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Do geese fully develop brood patches? A histological analysis of lesser snow geese (Chen caerulescens caerulescens) and Ross’s geese (C. rossii)

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Abstract

Most birds develop brood patches before incubation; epidermis and dermis in the brood patch region thicken, and the dermal connective tissue becomes increasingly vascularized and infiltrated by leukocytes. However, current dogma states that waterfowl incubate without modifications of skin within the brood patch region. The incubation periods of lesser snow geese (Chen caerulescens caerulescens; hereafter called snow geese) and Ross’s geese (C. rossii) are 2–6 days shorter than those of other goose species; only females incubate. Thus, we hypothesized that such short incubation periods would require fully developed brood patches for sufficient heat transfer from incubating parents to eggs. We tested this hypothesis by analyzing the skin histology of abdominal regions of snow and Ross’s geese collected at Karrak Lake, Nunavut, Canada. For female snow geese, we found that epidermis and dermis had thickened and vascularization of dermis was 14 times greater, on average, than that observed in males (n=5 pairs). Our results for Ross’s geese (n=5 pairs) were more variable, wherein only one of five female Ross’s geese fully developed a brood patch. Our results are consistent with three hypotheses about brood patch development and its relationship with different energetic cost–benefit relationships, resulting from differences in embryonic development and body size.

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Acknowledgements

Our study received financial and logistical support from: Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, Canadian Wildlife Service, Arctic Goose Joint Venture, Delta Waterfowl Foundation; and United States Geological Survey–Louisiana Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, School of Veterinary Medicine (SVMLSU), School of Renewable Natural Resources, and the Graduate School at Louisiana State University (LSU). We thank Richard E. Olsen for assistance with collecting geese at Karrak Lake. Dr. Cheryl Crowder of the Department of Pathobiological Sciences, SVMLSU, prepared the histological slides used in this study. We are especially grateful to Greg McCormick and Olga Borkhsenius at the Microscopy Center at SVMLSU for their assistance with the microscopy work. David C. Blouin and E. Barry Moser of the Department of Experimental Statistics at LSU provided valuable statistical advice. We thank Michael J. Anteau, Michael D. Chamberlain, Michael D. Kaller, and three anonymous reviewers for helpful comments on earlier drafts of this manuscript. We collected geese at Karrak Lake under Canadian Wildlife Service permit # NUN-SCI-99-19 and Louisiana State University Institutional Animal Care and Use Permit #A94-16.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Renewable Natural Resources, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, 70803, USA

    Jón Einar Jónsson

  2. United States Geological Survey, Louisiana Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, 70803, USA

    Alan D. Afton

  3. Department of Biological Sciences, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, 70803, USA

    Dominique G. Homberger

  4. Department of Comparative Biomedical Sciences, School of Veterinary Medicine, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, 70803, USA

    William G. Henk

  5. Canadian Wildlife Service, 115 Perimeter Road, 57N 0X4, Saskatoon, SK, Canada

    Ray T. Alisauskas

  6. Háaleitisbraut 17, 108, Reykjavík, Iceland

    Jón Einar Jónsson

Authors
  1. Jón Einar Jónsson
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  2. Alan D. Afton
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  3. Dominique G. Homberger
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  4. William G. Henk
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  5. Ray T. Alisauskas
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Correspondence to Jón Einar Jónsson.

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Communicated by H.V. Carey

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Jónsson, J.E., Afton, A.D., Homberger, D.G. et al. Do geese fully develop brood patches? A histological analysis of lesser snow geese (Chen caerulescens caerulescens) and Ross’s geese (C. rossii). J Comp Physiol B 176, 453–462 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00360-006-0066-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00360-006-0066-y

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