Genetic structure and mating system in the palila, an endangered Hawaiian honeycreeper, as assessed by DNA fingerprinting
- Author:
-
Fleischer, Robert C., Pratt, Thane K., Tarr, Cheryl L.
- Title:
- Genetic structure and mating system in the palila, an endangered Hawaiian honeycreeper, as assessed by DNA fingerprinting
- Periodical:
- Molecular Ecology
- Year:
- 1994
- Volume:
- 3
- Pages:
- 383-392
- Subject:
-
Endangered species birds
Genetics
Kanakaleonui
Loxioides bailleui
Palila
Puu Laau
Translocation
- Summary:
- The palila (Loxioides bailleui) is an endangered Hawaiian honeycreeper (Fringillidae: Drepanidinae) that is presently limited to Mauna Kea, a dormant volcano that is located on the island of Hawaii. Here, the palila occupy an estimated 13900 ha of woodland that is dominated or codominated by the Mamane tree (Sophora chrysophylla) that has been severely depleted by feral sheep, cattle, and goats until most of the animals were removed in the 1980s. As a result, it is presumed that the palila population declined along with the habitat degradation. However, since the vegetation in the area is now recovering, the palila is now being provided with its principal food -- the unripe mamane seeds. This paper reports on the DNA fingerprinting data that was collected in an effort to assess both the genetic mating system and genetic structure of the palila metapopulation on Mauna Kea.
- Label:
- Birds - Palila
- URL:
- http://cletus.uhh.hawaii.edu:2074/10.1111/j.1365-294X.1994.tb00078.x
- Date:
- August 1994
- Collection:
- Periodicals