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Gaviidae (1 Viewer)

Peter Kovalik

Peter Kovalik

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Slovakia
Quentin Sprengelmeyer and Alec R. Lindsay. Revising the phylogeny of Gavia with second-generation sequencing data. (International Loon and Diver Workshop, Finland 2013).

Presentation Abstract:
The evolutionary history of the extant five species of loons (Gavia spp.) has not been a contentious issue for evolutionary biologists or ornithologists. However, the species-status of the pacific loon (G. pacifica) has fluctuated – especially in North America – over the past century, at times being considered a sub-species of the arctic loon (G. arctica pacifica). Previous authorities and morphological analyses considered G. pacifica to be sister to G. arctica, but surprisingly, recent molecular phylogenetic work has indicated G. pacifica is sister to a G. immer-G. adamsii clade.

In this work, we test these phylogenetic hypotheses using massive amounts of second-generation sequencing data (hundreds of independent loci) from multiple samples of each Gavia species to arrive at a robust phylogeny of the family. These genetic data along with the estimated divergence times for each species will help illuminate which geologic events (e.g., glacial maxima/minima) may have played significant past roles in diversifying the Gavia lineage.
 
Green-throated Diver

Paul Mills said:
Does anybody know if there has been any molecular work done on East Siberian viridigularis?
Click to expand...
It would certainly be interesting to know whether Sprengelmeyer & Lindsay sampled viridigularis.

Monroe & Sibley 1993 lists Green-throated Loon as a possible species. Beaman 1994 notes "viridigularis Green-throated Loon (or Green-throated Diver), formerly occasionally treated as specifically distinct, but it intergrades with nominate arctica in northern Siberia (Vaurie 1965)".

But if it was sampled, then the lack of any mention in the abstract suggests that no significant divergence was found...
 
Last edited:
Richard Klim said:
But if it was sampled, then the lack of any mention in the abstract suggests that no significant divergence was found...
Click to expand...

Could easily be an abstract written before all the data were available - that is often what I have had to do when wanting to present something new at a conference

Niels
 
Yeah I imagine Njlarsen is right...certainly many of my talks/posters have changed drastically from abstract to presentation to actual paper.
 
Sprengelmeyer, Quentin D., "A PHYLOGENETIC REEVALUATION OF THE GENUS GAVIA (AVES: GAVIIFORMES) USING NEXT-GENERATION SEQUENCING" (2014). NMU Master's Theses. Paper 1.

Abstract:
Avian phylogenetic analysis based on DNA sequences, rather than morphological characters, has been used in recent decades to resolve systematic relationships. Advancements in molecular techniques have improved avian phylogenetics and have led to new insights on the relationships between and within taxa. Loons (Aves: Gaviiformes) are one of the oldest living lineages of birds, and the order includes five extant species. The morphological cladogram of Gavia placed G. arctica as a sister species to G. pacifica. However, a more recent study based on mtDNA resulted in a discordant tree splitting the G. arctica/G. pacifica clade, and placed G. pacifica as sister to the (G. immer, G. adamsii) clade. These hypotheses were tested using next-generation sequencing (NGS) data in the form of a RAD-tag dataset comprising 232,094 bps from 2502 variable loci. Bayesian inference, Maximum Likelihood, and Maximum Parsimony phylogenetic analyses of a concatenated dataset strongly supported the traditional phylogeny (G. stellata, ((G. arctica, G. pacifica), (G. adamsii, G. immer))), and differed from the largely mitochondrially-based hypothesis that placed G. pacifica sister to the (G. immer, G. adamsii) clade. Both internally- and externally-calibrated molecular clock based estimates of divergence dates placed the most recent common ancestor of modern loons in the early Miocene, which is earlier than previously thought, ~21.4 mya (20-22.8 mya) provides a more parsimonious explanation for body size evolution in loons.

[PDF]
 
Peter Kovalik said:
Sprengelmeyer, Quentin D., "A PHYLOGENETIC REEVALUATION OF THE GENUS GAVIA (AVES: GAVIIFORMES) USING NEXT-GENERATION SEQUENCING" (2014). NMU Master's Theses. Paper 1.

Abstract:
Avian phylogenetic analysis based on DNA sequences, rather than morphological characters, has been used in recent decades to resolve systematic relationships. Advancements in molecular techniques have improved avian phylogenetics and have led to new insights on the relationships between and within taxa. Loons (Aves: Gaviiformes) are one of the oldest living lineages of birds, and the order includes five extant species. The morphological cladogram of Gavia placed G. arctica as a sister species to G. pacifica. However, a more recent study based on mtDNA resulted in a discordant tree splitting the G. arctica/G. pacifica clade, and placed G. pacifica as sister to the (G. immer, G. adamsii) clade. These hypotheses were tested using next-generation sequencing (NGS) data in the form of a RAD-tag dataset comprising 232,094 bps from 2502 variable loci. Bayesian inference, Maximum Likelihood, and Maximum Parsimony phylogenetic analyses of a concatenated dataset strongly supported the traditional phylogeny (G. stellata, ((G. arctica, G. pacifica), (G. adamsii, G. immer))), and differed from the largely mitochondrially-based hypothesis that placed G. pacifica sister to the (G. immer, G. adamsii) clade. Both internally- and externally-calibrated molecular clock based estimates of divergence dates placed the most recent common ancestor of modern loons in the early Miocene, which is earlier than previously thought, ~21.4 mya (20-22.8 mya) provides a more parsimonious explanation for body size evolution in loons.

[PDF]
Click to expand...

= MtDNA exposed again as a tool of limited value, certainly less than common sense. If it looks like a duck....

John
 
Lindsay A.R. 2002. Molecular and Vocal Evolution in Loons (Aves:Gaviiformes). Doctoral dissertation, University of Michigan.

Can be read here. (It's a pain, though...)
 
Green-throated Diver

Lindsay (2002: Fig.1.9, Table 1.1) included 5 Gavia arctica: one from Scotland, two from Sweden, one from NW Russia (Ob river), one from NE Russia (Kolyma river). Based on distribution, the Kolyma bird should be viridigularis, the others arctica. In the mtDNA tree, the two Russian birds cluster together (weakly), and are embedded among the western sequences, suggesting no differentiation of viridigularis at the mtDNA level.

Sprengelmeyer (2014: Table 1, Fig.7, 8, 9) included 7 Gavia arctica: six from Sweden (all from different sites and obtained in different years, ie., no reasons to think the birds might be particularly closely inter-related), and one (sample #1456) from Chukotka, Russia. Based on distribution, the Chukotka bird should be viridigularis, the others arctica. In the trees, the Chukotka bird appear sister to all the Swedish birds (very strong support for the monophyly of entire species; poor support in ML, but Bayesian PP=1 for the grouping of the Swedish birds). Could indicate some differentiation--but how much cannot be assessed from the presented results, and of course it could as well just be isolation by distance.
 
With that deep of a divergence between stellata & the other loons, wouldn't at LEAST a separate genus be appropriate? Sure, they form a monophyletic group - but then, so do 'Aves', & we don't exactly lump them into a single genus (though perhaps entomologists would suggest we should).
 
Gavia arctica

Jae-I Moon, Jong-Gil Park, Sub Hur, Yeon-Kye Kim, Dong-Ha Nam & Dong-Hyun Lee (2018) Mitochondrial genome of the black-throated loon, Gavia arctica (Gaviiformes: Gaviidae): phylogeny and evolutionary history, Mitochondrial DNA Part B, 3:2, 586-587, DOI: 10.1080/23802359.2018.1473733

[pdf]
 
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