Analysis of DNA from the two small remaining populations of Floreana mockingbird mimus trifasciatus and from historic specimens held by the California Academy of Sciences and the Natural History Museum, including the two collected by
Charles Darwin and Captain Robert FitzRoy in 1835, has revealed the genetic structure of both living and past populations.
Scientists believe this research can help inform a plan for reintroduction of the bird to Floreana Island, supported by GCT's Donate A Darwin campaign, as part of a larger recovery plan for the whole island now being developed by the Charles Darwin Foundation for the Galapagos Islands and Galapagos National Park Service.
GCT's chief executive, Toni Darton, said: "This is a very welcome development and shows once again how modern science is playing such a key role in conserving Galapagos. It hopefully takes up one step closer to saving this critically endangered species. Our Donate A Darwin campaign to restore the island of Floreana and return the Floreana Mockingbird to its native habitat is playing an important role in helping CDF achieve this aim."
When Darwin visited the Galapagos archipelago in 1835 aboard HMS Beagle, he was struck by the differences between closely similar birds on separate islands. In particular, the mockingbirds he saw and collected on Charles Island (now Floreana) were obviously distinct and consistently different from those he had collected on San Cristobal where HMS Beagle first landed. Later, as Darwin examined his collection on the voyage home, the differences between the mockingbirds led him to question the stability of species. Just half a century after Darwin's visit, the Floreana mockingbird had become extinct on the island as a result of introduced predators and habitat alteration following human settlement. Today it is one of the rarest birds in the world. Fewer than 500 individuals survive on the two tiny, satellite islands of Gardner-by-Floreana and Champion and the species is considered at risk of extinction.
Innovative genetic modelling has been used by researchers, led by the University of Zurich and including the University of Reading, the Natural History Museum and Princeton University. They have discovered the surviving populations on the small satellite islands of Champion and Gardner-by-Floreana do not have long independent evolutionary histories. In fact, they split from each other perhaps as recently as Darwin's visit and probably as the result of the extinction of the Floreana population - a bridge between the two.
Although the population on Champion is small and inbred, it harbours unique genetic information not found in today's larger Gardner-by-Floreana population, but present on Floreana in 1835. The authors conclude, in a paper published in the Royal Society Journal Biology Letters on 18 November 2009, that birds from both islets should be used to reintroduce a single, mixed population on Floreana, where the bird went extinct in the 1800s.
Dr Karen James, postdoctoral researcher at the Natural History Museum said, 'Though Darwin knew nothing of DNA, the specimens he and FitzRoy collected have, after 170 years of safe-keeping in collections, yielded genetic clues to suggest a path for conservation of this critically endangered and historically important species. This project highlights the value of historic specimens and it's exciting to think that they are telling us which birds should form the basis of a reintroduction programme so that future visitors can enjoy the wildlife of these unique islands as Darwin himself did.'
Lukas Keller and Paquita Hoeck of the Zoological Museum of the University of Zurich have been working with the Charles Darwin Foundation for the Galapagos Islands and Galapagos National Park Service to assess the genetic diversity of Galapagos mockingbirds, with a focus on the Floreana mockingbirds, for the purpose of informing a reintroduction strategy as part of the overall Floreana Project.
Paquita Hoeck says, 'We all very much hope that the implementation of the reintroduction plans will be successful and secure the long-term survival of this critically endangered species. The Floreana mockingbird is not only of great historical importance, but also simply delightful to watch because of its tameness and incredible curiosity. It will be wonderful when the inhabitants and tourists in the Galapagos finally get the chance to observe these birds on the inhabited island of Floreana.'
Floreana, photo:Cornell University
Scientists believe this research can help inform a plan for reintroduction of the bird to Floreana Island, supported by GCT's Donate A Darwin campaign, as part of a larger recovery plan for the whole island now being developed by the Charles Darwin Foundation for the Galapagos Islands and Galapagos National Park Service.
GCT's chief executive, Toni Darton, said: "This is a very welcome development and shows once again how modern science is playing such a key role in conserving Galapagos. It hopefully takes up one step closer to saving this critically endangered species. Our Donate A Darwin campaign to restore the island of Floreana and return the Floreana Mockingbird to its native habitat is playing an important role in helping CDF achieve this aim."
When Darwin visited the Galapagos archipelago in 1835 aboard HMS Beagle, he was struck by the differences between closely similar birds on separate islands. In particular, the mockingbirds he saw and collected on Charles Island (now Floreana) were obviously distinct and consistently different from those he had collected on San Cristobal where HMS Beagle first landed. Later, as Darwin examined his collection on the voyage home, the differences between the mockingbirds led him to question the stability of species. Just half a century after Darwin's visit, the Floreana mockingbird had become extinct on the island as a result of introduced predators and habitat alteration following human settlement. Today it is one of the rarest birds in the world. Fewer than 500 individuals survive on the two tiny, satellite islands of Gardner-by-Floreana and Champion and the species is considered at risk of extinction.
Innovative genetic modelling has been used by researchers, led by the University of Zurich and including the University of Reading, the Natural History Museum and Princeton University. They have discovered the surviving populations on the small satellite islands of Champion and Gardner-by-Floreana do not have long independent evolutionary histories. In fact, they split from each other perhaps as recently as Darwin's visit and probably as the result of the extinction of the Floreana population - a bridge between the two.
Although the population on Champion is small and inbred, it harbours unique genetic information not found in today's larger Gardner-by-Floreana population, but present on Floreana in 1835. The authors conclude, in a paper published in the Royal Society Journal Biology Letters on 18 November 2009, that birds from both islets should be used to reintroduce a single, mixed population on Floreana, where the bird went extinct in the 1800s.
Dr Karen James, postdoctoral researcher at the Natural History Museum said, 'Though Darwin knew nothing of DNA, the specimens he and FitzRoy collected have, after 170 years of safe-keeping in collections, yielded genetic clues to suggest a path for conservation of this critically endangered and historically important species. This project highlights the value of historic specimens and it's exciting to think that they are telling us which birds should form the basis of a reintroduction programme so that future visitors can enjoy the wildlife of these unique islands as Darwin himself did.'
Lukas Keller and Paquita Hoeck of the Zoological Museum of the University of Zurich have been working with the Charles Darwin Foundation for the Galapagos Islands and Galapagos National Park Service to assess the genetic diversity of Galapagos mockingbirds, with a focus on the Floreana mockingbirds, for the purpose of informing a reintroduction strategy as part of the overall Floreana Project.
Paquita Hoeck says, 'We all very much hope that the implementation of the reintroduction plans will be successful and secure the long-term survival of this critically endangered species. The Floreana mockingbird is not only of great historical importance, but also simply delightful to watch because of its tameness and incredible curiosity. It will be wonderful when the inhabitants and tourists in the Galapagos finally get the chance to observe these birds on the inhabited island of Floreana.'
