Editing Mottled duck (section)

==Systematics==
The Floridian population, which occurs approximately south of [[Tampa]], is separated as the [[nominate subspecies]] ''Anas fulvigula fulvigula'' and is occasionally called the Florida mottled duck or Florida mallard. It differs from the other subspecies, the Gulf Coast mottled duck (''A. f. maculosa'') (etymology: ''maculosa'', Latin for "the mottled one"), by being somewhat lighter in color and less heavily marked; while both subspecies are intermediate between female mallards and American black ducks, the Florida mottled duck is closer to the former and the Gulf Coast mottled duck closer to the latter in appearance; this is mainly recognizable in the lighter head being quite clearly separated from the darker breast in Gulf Coast mottled ducks, but much less so in Florida mottled ducks. As the subspecies' ranges do not overlap, these birds can only be confused with female mallards and American black ducks however; particularly female American black ducks are often only reliably separable by their dark purple speculum from mottled ducks in the field.

[[mtDNA control region]] [[DNA sequence|sequence]] data indicates that these birds are derived from ancestral American black ducks, being far more distantly related to the mallard, and that the two subspecies, as a consequence of their rather limited range and sedentary habits, are genetically well distinct already.<ref name=McCracken2001/>

[[File:Mottled Duck.jpg|thumb|left|The Florida mottled duck (''A. f. fulvigula'')]]
As in all members of the "mallardine" [[clade]] of ducks, they are able to produce fertile [[Hybrid (biology)|hybrid]]s with their close relatives, the American black duck and the mallard. This has always been so to a limited extent; individuals of the migratory American black ducks which winter in the mottled duck's range may occasionally stay there and mate with the resident species, and for the mallard, which colonized [[North America]] later, the same holds true.<ref name=McCracken2001/> Genetic tools have been developed in order to robustly classify hybrids and to assess and monitor the genetic dynamics of introgression between the Florida mottled duck and the mallard.<ref name="genetic tools 2012" />

While the resultant [[gene flow]] is no cause for immediate concern,{{refn|group=note|Except in a scientific sense, as it requires large [[sample size]]s to appropriately study these ducks' [[phylogeny]] using mtDNA sequence data, which only documents a bird's [[evolution]]ary history on the [[maternal]] side.}} [[habitat destruction]] and excessive hunting could eventually reduce this species to the point where the hybridization with mallards would threaten to make it disappear as a distinct [[taxon]].<ref name=Rhymer1996/> This especially applies to the Florida mottled duck,<ref name=Mazourek1994/> in the fairly small range of which rampant [[habitat destruction]] due to [[urbanization]] and draining of wetlands has taken place in the last decades; this, in combination with [[Global warming|climate change]] affecting the [[Everglades]], could be sufficient to cause the Florida mottled duck to decline to a point where hunting would have to be restricted or prohibited.<ref name=McCracken2001/> At present, these birds too appear to be holding their own, with a population of 50,000-70,000 individuals. While hybridization is common, double white bars above and below the speculum are not a sufficient indicator of hybridization and therefore should not be used to determine genetics.<ref name="iucn status 12 November 2021" />