Ecology and conservation genetics of Ridgway's Hawk Buteo ridgwayi

Abstract

Ridgway's Hawk is a forest raptor endemic to the island of Hispaniola in the West Indies. The species is ecologically little known, with only three nests followed in 1976, and no comprehensive nest observations reported since then. This thesis reports on 5 years of research on the ecology and conservation genetics of this small isolated population. The global distribution was found to be limited to an area of 1600 km2 on the northeast coast of the island, with only one source population. Population size was estimated at 91109 breeding pairs remaining with a continued declining trend observed over the study period. Effective population size for the species may be less than 40 individuals.