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124 results for “brood parasitism”
Endocrine regulation of egg rejection in an avian brood parasite host
<p><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span>Parasite-host coevolution can lead to novel behavioural adaptations in hosts to resist parasitism. In avian obligate brood parasite and host systems, many hosts species have evolved diverse cognitive and behavioural traits to recognize and reject parasitic eggs. Our understanding of the evolution and ecology of these defences hinges on our understanding of the mechanisms that regulate them. We hypothesized that corticosterone, a hormone linked to the stress-response, vigilance, and the suppression of parental behaviour, stimulates the rejection of foreign eggs by brood parasite hosts. We experimentally reduced circulating glucocorticoid levels with mitotane injections in American robins <i>Turdus migratorius</i> and found that the mitotane-treated birds rejected foreign eggs at a lower frequency compared to the sham-treated subjects. This is the first study to causally identify a potential mechanism of a widespread defence behaviour, and it is consistent with egg rejection being mediated by stress physiology.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
Data from: Using molecular and crowd-sourcing methods to assess breeding ground diet of a migratory brood parasite of conservation concern
<p>Breeding ground food availability is critical to the survival and productivity of adult birds. The common cuckoo <i>Cuculus canorus</i> is a brood-parasitic Afro-Palearctic migrant bird exhibiting long-term (breeding) population declines in many European countries. Variation in population trend between regions and habitats suggests breeding ground drivers such as adult food supply. However, cuckoo diet has not been studied in detail since before the most significant population declines in Europe began in the mid-1980s. 20th century studies of cuckoo diet largely comprised field observations likely to carry bias towards larger prey taxa. Here we demonstrate the potential value of 1) using high-throughput DNA sequencing of invertebrate prey in faeces to determine cuckoo diet with minimal bias towards large prey taxa, and 2) using crowd-sourced digital photographs from across Britain to identify lepidopteran cuckoo prey taxa during recent years post-decline (2005-2016). DNA analysis found a high frequency of Lepidoptera, including moths of family Lasiocampidae, prominent within the past literature, but also grasshoppers (Orthoptera) and flies (Diptera) that may be overlooked by field observation methodologies. The range of larval lepidopteran prey identified from photographs largely agreed with those previously documented, with potential signs of reduced diversity, and identities of key adult prey taxa were supported by molecular results. Notably, many identified cuckoo prey taxa have shown severe declines due to agricultural intensification, suggesting this has driven spatial patterns of cuckoo loss. Landscape-scale, lowland rewilding interventions provide opportunities to understand the scale of reversal of previous agricultural intensification that may be necessary to restore prey populations sufficiently to permit recolonization by cuckoos.</p>
Data from: Parasites favor intermediate nestling masses and brood sizes in cliff swallows
A challenge of life-history theory is to explain why animal body size does not continue to increase, given various advantages of larger size. In birds, body size of nestlings and the number of nestlings produced (brood size) have occasionally been shown to be constrained by higher predation on larger nestlings and those from larger broods. Parasites also are known to have strong effects on life-history traits in birds, but whether parasitism can be a driver for stabilizing selection on nestling body size or brood size is unknown. We studied patterns of first-year survival in cliff swallows (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota) in western Nebraska in relation to brood size and nestling body mass in nests under natural conditions and in those in which hematophagous ectoparasites had been removed by fumigation. Birds from parasitized nests showed highest first-year survival at the most common, intermediate brood-size and nestling-mass categories, but cliff swallows from non-parasitized nests had highest survival at the heaviest nestling masses and no relationship with brood size. A survival analysis suggested stabilizing selection on brood size and nestling mass in the presence (but not in the absence) of parasites. Parasites apparently favor intermediate offspring size and number in cliff swallows and produce the observed distributions of these traits, although the mechanisms are unclear. Our results emphasize the importance of parasites in life-history evolution.
