[Science] Underestimated Philippine bird endemism

[Enrique Frio]

Here's a timely article on apparently underestimated Philippine bird endemism.

As I stated in another thread, I'm with Steve on posting both documentary and fine art quality types of photos here. We might find some subtle differences in the bird photos somewhere which may be of great use to both the scientific and non-scientific communities. [That's also why I post Thai bird photos to see how similar they are to ours].

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Cryptic genetic diversity in 'widespread' Southeast Asian bird species suggests that Philippine avian endemism is gravely underestimated.

David J. Lohman, Krista K. Ingram, Dewi M. Prawiradilaga, Kevin Winker, Frederick H. Sheldon, Robert G. Moyle, Peter K.L. Ng, Perry S. Ong, Luan Keng Wang, Thomas M. Braile.
on
Biological Conservation, 2010; 143 (8): 1885 DOI: 10.1016/j.biocon.2010.04.042


Abstract

Mistakenly classifying morphologically cryptic endemic species as populations of widespread species potentially interferes with the conservation of biodiversity because undetected endemics that are imperilled may lack appropriate protection. It also impedes the reconstruction of the evolutionary history of a taxon by obscuring the number and distributional limits of species. Here, we present genetic and phylogenetic evidence corroborated by morphology that Philippine populations of seven widespread, non-migratory passerine birds might represent unrecognized, distinct species. An extrapolation based on this finding suggests that the proportion of endemic bird species in the Philippines could be much higher than currently estimated. This high degree of cryptic diversity in a well-studied, volant taxon implies that large numbers of unrecognized species can be expected in less thoroughly studied groups. We predict that genetic investigations of insular populations of widespread species will frequently reveal unrecognized island endemics, and because of the vulnerability of island habitats and their biota, these taxa may be particularly susceptible to extinction.

Keywords: Aves; Biogeography; DNA barcodes; Endemism; Phylogeography; Southeast Asia

[Enrique Frio]

For a less technical writeup, see the ff link:

Philippines May Have More Unique Bird Species Than Thought, Biologist Says
www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/10/101020101655.htm

[steve pryor]

The operative phrase here is "may have". Des sent me the paper, but I still haven't found the time to read it, and digest it. Ever the skeptic, the first thing that comes to mind is this might be one of those positions, that found the position, you construct a theory around it to support it. This is all hypothetical, and is an extrapolation from extra-philippine studies, and with no genetic work-up including philippine bird taxa.

[Enrique Frio]

Please let us know when you have read and digested it. It seems they *did* use Philippine samples and did DNA tests, and thus are not just extra-Philippine studies. Form the news article:

"Through a series of genetics tests to reconstruct evolutionary histories and identify genetic differences, he found that samples from Philippines populations of the species were always distinct from samples from other parts of Southeast Asia."

[steve pryor]

Oct 23, 2010 18:05:50 GMT Enrique Frio said:

Please let us know when you have read and digested it. It seems they *did* use Philippine samples and did DNA tests, and thus are not just extra-Philippine studies. Form the news article:

"Through a series of genetics tests to reconstruct evolutionary histories and identify genetic differences, he found that samples from Philippines populations of the species were always distinct from samples from other parts of Southeast Asia."

It would be surprising the contrary. I need to see the raw genetic data, the genetic variance among other things.