title: Ancient DNA reveals genetic stability despite demographic decline: 3,000 years of population history in the endemic Hawaiian petrel.
abstract: In the Hawaiian Islands, human colonization, which began approximately 1,200 to 800 years ago, marks the beginning of a period in which nearly 75% of the endemic avifauna became extinct and the population size and range of many additional species declined. It remains unclear why some species persisted whereas others did not. The endemic Hawaiian petrel (Pterodroma sandwichensis) has escaped extinction, but colonies on two islands have been extirpated and populations on remaining islands have contracted. We obtained mitochondrial DNA sequences from 100 subfossil bones, 28 museum specimens, and 289 modern samples to investigate patterns of gene flow and temporal changes in the genetic diversity of this endangered species over the last 3,000 years, as Polynesians and then Europeans colonized the Hawaiian Islands. Genetic differentiation was found to be high between both modern and ancient petrel populations. However, gene flow was substantial between the extirpated colonies on Oahu and Molokai and modern birds from the island of Lanai. No significant reductions in genetic diversity occurred over this period, despite fears in the mid-1900s that this species may have been extinct. Simulations show that even a decline to a stable effective population size of 100 individuals would result in the loss of only 5% of the expected heterozygosity. Simulations also show that high levels of genetic diversity may be retained due to the long generation time of this species. Such decoupling between population size and genetic diversity in long-lived species can have important conservation implications. It appears that a pattern of dispersal from declining colonies, in addition to long generation time, may have allowed the Hawaiian petrel to escape a severe genetic bottleneck, and the associated extinction vortex, and persist despite a large population decline after human colonization.
authors: Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, Center for Conservation and Evolutionary Genetics, National Zoological Park, Washington, DC, USA. andreann@buffalo.edu
authors: Andreanna J
authors: AJ
authors: Welch
authors: Anne E
authors: AE
authors: Wiley
authors: Helen F
authors: HF
authors: James
authors: Peggy H
authors: PH
authors: Ostrom
authors: Thomas W
authors: TW
authors: Stafford
authors: Robert C
authors: RC
authors: Fleischer
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D001717:Birds / Q000235:genetics*; D001842:Bone and Bones / Q000737:chemistry; D002250:Carbon Radioisotopes / Q000032:analysis; D003198:Computer Simulation; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000235:genetics* / Q000266:history; D056727:Endangered Species; D005580:Fossils; D051456:Gene Flow / Q000235:genetics; D014644:Genetic Variation; D005828:Genetics, Population / Q000379:methods; D006254:Hawaii; D049690:History, Ancient; D013058:Mass Spectrometry; D008957:Models, Genetic; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011157:Population Dynamics; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D002250:Carbon Radioisotopes; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial