MtDNA ND2 sequence identifies Streaked Horned Lark ( Eremophila alpestris strigata ) from birdstrike to US Air Force F-1
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TECHNICAL NOTE
MtDNA ND2 sequence identifies Streaked Horned Lark (Eremophila alpestris strigata) from birdstrike to US Air Force F-15 at Portland International Airport, Oregon Carla J. Dove • Nor Faridah Dahlan Sergei V. Drovetski
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Received: 23 April 2013 / Accepted: 6 May 2013 Ó The Author(s) 2013. This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com
Abstract The Streaked Horned Lark (SHL: Eremophila alpestris strigata) is the Northwest subspecies of the Horned Lark listed as endangered in Washington State, critical in Oregon, and is now being considered for listing as threatened by the US Fish & Wildlife Service. Some of the important breeding areas of SHL are associated with airports in western Washington and Oregon which raises concern over possible collisions between SHLs and aircraft. Here, we report a successful use of mtDNA ND2 gene sequence for identification of SHL feather and tissue remains from a bird collision with a US Air Force F-15-C on 4 October 2012 at Portland International Airport. Due to the conservation status of SHL, documentation of this event and a simple mtDNA-based molecular identification protocol may have management and conservation implications at airfields within the range of this rare subspecies. Keywords Portland International Airport Birdstrike F-15 DNA Streaked Horned Lark
Introduction The Horned Lark (Eremophila alpestris) is a common wide-ranging passerine of Holarctic arid lands, alpine and Arctic tundras that breeds throughout a large portion of
C. J. Dove (&) N. F. Dahlan Feather Identification Lab, Division of Birds, Smithsonian Institution, NHB E-600, MRC 116, Washington, DC 20560, USA e-mail: [email protected] S. V. Drovetski Tromsø University Museum, 9037 Tromso¨, Norway
North America (Beason 1995). Fifteen of the 21 currently recognized subspecies within the North American range (American Ornithologist Union Checklist 1957) occur in the western US and Canada. The Streaked Horned Lark (SHL: Eremophila alpestris strigata) is a rare subspecies of Horned Lark that is confined to a breeding range along the coast from southern British Colombia to Oregon (Beason 1995) and is now being considered for listing as threatened by the US Fish & Wildlife Service (Federal Register Vol. 77, No. 197 October 11, 2012). Regardless of the federal decision, this subspecies is already state listed as critical in Oregon (Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife Sensitive Species, p. 12, 2008) and endangered in Washington (Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, 2011 Annual Report, p. 58). In light of this, extensive study in recent years has summarized and quantified habitat loss, documented current breeding and wintering ranges, and analyzed the genetic differences among SHL and other Horned Lark subspecies inhabiting the Pacific Northwest (Drovetski et al. 2005 and references therein). The general habitat of SHL is similar to that of other subspecies and includes barren country, areas with short vegetation, and brushy flats (Beason 1995). The close association of SHL
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