Leppitt Robin, Rose Alea, Houston Wayne A, Kyne Peter M, Banks Sam C, Woinarski John C Z, Garnett Stephen T
Research Institute for the Environment and Livelihoods Charles Darwin University Casuarina Northern Territory Australia.
Threatened Species Recovery Hub National Environmental Science Program Canberra Australian Capital Territory Australia.
Ecol Evol. 2022 Jul 24;12(7):e9114. doi: 10.1002/ece3.9114. eCollection 2022 Jul.
The delineation of subspecies is important in the evaluation and protection of biodiversity. Subspecies delineation is hampered by inconsistently applied criteria and a lack of agreement and shifting standards on how a subspecies should be defined. The Australian endemic Yellow Chat () is split into three subspecies (. , , and ) based on minor plumage differences and geographical isolation. Both (Endangered) and (Critically Endangered) are recognized under Australian legislation as threatened and are the subject of significant conservation effort. We used mitochondrial DNA to evaluate the phylogeny of the Yellow Chat and determine how much genetic variation is present in each of the three subspecies. We found no significant difference in the cytochrome b sequences (833 base pairs) of and , but approximately 0.70% or 5.83 bp difference between and both and This analysis supports the delineation of as a valid subspecies but does not support separation of from . We also found very low levels of genetic variation within the Yellow Chat, suggesting it may be vulnerable to environmental change. Our results cast doubt upon the geographic isolation of from , but more advanced genetic sequencing and a robust comparison of plumage are needed to fully resolve taxonomy.
亚种的划分在生物多样性的评估和保护中至关重要。亚种划分受到标准应用不一致、缺乏关于如何定义亚种的共识以及标准不断变化的阻碍。澳大利亚特有的黄鹡鸰（学名：Epthianura crocea）基于微小的羽毛差异和地理隔离被分为三个亚种（E. crocea crocea、E. crocea chrysorrhoa和E. crocea leucoptera）。E. crocea chrysorrhoa（濒危）和E. crocea leucoptera（极度濒危）在澳大利亚法律下均被认定为受威胁物种，并受到大量保护工作的关注。我们使用线粒体DNA来评估黄鹡鸰的系统发育，并确定三个亚种各自存在多少遗传变异。我们发现E. crocea crocea和E. crocea chrysorrhoa的细胞色素b序列（833个碱基对）没有显著差异，但E. crocea leucoptera与E. crocea crocea和E. crocea chrysorrhoa之间分别存在约0.70%或5.83个碱基对的差异。这一分析支持将E. crocea chrysorrhoa划分为一个有效的亚种，但不支持将E. crocea leucoptera与其他两个亚种分离。我们还发现黄鹡鸰内部的遗传变异水平非常低，这表明它可能易受环境变化的影响。我们的结果对E. crocea leucoptera与其他亚种的地理隔离提出了质疑，但需要更先进的基因测序和对羽毛进行更有力的比较才能完全解决分类学问题。
