Alexandra Wanka

The fate of a dynasty: Population genomics uncovers the demographic history of Ardea insignis, one of the rarest bird species in the world

The White-bellied Heron (Ardea insignis) is one of the world’s rarest birds, with fewer than 60 known individuals remaining in the wild. Whether this extreme rarity reflects a recent anthropogenic collapse or a long history of persistently small population size has remained unknown, limiting our understanding of the sp...