Comprehensive molecular phylogeny of the grassbirds and allies (Locustellidae) reveals extensive non-monophyly of traditional genera, and a proposal for a new classification

Autumn migration tracks of Helopsaltes grasshopper‐warblers from Northeast Asia support recent taxonomic assignments

Migration strategies are genetically inherited in most songbirds, and closely related species can exhibit markedly contrasting migration programs. Here, we investigate the autumn migration of one Helopsaltes grasshopper‐warbler from a population near Magadan, North East Russia, based on light‐level geolocation. Although often considered to belong to Middendorff's Grasshopper‐warbler H. ochotensis, recent genetic studies suggest that birds from this population are more closely related to Pallas's Grasshopper‐warbler H. certhiola. We compare the migratory behavior of the Magadan bird with two Pallas's Grasshopper‐warblers tracked from populations in the Kolyma River valley and the Amur region, Russia. We found similar migration patterns in all three tracked individuals, with stopover sites in eastern China and wintering sites in mainland Southeast Asia, within the known range for Pallas's Grasshopper‐warbler. Furthermore, based on morphological data compiled during bird ringing, we were able to confirm the presence of potential “Magadan grasshopper‐warblers” during spring and autumn migration in Thailand. Our scant data provide further evidence that Magadan Helopsaltes, notwithstanding their morphological resemblance to Middendorff's Grasshopper‐warbler, constitute a population of Pallas's Grasshopper‐warbler.

Deep Macroevolutionary Impact of Humans on New Zealand's Unique Avifauna

Islands are at the frontline of the anthropogenic extinction crisis [1]. A vast number of island birds have gone extinct since human colonization [2], and an important proportion is currently threatened with extinction [3]. While the number of lost or threatened avian species has often been quantified [4], the macroevolutionary consequences of human impact on island biodiversity have rarely been measured [5]. Here, we estimate the amount of evolutionary time that has been lost or is under threat due to anthropogenic activity in a classic example, New Zealand. Half of its bird taxa have gone extinct since humans arrived [6, 7] and many are threatened [8], including lineages forming highly distinct branches in the avian tree of life [9-11]. Using paleontological and ancient DNA information, we compiled a dated phylogenetic dataset for New Zealand's terrestrial avifauna. We extend the method DAISIE developed for island biogeography [12] to allow for the fact that many of New Zealand's birds are evolutionarily isolated and use it to estimate natural rates of speciation, extinction, and colonization. Simulating under a range of human-induced extinction scenarios, we find that it would take approximately 50 million years (Ma) to recover the number of species lost since human colonization of New Zealand and up to 10 Ma to return to today's species numbers if currently threatened species go extinct. This study puts into macroevolutionary perspective the impact of humans in an isolated fauna and reveals how conservation decisions we take today will have repercussions for millions of years.

A lost world in Wallacea: Description of a montane archipelagic avifauna

Birds are the best-known animal class, with only about five or six new species descriptions per year since 1999. Integrating genomic and phenotypic research with arduous fieldwork in remote regions, we describe five new songbird species and five new subspecies from a small area near Sulawesi, Indonesia, all collected in a single 6-week expedition. Two factors contributed to the description of this large number of species from such a small geographic area: (i) Knowledge of Quaternary Period land connections helped pinpoint isolated islands likely to harbor substantial endemism and (ii) studying accounts of historic collectors such as Alfred Wallace facilitated the identification of undercollected islands. Our findings suggest that humans’ understanding of biogeographically complex regions such as Wallacea remains incomplete.