The rate of intraspecific nest parasitism was determined for a colony of Red-breasted Mergansers (Mergus serrator) nesting on the Tern Islands in Kouchibouguac National Park, New Brunswick. In order to recognize instances of nest parasitism, field criteria and microsatellite analysis testing for parentage between attending hens and the eggs in their nests were used. Traditionally, molecular analysis has involved collecting blood samples from females and offspring, however, for the purpose of this study, DNA was extracted successfully from feathers, egg membranes, and unhatched embryos which were collected during the summers of 1999 and 2000. A total of 8 primer pairs which amplified microsatellite loci in closely related avian species were tested (Sfimu-2, Sfimu-3, Sfimu-4, Sfimu-5, Sfimu-6, Sfimu-7, Bcamu-6, and Alamu-1). Four of these primers produced product of the expected size (Sfimu-3, Sfimu-4, Sfimu-7, and Bcamu-6). Amplification of these loci, however was inconsistent and subsequent sequence analysis revealed that the amplicons did not contain tandem repeats and therefore were not useful in genotyping. From field criteria we were able to establish rates of parasitism of 46% and 44% for each season. Rates of parasitism tended to be higher at the beginning of the season, compared to nests initiated later. Field criteria bring support to several hypotheses on causes of nest parasitism, indicating that more than one may influence rates of parasitism in a population.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.32764 |
| Date | January 2002 |
| Creators | Bouchard, M'Liki Jovette. |
| Contributors | Titman, Rodger D. (advisor) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Science (Department of Natural Resource Sciences.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001872491, proquestno: MQ78836, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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