Research Task: 8327CNJ.9.0
Task Manager: Sara Oyler-McCance
White-tailed Kite (Elanus leucurus) populations in North America have undergone dramatic fluctuations since early records of the species from the mid 1800s. Though common during the early expeditions of the western United States, by the turn of the century naturalists noted that White-tailed Kites were rare and suspected that the species was close to extinction. By the 1930s, the species was extirpated in the southeastern U.S. and was considered nearly extinct in California. But in the 1920–30s, kite numbers began to increase; by the 1940s, a trend toward recovery was apparent, with increasing numbers observed in subsequent decades. Today, the White-tailed Kite is a fairly common resident in California, with slowly increasing numbers in Texas, Florida, and Oregon, and in the middle Americas. It is unknown whether the kites in California are remnants of a few that survived the decline or whether another group of kites from South America colonized this region. This study compares DNA from kites sampled from museums that were collected before 1920 to DNA from modern samples. Results can determine not only the identity of the surviving kites but also the amount of genetic variability present, important information given that population bottlenecks typically leave extremely low levels of genetic variability.
For more information contact Sara Oyler-McCance
U.S. Department of the Interior | U.S. Geological Survey
URL: http://www.fort.usgs.gov/Research/research_tasks.asp
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