Bridging Evolutionary History and Conservation of New World Vultures

SIMPLE SUMMARY: This study focuses on New World Vultures, a group of seven scavenger bird species with ecological significance. Despite their importance, there is limited knowledge about their evolutionary history and conservation needs. Recent advances in understanding their evolutionary relationships have paved the way for addressing these gaps using phylogenetic methods. By analyzing the species’ ancestral distribution in the Americas, we employed two techniques to identify historical dispersion patterns. This study pinpointed South America as their original area, with subsequent recolonization of North America by certain species. To guide conservation efforts, we used two indices. The Evolutionary Distinctiveness (ED) index measured species’ uniqueness according to their phylogeny, while the Global Endangerment (GE) index mapped phylogenetic diversity. The findings highlighted the Black Vulture, California Condor and Andean Condor as priority species based on their uniqueness and evolutionary significance. Additionally, we identified crucial regions for conservation, including the lowlands of the Amazon River basin, the Orinoco basin and various areas along the Guiana Shield’s tributaries. This research underscores the importance of combining evolutionary and ecological insights and tools to fill knowledge gaps about species of concern. By doing so, we can formulate effective strategies to protect these species in the face of ongoing biodiversity loss. ABSTRACT: The New World Vultures (Cathartidae) include seven species of obligate scavengers that, despite their ecological relevance, present critical information gaps around their evolutionary history and conservation. Insights into their phylogenetic relationships in recent years has enabled the addressing of such information gaps through approaches based on phylogeny. We reconstructed the ancestral area in America of the current species using two regionalization schemes and methods: Biogeography with Bayesian Evolutionary Analysis (BioGeoBears) and Bayesian Binary Model–Monte Carlo Markov Chains (BBM–MCMC). Then, we identified the priority species and areas for conservation by means of the Evolutionary Distinctiveness index (ED), as a proxy of the uniqueness of species according to phylogeny, and the Global Endangerment index (GE), mapping phylogenetic diversity. We found that the ancestral area of New World Vultures in America corresponds to South America, with dispersal processes that led to a recolonization of North America by Coragyps atratus, Gymnogyps californianus and Cathartes aura. We identified the Black Vulture, G. californianus and Vultur gryphus as priority species based on ED and “Evolutionary Distinct Globally Endangered” (EDGE) indexes, and the lowlands of Amazon River basin and the Orinoco basin and some tributaries areas of the Guiana Shield were identified as the priority areas when mapping the phylogenetic diversity. This study highlights the importance of filling knowledge gaps of species of conservation concern through the integration of evolutionary and ecological information and tools and, thus, developing adequate strategies to enhance the preservation of these species in the face of the current loss of biodiversity.