This gives it protection by making the trade of wild caught birds illegal. It is listed in Appendix 2 of the CITES list of protected species. It numbers in the wild have declined owing to habitat loss, hunting and illegal trapping for the cage-bird trade. Umbrella Cockatoos, like all the other species of cockatoos, are important for the dispersal of seeds - which has important consequences for the ecology and evolution of plants.Īlthough the umbrella cockatoo is not classified as an endangered species it is classified as vulnerable. They are particularly common along the edges of clearings and rivers. Within their natural range, they are found at elevations of 1,000 to 3,000 ft (300 to 900 m) in a variety of habitats, including forests and open woodland, mangroves, swamps and agricultural areas (where they are considered “pests” since they feed on the crop). (BirdLife International, 2001 Juniper and Parr, 1998) They are also found on the island of Obi and the nearby island of Bisa, but it is believed that they were introduced to these islands and are escaped pets. Specifically, they occur naturally on the islands of Bacan, Halmahera, Tidore, Kasiruta, Ternate, Kasiruta and Mandioli. Instead, we concluded that the two northern subspecies should be combined into a single subspecies, with the name banksii.The Umbrella Cockatoo or White Cockatoo, Cacatua alba, is endemic to the islands of Central and Northern Moluccas (aka Maluku Islands) in Indonesia. The sparsely wooded plains fringing the Gulf of Carpentaria were supposedly the boundary between these two subspecies, and they are known to separate many species across this region. First, we did not find any genetic separation between the two subspecies from northern Australia, banksii and macrorhynchus. This led us to make two changes to the formal classification (taxonomy) within the species. Intriguingly, the five conservation units that we identified were not the same as the subspecies that had been previously defined. The genetic data from our study allow us to outline a strategy to rescue graptogyne from its continued loss of genetic diversity. We also identified that the graptogyne subspecies of western Victoria and south-eastern South Australia has the lowest level of genetic diversity, and is likely to suffer from inbreeding. Protecting and maintaining these distinct units of genetic variation will maximize the chances of the species persisting in the wild. Our data set allowed us to identify five ‘conservation units’ within the species, which will help guide effective conservation strategies. We estimated that the ancestor of the species appeared within the past ~1.28 million years. We were able to extract a large amount of genetic data from these specimens, some of which were >100 years old, allowing us to investigate the relationships between the current subspecies. Fortunately, specimens have been collected over many decades and are stored in museums throughout Australia. Collecting the samples for such a study would normally have taken an immense amount of time and resources. We conducted a genetic assessment of the red-tailed black-cockatoo across its entire range. Genetic information is sorely needed to inform the management strategies for this species. The two southern subspecies are threatened, with only approximately 1,000 graptogyne 15,000 naso individuals remaining in the wild. The red-tailed black-cockatoo is also targeted in the illegal pet trade. Like other cockatoo species, red-tailed black-cockatoos cannot excavate their own tree hollows, yet they rely on them for nesting. Unfortunately, the red-tailed black-cockatoo is suffering from habitat destruction.
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