Climatic oscillations over the Quaternary have had a lasting impact on species’ distribution, evolutionary history, and genetic composition. Many species show dramatic population size changes coinciding with the last glacial period. However, the extent and direction of change vary across biogeographic regions, species-habitat associations, and species traits. Here we use genomic data to assess population size changes over the late Quaternary using the Pairwise Sequential Markovian Coalescent (PSMC) approach in two Eurasian Owlet species—the Spotted Owlet, Athene brama, and the Jungle Owlet, Glaucidium radiatum. While Spotted Owlets are typically associated with open habitats, Jungle Owlets are found in deciduous forests and scrublands. We find that the effective population size for the Spotted Owlet increased after the Interglacial period till the Last Glacial Maxima and subsequently declined toward the Mid-Holocene. On the other hand, effective population size estimates for the Jungle Owlet increased gradually throughout this period. These observations are in line with climatic niche model-based predictions for range size change for both species from a previous study and suggest that habitat associations at the local scale are important in determining responses to past climatic and vegetational changes. The Spotted Owlet result also aligns well with the expectation of open habitat expansion during the arid Glacial Maxima, whereas for the Jungle Owlet the contrasting expectation does not hold. Therefore, assessing the impacts of glacial history on population trajectories of multiple species with different habitat associations is necessary to understand the impacts of past climate on South Asian taxa.

India hosts multiple global biodiversity hotspots while being one of the most populous countries in the world. Here, we examine how well India has protected its avifauna, based on the fraction of their ranges falling within “protected areas.” India has protected 5% of its land this way. The issue is whether India has done better than expected in protecting its threatened species. To this end, we assessed 99 Near Threatened, Threatened, and small‐ranged species by estimating their Area of Habitat (AOH). We refined published species ranges using secondary information on elevation limits and habitat preferences. More than half (52) of the species assessed have their AOH <30% of their published ranges, while 31 have <10%. India has protected 87 threatened species' AOH more than expected (>5%), and for 33 species, the proportion protected exceeds the Aichi target (>17%). When we consider the top 10% richest regions as hotspots, only 9.2% of their total area falls under India's protected area network, inadequately covering areas with most threatened birds. We also discuss the conservation concerns for grassland and open habitat species across India, since we find that substantial proportions of their AOHs fall outside protected areas. This result highlights the significance of alternative conservation models, including other effective area‐based conservation measures. We show that species' AOH provides a more realistic well‐informed range that can aid in assessing their protection status.

Phylogenetic relationships are often challenging to resolve in recent/younger lineage when only a few loci are used. Ultra Conserved Elements (UCE) are highly conserved regions across taxa that help resolve shallow and deep divergences. We utilized UCEs harvested from whole genomes to assess the phylogenetic position and taxonomic affiliation of an endangered endemic owlet in the family Strigidae; the Forest Owlet Athene blewitti. The taxonomic placement of this species has been revised multiple times. A multigene study attempted to address the question but showed a discrepancy across datasets in its placement of the species within genus Athene. We assembled a dataset of 5018 nuclear UCE loci with increased taxon sampling. Forest Owlet was found to be an early split from the Athene clade but sister to other Athene; and consistent across three approaches; maximum likelihood, bayesian, and the multispecies coalescence. Divergence dating using fossil calibrations suggest that the Athene lineage split from its ancestor about 7.6Mya, and the Forest Owlet diverged about 5.2Mya, consistent with previous multigene approaches. Despite osteological differences from other Athene, we suggest the placement of the Forest Owlet as a member of the Athene to emphasize its evolutionary relationship.