Blood Parasite Infection, Body Mass, and Survival Data from Emperor Geese (Anser canagicus), Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, Alaska, 2006-2016

Nesting females were captured each year with mist nets and bow nets. Additionally, during the summer of 2014, geese were live-captured near the Manokinak River during brood rearing. Flightless hatch year and adult geese were captured during brood rearing by herding birds into corrals. Whole blood was collected via jugular venipuncture, stored in Longmire buffer (Longmire et al 1988), and frozen for long-term preservation.

Blood parasites were detected using molecular methods. DNA was extracted from samples using the DNeasy Blood and Tissue Kit (Qiagen, Valencia, CA). Three replicate aliquots of DNA extract were screened for hematozoa using a nested-PCR protocol (Hellgren et al 2004). A minimum of one negative control was incorporated into PCR reactions for every 24 wells. Reactions were conducted in eight-well strip tubes with individual caps that remained closed, except while loading template and reagents, to prevent cross contamination. Amplicons were visualized on 0.8% agarose gels stained with Gel Red Nucleic Acid Gel Stain 10,000× in DMSO (Biotium, Hayward, CA). All samples that had amplicons present on agarose gels, were further tested for infection by sequencing a 479-base pair target fragment of cytochrome-b mitochondrial DNA. All samples that tested positive for hematozoa infection by nested-PCR, were sent for sequencing of the Cytochrome-b gene at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Biotechnology Center – DNA Sequencing Facility. PCR products were treated with ExoSap-IT (USB Inc., Cleveland, OH) per manufacturer instructions and not otherwise purified prior to sequencing. Amplified DNA was sequenced with the same genus-specific primers from the second stage of the nested-PCR and with BigDye Terminator version 3.1 mix (Applied Biosystems, Foster City, CA) on an Applied Biosystems 3730xl automated DNA sequencer (Applied Biosystems, Foster City, CA).