Genetic affinities of newly sampled populations of Wandering and Black-browed Albatross

R. Alderman; M. C. Double; J. Valencia; R. P. Gales

doi:10.1071/MU04034

RESEARCH ARTICLE

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Genetic affinities of newly sampled populations of Wandering and Black-browed Albatross

R. Alderman ^A ^C ^D , M. C. Double ^A , J. Valencia ^B and R. P. Gales ^C

+ Author Affiliations

- Author Affiliations

^A Department of Botany and Zoology, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia.

^B Instituto Antártico Chileno, Luis Thayer Objeda 814, Provencia, Santiago, Chile.

^C Marine Conservation Unit, Nature Conservation Branch, DPIWE, Box 44, Hobart, Tas. 7001, Australia.

^D Corresponding author. Email: Rachael.Alderman@dpiwe.tas.gov.au

Emu 105(2) 169-179 https://doi.org/10.1071/MU04034
Submitted: 29 June 2004 Accepted: 7 April 2005 Published: 30 June 2005

Abstract

This study extends previous phylogeographic genetic studies of the Black-browed and Wandering Albatross species complexes through the addition of newly acquired genetic data from wandering-type albatrosses on Macquarie Island and Black-browed Albatrosses (Thalassarche melanophrys) on Macquarie Island and the Chilean islands of Diego de Almagro and Ildefonso. DNA sequencing of Domain I of the mitochondrial control region showed that the wandering-type albatrosses on Macquarie Island belong to the Diomedea exulans group and show close genetic affinity to populations on the Prince Edward and Crozet Islands. The populations of Black-browed Albatrosses on Diego de Almagro, Ildefonso and Macquarie Islands all fell into a distinct grouping that also included birds from Diego Ramirez, South Georgia and Kerguelen Islands. Both the Wandering and Black-browed species complexes show multiple distinct lineages, some with disjunct geographical distributions. We suggest that this is a consequence of prolonged isolation of populations during the Late Pleistocene followed by range expansion of D. exulans and T. melanophrys after glacial retreat from many subantarctic islands. Both species most likely dispersed from populations centred in the southern Indian Ocean.

Acknowledgments

We are extremely grateful to Roger Kirkwood, Kieran Lawton, Graham Robertson and Barbara Weinecke for sampling the Black-browed Albatrosses on Diego de Almagro and Ildefonso, and to Aleks Terauds for assistance on Macquarie Island. This work could not have been conducted without the cooperation of Chile’s Instituto Antártico or the Australian Antarctic Division. We also thank Andrew Cockburn for supplying laboratory facilities and financially supporting M. C. Double, and Barry Baker for his invaluable help in facilitating this project. Australia’s Department of Environment and Heritage and the Antarctic Scientific Advisory Committee funded genetic and field research in Australia.

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