Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Genetic variation across the current range of the Asian houbara bustard (Chlamydotis undulata macqueenii)

  • Published:
Conservation Genetics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The houbara bustard (Chlamydotisundulata), the main quarry for Arab falconry,is currently threatened by excessive huntingand poaching as well as by habitat loss andfragmentation. We have investigated the geneticdiversity, population structure and demographichistory of houbara bustards across theirgeographical range by analyzing mitochondrial(mt)DNA sequences (a 370 bp fragment of controlregion I and a 264 bp fragment of thecytochrome b gene) and 4 microsatelliteloci in 74 individuals sampled from the CanaryIslands to China. Both markers revealed low tomoderate diversity that could be partitionedinto two monophyletic groups or evolutionarysignificant units belonging to the NorthAfrican (C. u. undulata) and Asian (C. u. macqueenii) subspecies. A history ofrelatively recent population growth (∼35,000years ago) accompanied by range expansion isthe most likely demographic scenario for theAsian subspecies. In addition, Macqueen'sbustards are able to disperse efficiently overbroad areas, which is consistent with ourinference of weak phylogeographic structure(global F ST = 0.20 and 0.04 formtDNA and microsatellites, respectively) andhigh levels of homogenizing gene flow on widegeographical scales. We therefore suggest thatmanagement actions should focus on maintainingmigratory connectivity between breeding andnon-breeding areas.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Arctander P (1995) Comparison of a mitochondrial gene and a corresponding nuclear pseudogene. Proc. Roy. Soc. Lond. B, 262, 13–19.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bochenski Z, Kurochkin EN (1987) Pliocene bustards (Aves: Otididae and Gryzajidae) of Moldavia and S. Ukraine. In: L'Evolution des oiseaux d+apres le temoignage des fossiles (ed Mourer-Chauvire C), pp. 173–186. Docum. Lab. Géol. 99, Lyon.

    Google Scholar 

  • Broders O, Osborne T, Wink M (2003) A mtDNA phylogeny of bustards (family Otididae) based on nucleotide sequences of the cytochrome b-gene. J. Ornithol., 144, 176–185.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clement M, Posada D, Crandall KA (2000) TCS: a computer program to estimate gene genealogies. Mol. Ecol., 9, 1657–1659.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Collar NJ (1996) Family Otididae (bustards). In: Handbook of the Birds of the World, Vol. 3. (eds. Del Hoyo J, Elliot A, Sargatal J), pp. 240–273. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona.

    Google Scholar 

  • Combreau O, Saint-Jalme M, Seddon P et al. (1995) A program for houbara bustard restoration in Saudi Arabia. In: Integrating People and Wildlife for a Sustainable Future (eds. Bissonette JA, Kraussman PR), pp. 520–524. The Wildlife Society USA, Bethesda.

    Google Scholar 

  • Combreau O, Launay F, Al Bowardi M, Gubin B (1999) Outward migration of houbara bustards Chlamydotis undulata macqueenii from two breeding areas in Kazakhstan. Condor, 101, 159–164.

    Google Scholar 

  • Combreau O, Launay F, Lawrence P (2001) An assessment of annual mortality rates in adult Asian houbara bustards (Chlamydotis [undulata] macqueenii). Anim. Conserv., 4, 133–141.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cramp S, Simmons K (1980) Handbook of the Birds of Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, Vol. 2. Oxford University Press, Oxford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Crandall KA, Templeton AR (1993) Empirical tests of some predictions from coalescent theory with applications to intraspecific phylogeny reconstruction. Genetics, 134, 959–969.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • D'Aloia M-A (2001) Studies on the population structure of the houbara bustard Chlamydotis undulata in the Middle East with DNA analysis techniques. Zool. Middle East, 22, 25–35.

    Google Scholar 

  • Excoffier L, Smouse P, Quattro J (1992) Analysis of molecular variance inferred from metric distances among DNA haplotypes: application to human mitochondrial DNA restriction data. Genetics, 131, 479–491.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fox N, Al Bowardi M, Macdonald H, Launay F (2000) A Global Strategy for the Conservation of Falcons and Houbara. Environmental Research and Wildlife Development Agency, Abu Dhabi.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fu Y-X (1997) Statistical tests of neutrality of mutations against population growth, hitchhiking and background selection. Genetics, 147, 915–925.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gaucher P, Paillat P, Chappuis C, Saint Jalme M, Lotfikhah F, Wink M (1996) Taxonomy of the houbara bustard Chlamydotis undulata subspecies considered on the basis of sexual display and genetic divergence. Ibis, 138, 273–282.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goudet J (1995) fstat Version 1.2.: a computer program to calculate F-statistics. J. Hered., 4, 485–486.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goriup PD (1997) The world status of the houbara bustard Chlamydotis undulata. Bird Conserv. Inter., 7, 373–397.

    Google Scholar 

  • Granjon L, Gaucher P, Greth A, Paillat P, Vassart M (1994) Allozyme study of two subspecies of houbara bustard (Chlamydotis undulata undulata and C. u. macqueenii). Biochem. Syst. Ecol., 22, 775–779.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Haubold B, Wiehe T (2001) Statistics of divergence times. Mol. Biol. Evol., 18, 1157–1160.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hilton-Taylor C (2000) IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland & Cambridge, UK.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kocher TD, Thomas WK, Meyer A et al. (1989) Dynamics of mitochondrial DNA evolution in mammals: amplification and sequencing with conserved primers. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA, 86, 6196–6200.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kimura M (1980) A simple method for estimating evolutionary rates of base substitutions through comparative studies of nucleotide sequences. J. Mol. Evol., 16, 111–120.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kretzoi M (1960/61) Prähistorischer Großtrappenfund und die Geschichte der Trappen. Aquila, 67-68, 189–190.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kumar S, Tamura K, Nei M (1993) MEGA:Molecular Evolutionary Genetics Analysis, Version 1.02. Pennsylvania State University, University Park.

