in australia's tropical savannas. | fire is an integral part of savanna ecology and changes in fire patterns are linked to biodiversity loss in savannas worldwide. in australia, changed fire regimes are implicated in the contemporary declines of small mammals, riparian species, obligate-seeding plants and grass seed-eating birds. translating this knowledge into management to recover threatened species has proved elusive. we report here on a landscape-scale experiment carried out by the australian wildlife conservancy (awc) on morn ... | 2015 | 26445496 |
| seasonal stress physiology and body condition differ among co-occurring tropical finch species. | seasonal changes in avian hormonal stress responses and condition are well known for common species found at temperate and arctic latitudes, but declining and tropical species are poorly studied. this study compares stress and condition measures of co-occurring declining and non-declining tropical grass finch species in australia. we monitored declining gouldian finches (erythrura gouldiae) and non-declining long-tailed and masked finches (poepila acuticauda and p. personata) during two seasons ... | 2013 | 23989338 |
| interference from long-tailed finches constrains reproduction in the endangered gouldian finch. | 1. interspecific interference competition for nest-sites among cavity-nesting birds can have important effects on reproductive fitness and the distribution of competing species. 2. we observed interference at nest-sites in free-living populations of the endangered gouldian finch (erythrura gouldiae) and sympatric long-tailed finch (poephila acuticauda), and also experimentally tested the relative strength and effect of interference at nest-sites in captive populations. 3. levels of competitive i ... | 2011 | 20880021 |
| condition index monitoring supports conservation priorities for the protection of threatened grass-finch populations. | conservation agencies are often faced with the difficult task of prioritizing what recovery actions receive support. with the number of species under threat of decline growing globally, research that informs conservation priorities is greatly needed. the relative vulnerability of cryptic or nomadic species is often uncertain, because populations are difficult to monitor and local populations often seem stable in the short term. this uncertainty can lead to inaction when populations are in need o ... | 2015 | 27293710 |
| extra-pair paternity in the long-tailed finch poephila acuticauda. | although the majority of passerine birds are socially monogamous, true genetic monogamy is rare, with extra-pair paternity (epp) occurring in almost 90% of surveyed socially monogamous species. we present the first molecular data on the genetic breeding system of the long-tailed finch, poephila acuticauda, a grass finch endemic to the tropical northern savannah of australia. although the species forms socially monogamous pair bonds during the breeding season, we found that extra-pair males sired ... | 2016 | 26788429 |
| stable recombination hotspots in birds. | the dna-binding protein prdm9 has a critical role in specifying meiotic recombination hotspots in mice and apes, but it appears to be absent from other vertebrate species, including birds. to study the evolution and determinants of recombination in species lacking the gene that encodes prdm9, we inferred fine-scale genetic maps from population resequencing data for two bird species: the zebra finch, taeniopygia guttata, and the long-tailed finch, poephila acuticauda. we found that both species h ... | 2015 | 26586757 |
| synchronised provisioning at the nest: parental coordination over care in a socially monogamous species. | bi-parental care is very common in birds, occurring in over 90% of species, and is expected to evolve whenever the benefits of enhanced offspring survival exceed the costs to both parents of providing care. in altricial species, where the nestlings are entirely dependent on the parents for providing food until fledging, reproductive success is related to the capacity of the parents to provision the offspring at the nest. the degree to which parents synchronise their visits to the nest is rarely ... | 2013 | 24432197 |
| the role of the ord arid intrusion in the historical and contemporary genetic division of long-tailed finch subspecies in northern australia. | the effect of separation by biogeographic features followed by secondary contact can blur taxonomic boundaries and produce complex genetic signatures. we analyzed population structure and gene flow across the range of the long-tailed finch (poephila acuticauda) in northern australia (1) to test the hypothesis that ord arid intrusion acted as the causative barrier that led to divergence of p. acuticauda subspecies, (2) to determine whether genetic data support the presence of a gradual cline acro ... | 2012 | 22833795 |
| a survey of a mixed species aviary provides new insights into the pathogenicity, diversity, evolution, host range, and distribution of psittacine and passerine adenoviruses. | a bourke's parrot (neopsephotus bourkii) originating from an aviary in australia, containing two species of parrots, five species of finch and a species of dove, was presented for necropsy. the bourke's parrot died from gastritis caused by macrorhabdus ornithogaster, but also had an interstitial nephritis and ureteritis with adenovirus-like inclusion bodies within collecting duct epithelial cells. the adenovirus causing the lesions was shown to be psittacine adenovirus-2 (psadv-2) using a pcr as ... | 2019 | 31081348 |
| differential sperm-egg interactions in experimental pairings between two subspecies and their hybrids in a passerine bird. | speciation research has largely overlooked reproductive barriers acting between copulation and the formation of the zygote (i.e., postmating, prezygotic [pmpz] barriers), especially in internally fertilizing vertebrates. nonetheless, it is becoming clear that pmpz reproductive barriers can play a role in the formation and maintenance of species boundaries. we investigated sperm-egg interactions in the recently diverged subspecies pairs of the long-tailed finch, poephila acuticauda acuticauda and ... | 2018 | 30598770 |
| sex chromosome inversions enforce reproductive isolation across an avian hybrid zone. | across hybrid zones, the sex chromosomes are often more strongly differentiated than the autosomes. this is regularly attributed to the greater frequency of reproductive incompatibilities accumulating on sex chromosomes and their exposure in the heterogametic sex. working within an avian hybrid zone, we explore the possibility that chromosome inversions differentially accumulate on the z chromosome compared to the autosomes and thereby contribute to z chromosome differentiation. we analyse the n ... | 2019 | 30230092 |