Coevolution with hosts underpins speciation in brood parasitic cuckoos
<p>Coevolution is considered to be a likely driver of speciation, but evidence linking macroevolutionary patterns to microevolutionary processes is scarce. We report that coevolution with hosts drives divergence in bronze-cuckoos. Bronze-cuckoo hosts reject cuckoo nestlings, selecting for mimicry of host nestlings by cuckoos. This has generated a diversity of bronze-cuckoo nestling morphologies matching those of their respective hosts across their geographic range and promotes diversification in sympatry; little bronze-cuckoos that exploit multiple host species in sympatry show evidence of genetic differentiation and corresponding divergence in nestling morphology. This process is reflected in macroevolutionary patterns: rates of speciation are faster in virulent cuckoos than in more benign species and simulation models indicate greater support for a sympatric mode of speciation in bronze-cuckoos than in sister taxa.</p>
The risk of brood parasitism does not affect levels of extra-pair paternity in a cuckoo host
<p>In socially monogamous bird species, extra-pair paternity is common, but its level varies considerably within and among species. For hosts of brood parasites, the risk of brood parasitism may influence the costs of engaging in extra-pair copulations (e.g., leaving the nest undefended) and the benefits of having extra-pair young (e.g., spreading the risk of nest predation). However, whether brood parasitism risk affects extra-pair behavior in host species has rarely been tested. We investigated whether variation in the risk of brood parasitism affected levels of extra-pair paternity in Daurian redstarts, a socially monogamous passerine. As a common host of the common cuckoo, the redstart is unique in that its first clutch of the year takes place before the arrival of cuckoos. As a consequence, redstarts experience large seasonal variation in cuckoo parasitism risk, with no parasitism in the first egg-laying period and a high risk in the second period. We genotyped 995 nestlings (and unhatched eggs) from 181 broods and found moderate levels of extra-pair paternity, with 34.8% of broods containing at least one extra-pair young and 11.7% of all offspring being sired by an extra-pair male. However, levels of extra-pair paternity did not differ between the first and the second egg-laying period. Also, experimentally simulating parasitism risk during the first egg-laying period by broadcasting cuckoo vocalizations and presenting taxidermic models of cuckoos did not affect levels of extra-pair paternity in redstarts. Our results, therefore, suggest that the risk of brood parasitism does not affect host extra-pair paternity.</p>
Data from: Limited evidence of biased offspring sex allocation in a cavity-nesting conspecific brood parasite
<p>Sex allocation theory predicts that mothers should bias investment in offspring toward the sex that yields higher fitness returns; one such bias may be a skewed offspring-sex ratio. Sex allocation is well-studied in birds with cooperative breeding systems, with theory on local resource enhancement and production of helpers at the nest, but little theoretical or empirical work has focused on birds with brood parasitic breeding systems. Wood ducks (<em>Aix sponsa</em>) are conspecific brood parasites, and rates of parasitism appear to increase with density. Because female wood ducks show high natal philopatry and nest sites are often limiting, local resource competition (LRC) theory predicts that females should overproduce male offspring—the dispersing sex—when competition (density) is high. However, the unique features of conspecific brood parasitism generate alternative predictions from other sex allocation theories, which we develop and test here. We experimentally manipulated the nesting density of female wood ducks in four populations from 2013-2016 and analyzed the resulting sex allocation of >2000 ducklings. In contrast to predictions we did not find overproduction of male offspring by females in high-density populations, females in better condition, or parasitic females; modest support for LRC was found in overproduction of only female parasitic offspring with higher nest box availability. The lack of evidence for sex ratio biases, as expected for LRC and some aspects of brood parasitism, could reflect conflicting selection pressures from nest competition and brood parasitism, or that mechanisms of adaptive sex ratio bias are not possible.</p>
Brood parasitism risk drives birds to breed near humans
<p>Although humans have generally negative effects on wildlife, some animals live in close proximity to human residences. Why some animals choose to settle near humans remains a long-standing puzzle. Settling near humans or in urban environments may be beneficial, because of the availability of resources such as food (e.g. supplemental feeding) or suitable nest sites (e.g. cavities), or because of reduced predation risk if predators avoid settlements. Here, we report on a study of Daurian redstarts <em>Phoenicurus auroreus</em>, a common host of the common cuckoo <em>Cuculus canorus</em>, to show that settling near humans can also be a strategy employed by hosts to avoid brood parasitism. First, redstarts suffered an increased risk of brood parasitism with increasing distance from the nearest building. Second, redstarts adjusted their nesting location in response to a seasonally predictable change in the risk of brood parasitism. Third, experimentally simulating the presence of cuckoos during a period when they are naturally absent increased the likelihood that redstarts nested indoors or closer to human settlements. These findings suggest that redstarts actively choose to place their nest in the vicinity of a human residence as a defense against cuckoos. Hence, settling near humans may be an anti-parasitism strategy in some avian hosts.</p>
Data from: Molecular sibship reconstruction reveals a promiscuous mating system in brood parasitic little bronze-cuckoos (Chalcites minutillus)