    Google Scholar 

  • Launay F, Paillat P (1990) A behavioural repertoire of the adult houbara bustard (Chlamydotis undulata macqueenii). Rev. Ecol. (Terre Vie), 45, 65–88.

    Google Scholar 

  • Launay F, Combreau O, Al Bowardi M (1999) Annual migration of houbara bustard Chlamydotis undulata macqueenii from the United Arab Emirates. Bird Conserv. Inter., 9, 155–161.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lieckfeldt D, Schmidt A, Pitra C (2001) Isolation and characterization of microsatellite loci in the great bustard, Otis tarda. Mol. Ecol. Notes, 3, 133–134.

    Google Scholar 

  • Manly BFJ (1997) Randomization, Bootstrap and Monte Carlo Methods in Biology, 2nd edn. Chapman & Hall, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Martín CA, Alonso JC, Alonso J, Pitra C, Lieckfeldt D (2002) Great bustard population structure in central Spain: concordant results from genetic analysis and dispersal study. Proc. Roy. Soc. Lond. B, 269, 119–125.

    Google Scholar 

  • Michalakis Y, Excoffier L (1996) A generic estimation of population subdivision using distances between alleles with special reference to microsatellite loci. Genetics, 142, 1061–1064.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Moore WS (1995) Inferring phylogenies from mtDNA variation: mitochondrial-gene trees versus nuclear-gene trees. Evolution, 49, 718–726.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moritz C (1994) Defining 'Evolutionarily Significant Units' for conservation. Trends Ecol. Evol., 9, 373–375.

    Google Scholar 

  • Müllenbach R, Lagoda PJL, Welter C (1989) An efficient salt-chloroform extraction of DNA from blood and tissues. Trends Genet., 5, 391.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Osborne PE, Al Bowardi M, Bailey TA (1997). Migration of the houbara bustard Chlamydotis undulata from Abu Dhabi to Turkmenistan: the first results from satellite tracking studies. Ibis, 139, 192–196.

    Google Scholar 

  • Palumbi SR, Martin A, Romano S et al. (1991) The Simple Fool's Guide to PCR. University of Hawaii, Department of Zoology, Honolulu.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pitra C, Lieckfeldt D, Frahnert S, Fickel J (2002) Phylogenetic relationships and ancestral areas of the bustards (Gruiformes: Otididae), inferred from mitochondrial DNA and nuclear intron sequences. Mol. Phyl. Evol., 23, 63–74.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Primmer CR, Ellegren H (1998) Patterns of molecular evolution in avian microsatellites. Mol. Biol. Evol., 15, 997–1008.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rozas J, Rozas R (1999) DnaSP version 3: an integrated program for molecular population genetics and molecular evolution analysis. Bioinformatics, 15, 174–175.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sanchez Marco A (1990) A new bustard (Otididae; Aves) from the early Pliocene of Layna (Soria, Spain). Paleontol. Evol., 23, 223–229.

    Google Scholar 

  • Seddon PJ, Saint-Jalme M, Van Heezik Y, Paillat P, Gaucher P, Combreau O (1995) Restoration of Houbara bustard populations in Saudi Arabia: developments and future directions. Oryx, 29, 136–142.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schneider S, Kueffer JM, Roessli D, Excoffier L (2000) ARLEQUIN, Version 2.01: A Software for Population Genetic Data Analysis. University of Geneva, Geneva.

    Google Scholar 

  • Slatkin M, Hudson RR (1991) Pairwise comparisons of mitochondrial DNA sequences in stable and exponentially growing populations. Genetics, 129, 555–562.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Tajima F (1989) Statistical method for testing the neutral mutation hypothesis by DNA polymorphism. Genetics, 123, 585–595.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Thompson JD, Gibson TJ, Plewniak F, Jeanmougin F, Higgins DG (1997) The ClustalX windows interface: flexible strategies for multiple sequence alignment aided by quality analysis tools. Nucleic Acids Res., 25, 4876–4882.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Thorne JL, Kishino H, Painter IS (1998) Estimating the rate of evolution of the rate of molecular evolution Mol. Biol. Evol., 15, 1647–1657.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Troy CS, MacHugh DE, Bailey JF et al. (2001) Genetic evidence for Near-Eastern origins of European cattle. Nature, 410, 1088–1091.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Whitlock M, McCauley D (1999) Indirect measures of gene flow and migration: Fst not equal to 1/(4Nm-1). Heredity, 82, 117–125.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Evolutionary Genetics, Institute for Zoo- and Wildlife Research, PF 1103, D-10252, Berlin, Germany

    Christian Pitra & Dietmar Lieckfeldt

  2. National Avian Research Center, Environmental Research and Wildlife Development Agency, P.O. Box 45553, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

    Marie-Ann D'Aloia & Olivier Combreau

Authors
  1. Christian Pitra
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Marie-Ann D'Aloia
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Dietmar Lieckfeldt
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Olivier Combreau
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Christian Pitra.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Pitra, C., D'Aloia, MA., Lieckfeldt, D. et al. Genetic variation across the current range of the Asian houbara bustard (Chlamydotis undulata macqueenii). Conservation Genetics 5, 205–215 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1023/B:COGE.0000030004.51398.28

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/B:COGE.0000030004.51398.28

Search

Navigation