Abstract
European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) represent one of the most
widespread and problematic avian invasive species in the world.
Therefore, understanding their unique population history and current
population dynamics can contribute to conservation efforts and clarify
evolutionary processes over short timescales. European starlings were
introduced to Central Park, New York in 1890, and from a founding group
of about 100 birds, they have expanded across North America with a
current population of approximately 200 million. There were also
multiple introductions in Australia in the mid-19th century, and at
least one introduction in South Africa in the late 19th century. These
three independent introductions provide a robust evolutionary system to
further understand invasion genetics. In this study, we compare
mitochondrial diversity in European starlings from North America,
Australia and South Africa, and a portion of the native-range in the
United Kingdom. Of the three invasive ranges, the North American
population shows the highest haplotype diversity and evidence of both
sudden demographic expansion and current expansion. Comparatively, the
Australian population shows the highest nucleotide diversity, and only
evidence for sudden demographic expansion. We find no evidence of
population structure in North America or South Africa, and three
distinct haplogroups in the Australian population. Interestingly, none
of the invasive ranges share any haplotypes with each other. The only
shared haplotypes occur between the native-range and either North
America or Australia. This suggests these three invasive populations
represent independent subsamples of the vast diversity of the native
range, and that novel haplotypes unique to each population may have
emerged since introduction.