Obtaining Offspring Genetic Material: A New Method for Species With High Nest Predation Rates
AbstractAbstractOver the past decade, the field of moleculargenetics has revolutionized our understanding ofavian mating systems, by demonstrating that socialbonds might not accurately reflect parentagebecause of unknown levels of cryptic mating(e.g., extra-pair copulations). Use ofmolecular genetics tools for paternity analysisrequires genetic material from putative parents andnestlings. Unfortunately, high nest predation ratesoften preclude detailed genetic studies of tropicaltaxa. Here, we describe a nondestructive methodthat increases the efficiency of obtaining geneticmaterial from offspring for a group of tropicalpasserines (Pipridae). The method entailsreplacing eggs with plaster replicas, incubatingeggs artificially, and returning hatchlings totheir original nests for further development. Thismethod greatly improved our ability to sampleoffspring, as we collected genetic material from100% of manipulated nests, compared to52% of unmanipulated nests.