Population Genetics and Invasion History of the European Starling Across Aotearoa New Zealand.

Abstract

The expansion of human settlements over the past few centuries is responsible for an unprecedented number of invasive species introductions globally. An important component of biological invasion management is understanding how introduction history and postintroduction processes have jointly shaped present-day distributions and patterns of population structure, diversity and adaptation. One example of a successful invader is the European starling (Sturnus vulgaris), which was intentionally introduced to numerous countries in the 19th century, including Aotearoa New Zealand, where it has become firmly established. We used reduced representation sequencing to characterise the genetic population structure of the European starling in New Zealand, comparing it to that present in sampling locations in the native range and invasive Australian range. The population structure and genetic diversity patterns we found suggested restricted gene flow from the majority of New Zealand to the northmost sampling location (Auckland). We also profiled genetic bottlenecks and shared outlier genomic regions, which supported historical accounts of translocations between both Australian subpopulations and New Zealand, and provided evidence of which documented translocation events were more likely to have been successful. Using these results as well as historic demographic patterns, we demonstrate how genomic analysis complements even well-documented invasion histories to better understand invasion processes, with direct implications for understanding contemporary gene flow and informing invasion management.