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Recent Starlings in Western Australia Differed Genetically from the 2000s Population

Common starling foraging on grass in Melbourne, Australia
Research · Genetics & genomics

An NCBI BioProject record registered on 1 September 2026 describes genomic data from common starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) sampled across roughly 20 years of the species’ invasion in Australia. The birds came from established populations in New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia, from the Western Australia–South Australia border, and from the western front of the invasion in Western Australia.

The record combines samples from 2004–2008 with birds collected in 2017 and 2023–2024. Researchers used reduced-representation sequencing, which examines a subset of the genome across many genetic markers, to compare genetic diversity, population structure, relatedness, sex ratios and connectivity among the sampled populations.

The recent Western Australian incursions were genetically distinct from birds sampled at the western invasion front in the 2000s. According to the BioProject record, this pattern is consistent with the earlier incursion having been successfully extirpated before starlings later reinvaded the area. The analyses also detected ongoing gene flow from established source populations farther east in Australia.

Western Australia has been subject to government-led starling eradication efforts since the 1970s. The BioProject presents the long-term comparison as a resource for understanding how invasive populations change at an expanding range edge and for assessing the usefulness of genomic surveillance in invasive-species management.

Sources and image credit

  1. National Center for Biotechnology Information. (2026). Sturnus vulgaris: Western Australian (and intermediate/core range) raw sequence reads (BioProject PRJNA1521632). NCBI BioProject.Primary repository record registered 1 September 2026. It describes reduced-representation sequencing from Australian common starlings sampled across roughly 20 years and reports that 2017–2024 Western Australian incursions were genetically distinct from the 2000s western range-edge population, consistent with extirpation followed by reinvasion. It also reports ongoing gene flow from eastern Australian source populations.

Image: SuperJew / Wikimedia Commons — common starling at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne, Australia. Representative image for this story; not presented as an animal or scene from the reported study or event. · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source

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