See below for the seemingly miraculous movements of one of the Kermadec Petrels that breeds on Round Island in the western Indian Ocean sent to me by John Darnell from the WA Museum. So Paul, your Southport birds don’t necessarily come from Lord Howe! Some of you may not be aware that Kermadec Petrels as well as Trinidade Petrels breed on Round Island. I’m not sure re the status of Herald Petrel there.
Mike Carter 30 Canadian Bay Road Mount Eliza VIC 3930 Tel (03) 9787 7136
Hi Mike, I’d say that a good deal of our birds come from the Kermadecs, I have written some notes on Kermadec in our 2012 annual report due out soon. As far as I’m aware Kermadecs are hybridising on Round Island with the Trinidade Petrels, not aware of Herald Petrels being there. Cheers – Paul.
See below for the seemingly miraculous movements of one of the Kermadec Petrels that breeds on Round Island in the western Indian Ocean sent to me by John Darnell from the WA Museum. So Paul, your Southport birds don’t necessarily come from Lord Howe! Some of you may not be aware that Kermadec Petrels as well as Trinidade Petrels breed on Round Island. I’m not sure re the status of Herald Petrel there.
Mike Carter 30 Canadian Bay Road Mount Eliza VIC 3930 Tel (03) 9787 7136
Hi Mike et al.
Interesting indeed! In addition to the ground-breaking paper by Brooke et al. Ibis (2000) 142, 139-158 on the gadfly petrels of Round Island, there is an interesting paper by Brown et al. Molecular Ecology (2010) 19, 3157–3170 showing that Trindade and Kermadec Petrels on Round island hybridise:
Abstract Historical records suggest that the petrels of Round Island (near Mauritius, Indian Ocean) represent a recent, long-distance colonization by species originating from the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The majority of petrels on Round Island appear most similar to Pterodroma arminjoniana, a species whose only other breeding locality is Trindade Island in the South Atlantic. Using nine microsatellite loci, patterns of genetic differentiation in petrels from Round and Trindade Islands were analysed. The two populations exhibit low but significant levels of differentiation in allele frequencies and estimates of migration rate between islands using genetic data are also low, supporting the hypothesis that these populations have recently separated but are now isolated from one another. A second population of petrels, most similar in appearance to the Pacific species P. neglecta, is also present on Round Island and observations suggest that the two petrel species are hybridizing. Vocalizations recorded on the island also suggest that hybrid birds may be present within the population. Data from microsatellite genotypes support this hypothesis and indicate that there may have been many generations of hybridization and back-crossing between P. arminjoniana and P. neglecta on Round Island. Our results provide an insight into the processes of dispersal and the consequences of secondary contact in Procellariiformes.
Cheers,
Nikolas