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Restricted gene flow and fine-scale population structuring in tool using New Caledonian crows

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Abstract

New Caledonian crows Corvus moneduloides are the most prolific avian tool users. It has been suggested that some aspects of their complex tool use behaviour are under the influence of cultural processes, involving the social transmission—and perhaps even progressive refinement—of tool designs. Using microsatellite and mt-haplotype profiling of crows from three distinct habitats (dry forest, farmland and beachside habitat), we show that New Caledonian crow populations can exhibit significant fine-scale genetic structuring. Our finding that some sites of <10 km apart were highly differentiated demonstrates considerable potential for genetic and/or cultural isolation of crow groups. Restricted movement of birds between local populations at such small spatial scales, especially across habitat boundaries, illustrates how specific tool designs could be preserved over time, and how tool technologies of different crow groups could diverge due to drift and local selection pressures. Young New Caledonian crows have an unusually long juvenile dependency period, during which they acquire complex tool-related foraging skills. We suggest that the resulting delayed natal dispersal drives population-divergence patterns in this species. Our work provides essential context for future studies that examine the genetic makeup of crow populations across larger geographic areas, including localities with suspected cultural differences in crow tool technologies.

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Acknowledgements

Special thanks to L.A. Bluff who set up the field project together with C.R. in 2005, and to A. Weir and A. Kacelnik for sharing its early stages. We are also grateful to L.A. Bluff, J. Troscianko, A. Bayern and several field volunteers for assistance with crow trapping over the years; C. Lambert, T. Mennesson, J.-Y. Lemenant, S. Blancher, J. Bourget, N. Barré, J.-P. Richard and J. Paimbou-Ayouma for support in New Caledonia; N. McInerney for help with lab work; and three anonymous referees for excellent comments on the manuscript. This research was funded through a BBSRC (Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council) David Phillips Fellowship to C.R. (BB/G023913/1), with additional generous support in New Caledonia from the Province Sud, the Direction de l'Environnement (DENV) and SEM Mwe Ara (Gouaro-Déva). Research was carried out with permissions from the DENV and the Direction de Resources Naturelles (Province Sud, New Caledonia) and was approved by Oxford University's local ethical review committee.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3PS, UK

    C. Rutz

  2. Center for Conservation and Evolutionary Genetics, Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, National Zoological Park, Box 37012, MRC 5503, Washington, DC, 20013-7012, USA

    T. B. Ryder & R. C. Fleischer

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  1. C. Rutz
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  2. T. B. Ryder
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  3. R. C. Fleischer
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Correspondence to C. Rutz.

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Communicated by: Pamela Rasmussen

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Fig. S1

Changes in ∆K suggest that the sampled New Caledonian crow population is structured into three genetically distinct subpopulations (K = 3; cf. Fig. 2); for details, see main text (PDF 64.2 kb)

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Rutz, C., Ryder, T.B. & Fleischer, R.C. Restricted gene flow and fine-scale population structuring in tool using New Caledonian crows. Naturwissenschaften 99, 313–320 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-012-0904-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-012-0904-6

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