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The taxonomic status of petrels from the North East Atlantic has long been a matter of debate. Breeding colonies of petrels occurring on the islands of Madeira, Bugio and Cape Verde were originally thought to be outlying populations of the polytypic species Pterodroma mollis. Subsequent taxonomic treatments have varied considerably in their classification of birds from these islands. The petrel populations on Madeira and Bugio represent some of Europe's rarest breeding birds and their exact species designation, and hence relation to conservation mandates, is a question of considerable importance. In this study we use molecular techniques alongside more traditional taxonomic characters to confirm the existence of two species of the genus Pterodroma in the Archipelago of Madeira. We also discuss identification of these species in the field and the implications for their conservation management.

Aim: Anthropogenic activities alter and constrain the structure of marine ecosystems with implications for wide-ranging marine vertebrates. In spite of the environmental importance of vast oceanic ecosystems, most conservation efforts mainly focus on neritic areas. To identify relevant oceanic areas for conservation, we assessed the year-round spatial distribution and spatio-temporal overlap of eight truly oceanic seabird species of gadfly petrels (Pterodroma spp.) inhabiting the Atlantic Ocean. Location: Atlantic Ocean.Methods: Using tracking data (mostly from geolocators), we examined year-round distributions, the timing of life-cycle events, and marine habitat overlap of eight gadfly petrel species that breed in the Atlantic Ocean. Results:We compiled 125 year-round tracks. Movement strategies ranged from nonmigratory to long-distance migrant species and from species sharing a common nonbreeding area to species dispersing among multiple non-breeding sites. Gadfly petrels occurred throughout the Atlantic Ocean but tended to concentrate in subtropical regions. During the boreal summer, up to three species overlapped spatio-temporally over a large area around the Azores archipelago. During the austral summer, up to four species coincided in a core area in subtropical waters around Cape Verde, and three species shared habitat over two distinct areas off Brazil. The petrels used many | 795 RAMOS et Al.

Macaronesia (north-east Atlantic archipelagos) has been host to complex patterns of colonization and differentiation in many groups of organisms including seabirds such as gadfly petrels (genus Pterodroma). Considering the subspecies of widely distributed soft-plumaged petrel for many years, the taxonomic status of the three gadfly petrel taxa breeding in Macaronesia is not yet settled, some authors advocating the presence of three, two or one species. These birds have already been the subject of genetic studies with only one mtDNA gene and relatively modest sample sizes. In this study, using a total of five genes (two mitochondrial genes and three nuclear introns), we investigated the population and phylogeographical histories of petrel populations breeding on Madeira and Cape Verde archipelagos. Despite confirming complete lineage sorting with mtDNA, analyses with nucDNA failed to reveal any population structuring and Isolation with Migration analysis revealed the absence of gene flow during the differentiation process of these populations. It appears that the three populations diverged in the late Pleistocene in the last 150 000 years, that is 10 times more recently than previous estimates based solely on one mtDNA gene. Finally, our results suggest that the Madeira petrel population is ancestral rather than that from Cape Verde. This study strongly advocates the use of nuclear loci in addition to mtDNA in demographical and phylogeographical history studies.