Abstract
We investigated extra-pair paternity (EPP) among 46 young in 32 broods of 19 social pairs of Black Guillemot Cepphus grylle, using a combination of three polymorphic microsatellite markers. The analysis was based on blood samples collected over eight years from a population of individually colour-ringed birds in North Norway. All chicks shared an allele on all three loci with both social parents. Hence, there were no cases of extra-pair parentage. Given our sample sizes, the upper 95% confidence limit of EPP was estimated to 6.2% of the young and 8.9% of the broods. Among seven extra chicks, for which we lacked a DNA sample from the social mother, there was one case of genotype mismatch with the social father, but this could also be because of egg dumping. Low occurrence of EPP has now been documented in five of the six species of Atlantic auks.
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Acknowledgments
The study was carried out within the frame-work of a long-term project monitoring the population dynamics of various seabird species breeding in Røst, with financial support from the Norwegian Directorate for Nature Management and the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research during the eight years of data collection. From 2005 this monitoring was integrated as a key-site study in the SEAPOP programme (www.seapop.no). We thank Bjørn Berg, Christer Kamsvåg, Ivar Rimul, David Alan Showler, and Gisle Sæterhaug for assistance in the field, Roel May for statistical consultation, and two anonymous referees for constructive comments on the manuscript. The field work was carried out in accordance with the mandatory certification of FELASA category C researchers (TAN) and the appurtenant European Council guidelines for Laboratory Animal Science.
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Communicated by P. H. Becker.
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Anker-Nilssen, T., Kleven, O., Aarvak, T. et al. Low or no occurrence of extra-pair paternity in the Black Guillemot Cepphus grylle . J Ornithol 151, 247–250 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-009-0450-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-009-0450-y