Behavioural and genetic interactions between an endangered and a recently-arrived hummingbird
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ORIGINAL PAPER
Behavioural and genetic interactions between an endangered and a recently-arrived hummingbird Wouter F. D. van Dongen • Ilenia Lazzoni Hans Winkler • Rodrigo A. Va´squez • Cristia´n F. Estades
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Received: 5 March 2012 / Accepted: 19 November 2012 / Published online: 27 November 2012 Ó Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2012
Abstract The invasion or expansion of non-native species into new geographic areas can pose a major threat to the conservation of biodiversity. These threats are augmented when the newly-arrived species interacts with native species that are already threatened by
Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s10530-012-0358-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. W. F. D. van Dongen (&) H. Winkler Konrad Lorenz Institute of Ethology, Department of Integrative Biology and Evolution, Veterinary University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria e-mail: [email protected] W. F. D. van Dongen H. Winkler Konrad Lorenz Institute of Ethology, The Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna, Austria W. F. D. van Dongen R. A. Va´squez Departamento de Ciencias Ecolo´gicas, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Chile, Las Palmeras 3425, ˜ un˜oa, Santiago, Chile N I. Lazzoni C. F. Estades Laboratorio de Ecologia de Vida Silvestre, Departamento de Gestio´n Forestal y Medio Ambiente, Facultad de Ciencias Forestales y Conservacio´n de la Naturaleza, Universidad de Chile, Av. Santa Rosa 11315, La Pintana, Santiago, Chile R. A. Va´squez Instituto de Ecologı´a y Biodiversidad, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Chile, Las Palmeras 3425, ˜ un˜oa, Santiago, Chile N
other ecological or anthropogenic processes. Potential interactions can include both competition for scarce resources and reproductive interference, including hybridisation. Understanding the dynamics of these interactions forms a crucial component of conservation management strategies. A recent contact zone occurs in the north of Chile between the endangered Chilean woodstar (Eulidia yarrellii) and the closely-related and recently-arrived Peruvian sheartail (Thaumastura cora), which expanded its range from Peru into Chile during the 1970s. We characterised the interactions between the species by combining population size estimates with molecular, morphological and behavioural data. We show that a low degree of hybridisation, but not introgression, is occurring between the two species. Despite interspecific morphological similarities, behavioural observations indicate that food niche overlap between the species is relatively low, and that the dietary breadth of sheartails is larger, which may have aided the species’ range expansion. Finally, woodstars dominate the sheartails in male–male territorial interactions. However, potentially increased energetic costs for woodstars associated with frequent territorial chases and courtship displaying with sheartails may exacerbate the effects of other threats on woodstar viability, such as human-induced habitat modificati
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