A review of the invasive Eurasian collared dove and possible research methods in the future

Abstract

The Eurasian Collared Dove Streptopelia decaocto is one of the most successfuly expanding vertebrate species in the world; therefore, it has attracted special scientific focus. This review summarises the species’ achievements related to its rapid expansion and the ecological consequences with regard to the population genetic assessments. It also highlights the expansion dynamics of the species and the ecosystems to which it is most adapted. Finally, the effects of this species on the newly colonised ecosystems are illustrated. The study of the genetic structure between populations to make inferences about expansion dynamics has been neglected so far. Thus, we survey the opportunities of using molecular markers for genetic analysis in populations of Eurasian Collared Dove as a possible means for future studies. This work is important given the lack of information on the mentioned fields, and it calls attention to the importance of further interdisciplinary studies from different scientific fields using this species.