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Population genetics of the East African White-eye species complex

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Abstract

The Eastern Afromontane biodiversity hotspot consists of isolated mountain massifs embedded within the dry lowland savannas of East Africa and of which the peaks and ridges are covered by cloud forest remnants. These cloud forests are home to the Mountain White-eye (Zosterops poliogaster), while three congeneric species (Abyssinian White-eye, Zosterops abyssinicus; Yellow White-eye, Zosterops senegalensis; Pemba White-eye, Zosterops vaughani) inhabit the adjacent lowland savannas. We sampled individuals of all four species across Kenya to analyse interspecific genetic relationships as well as intraspecific differentiation among mountain populations of Z. poliogaster. While the level of genetic differentiation among the four species was rather low, genetic differentiation within Z. poliogaster was very high, even between geographically neighbouring populations. Overall, levels of genetic variation varied strongly across all four species, with much higher diversity detected within the three lowland ones. The highland species was characterised by numerous private alleles that were geographically restricted at populations from single mountains, some of which showed evidence of recent population bottlenecks. We conclude that Z. poliogaster populations are both of high conservation value and conservation concern, given the high proportion of endemic alleles and the genetic signatures of high genetic drift and low gene flow that are typical for small and isolated populations.

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Acknowledgments

This study was funded by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), the Natural History Museum Luxembourg, the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO) (grants G.0055.08 to LL and G.0149.09 to S. Van Dongen) and the Flemish Interuniversity Council (project 02/6/7-338-607 to W. Verheyen) as well as by FWO research communities (WO.037.10N to F. Volckaert). We are grateful for helpful advice by Ulrike Schülter (Trier, Germany) in the laboratory. We thank Dennis Rödder (Bonn, Germany) for creating Fig. 1. We thank Martin Husemann (Waco, USA) and two anonymous referees for helpful comments on two draft versions of this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ecology and Ecosystem Management, Technische Universität München, Carl-von-Carlowitz-Platz 2, 85350, Freising-Weihenstephan, Germany

    Jan Christian Habel

  2. Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment, University College London, Darwin Building, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT, UK

    Siobhan Cox

  3. Bird Group, Department of Zoology, Natural History Museum at Tring, Akeman Street, Tring, Herts, HP23 6AP, UK

    Siobhan Cox

  4. Department of Neurobehavioural Genetics, University of Trier, 54290, Trier, Germany

    Franz Gassert & Jobst Meyer

  5. Department of Ornithology, National Museums of Kenya, Nairobi, 00100, Kenya

    Ronald K. Mulwa

  6. Terrestrial Ecology Unit, Department of Biology, Ghent University, 9000, Ghent, Belgium

    Luc Lens

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  1. Jan Christian Habel
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  2. Siobhan Cox
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  3. Franz Gassert
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  4. Ronald K. Mulwa
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Correspondence to Jan Christian Habel.

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Habel, J.C., Cox, S., Gassert, F. et al. Population genetics of the East African White-eye species complex. Conserv Genet 14, 1019–1028 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10592-013-0492-9

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