Holarctic phylogeography of golden eagles (Aquila chrysaetos) and evaluation of alternative North American management approaches

The golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) is a long-lived bird of prey with a Holarctic distribution. This species has survived severe anthropogenic stressors that have reduced or eliminated populations in some parts of its range. Despite the ecological and cultural importance of the golden eagle, few attempts have been made to determine the partitioning of genetic variation over large areas of its range. This study generated DNA sequence data from the mitochondrial DNA control region from 115 North American golden eagles and combined these data with existing control region sequences from over 300 Nearctic, Palearctic and Mediterranean golden eagles to provide a clearer holistic picture of the Holarctic phylogeographical patterns of genetic variation in this species and the genetic variation and demographic history of golden eagles in North America. The results support that there are two genetic lineages of golden eagles, one representing the Mediterranean and the other occurring throughout the Holarctic. The Holarctic lineage reveals little to no modern-day gene flow between Nearctic and Palearctic golden eagles. Furthermore, the current distribution of haplotypes in the Nearctic shows a recent population expansion with moderate levels of gene flow.