Journal of Avian Biology 47: 263–274, 2016 doi: 10.1111/jav.00826 © 2015 The Authors. Journal of Avian Biology © 2015 Nordic Society Oikos Subject Editor: Staffan Bensch. Editor-in-Chief: Thomas Alerstam. Accepted 14 September 2015 Shaped by uneven Pleistocene climate: mitochondrial phylogeographic pattern and population history of white wagtail Motacilla alba (Aves: Passeriformes) Xinlei Li, Feng Dong, Fumin Lei, Per Alström, Ruiying Zhang, Anders Ödeen, Jon Fjeldså, Per G. P. Ericson, Fasheng Zou and Xiaojun Yang X. Li, F. Dong and X. Yang (
[email protected]), State Key Laboratory of Genetic Resources and Evolution, Kunming Inst. of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming 650223, China. XL also at: Univ. of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China. – F. Lei, P. Alström and R. Zhang, Key Laboratory of Zoological Systematics and Evolution, Inst. of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China. PA also at: Swedish Species Information Centre, Swedish Univ. of Agricultural Sciences, SE-750 07 Uppsala, Sweden. – A. Ödeen, Dept of Animal Ecology, Uppsala Univ., Norbyvägen 18D, SE-752 36 Uppsala, Sweden. – J. Fjeldså, Center for Macroecology, Evolution and Climate, Natural History Museum of Denmark, Univ. of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 15, DK-2100 Copenhagen, Denmark. – P. G. P. Ericson, Dept of Verte- brate Zoology, Swedish Museum of Natural History, PO Box 50007, SE-10405 Stockholm, Sweden. – F. Zou, South China Inst. of Endangered Animals, Guangzhou 510260, China. We studied the phylogeography and population history of the white wagtail Motacilla alba, which has a vast breeding range, covering areas with different Pleistocene climatic histories. The mitochondrial NADH dehydrogenase subunit II gene (ND2) and Control Region (CR) were analyzed for 273 individuals from 45 localities.