<p>In theory, emancipation from parental care is expected to favour promiscuous mating systems. However, in avian brood parasites monogamy is surprisingly widespread and it has been proposed that this may be favoured by factors such as low population density and territoriality. Correspondingly, our previous research revealed that brood parasitic Horsfield's bronze-cuckoos (<em>Chalcites basalis)</em>, which occur at low population densities and defend territories, are monogamous. Here, we contrast this study with the mating system of the congeneric little bronze-cuckoo (<em>C. minutillus)</em>, an obligate brood parasite that exploits more concentrated hosts and is therefore likely to occur at higher population densities. We use single nucleotide polymorphisms to characterise the reproductive patterns of unsampled adults by inferring sibling relationships among 30 offspring. We show that 1) little bronze-cuckoos occurred at high densities, 2) polygamy was the most common mating pattern found in this study in both sexes, and 3) where multiple cuckoo eggs are laid in the same nest, they were unrelated. These results indicate that females do not defend exclusive territories and males do not defend multiple females (polygyny). Instead, little bronze-cuckoos appear to have a non-territorial, promiscuous mating system. Our results are consistent with theoretical predictions that polygamy is more likely to evolve in species that are emancipated from parental care, where there are plenty of available mates and where home ranges are not defended.</p>
No evidence of adaptive tolerance of parasitism in a cavity-nesting brood parasite host
<p>Acceptance of avian brood parasitism by hosts is one of the most enigmatic aspects of brood parasite-host coevolution. The most common explanation for acceptance of parasitism by hosts of the brown-headed cowbird (<em>Molothrus ater</em>) is evolutionary lag, which suggests that hosts have not had enough time to evolve defenses against parasitism. Alternatively, acceptance may be the optimal strategy when the costs of rejecting parasitism exceed the benefits. The lack of nest site hypothesis applies to secondary cavity-nesting birds that cannot excavate their own nests and predicts that hosts accept parasitism instead of deserting a parasitized nest when there are no vacant nest sites available in which to renest. I tested this hypothesis using the prothonotary warbler (<em>Pronotaria citrea</em>), a commonly parasitized, cavity-nesting cowbird host. I used a paired nest box design and predicted that if hosts accept parasitism because of a lack of alternative nest sites, they should desert parasitized nests and renest in the vacant nest box on their territory. I recorded 37 cases where a nest was parasitized and warblers only deserted 2 parasitized nest boxes for a vacant nest box. Both desertions were attributable to factors other than parasitism and the rate of desertion did not differ from controls that only had a single nest box. Moreover, seven of the warblers initiated clutches in nest boxes that already contained cowbird egg despite having vacant nest boxes available on their territories. These results indicate that warblers do not accept parasitism because of tolerance, but likely due to evolutionary lag.</p>
Louisiana black-bellied whistling-duck clutch characteristics in the presence of conspecific and interspecific brood parasitism
<p>Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks (Dendrocygna autumnalis; hereafter Whistling-Duck) are undergoing a rapid range expansion northward and now breed throughout the southeastern United States. As a facultative cavity-nesting species, they have the potential to compete with Wood Ducks (Aix sponsa) and Hooded Mergansers (Lophodytes cucullatus) for nest sites. Little is known about Whistling-Duck breeding biology, and estimates of clutch characteristics and rates of conspecific and interspecific brood parasitism (hereafter, CBP and IBP respectively) are lacking. We monitored Whistling-Duck nests in Louisiana to describe nesting chronology, clutch size of parasitized and unparasitized (hereafter, normal) nests, and hatchability (i.e., the portion of eggs that hatched) for clutches of different sizes and types. We monitored a total of 558 nest boxes 2020–2021 and determined the presence of brood parasitism for 231 Whistling-Duck nests. CBP was detected in 73 (31.6%) nests, and IBP was observed in 51 (22.1%) nests parasitized by Wood Ducks, 2 (0.9%) nests parasitized by Hooded Mergansers, and 1 nest contained eggs from all three species. Normal clutches were smaller (15.4 ± 4.4 eggs) than CBP clutches (26.1 ± 8.8 eggs) and mixed clutches (22.2 ± 5.3 eggs; clutches containing Wood Duck or Hooded Merganser eggs; all pairwise P < 0.0001). However, within-clutch repeatability estimates for egg morphology data (i.e., length, width, and mass) were low (< 0.40) for normal clutches, suggesting CBP went undetected. Of 180 fated nests used to determine hatchability, 66 (36.7%) were successful, 49 (27.2%) were abandoned, 64 (35.6%) were depredated, and 1 (0.6%) was nonviable. Considering successful nests, hatchability was high for all clutch size bins ranging from 67.4% (41-45 eggs) to 81.6% (11-15 eggs). This study is the first to document Whistling-Ducks successfully hatching mixed-species broods, and such high productivity could be contributing to whistling-duck range expansion.</p>
The role of reed management and habitat quality on brood parasitism and chick survival of the brood parasitic Common Cuckoo
<p>Despite efforts on ecosystem restoration and management, biodiversity loss remains one of the major environmental concerns of our time. Beyond the focus on threatened species, animals that indicate regional biodiversity hotspots and population trends, such as brood parasites, should also be targeted by conservation actions. We studied how reed habitat quality and management influence brood parasitism rate and offspring survival in Common Cuckoos Cuculus canorus parasitizing nests of Great Reed Warblers Acrocephalus arundinaceus. In six reed habitats in an intensive agricultural landscape. Data collected from 45 sites over 13 years showed that the brood parasitism rate was highest on large canals and was positively influenced by the availability of potential perches (Cuckoo vantage points) and the height where host nests were built. Cuckoo chick survival decreased with water depth and was not affected by other factors. Our results suggest that the habitat-dependent detectability of host nests was central in brood parasitism rate and that water level was central in Cuckoo chick survival. Our study shows that a maintenance of intermediate water levels is the most optimal for maintaining Cuckoo populations in intensive agricultural landscapes. Because brood parasites are excellent bioindicators as their presence predicts regional hotspots of taxonomic and functional diversity as well as population trends in bird communities, knowledge on their habitat requirements is relevant in management targeting diverse bird communities.</p>
Evolutionary origins and patterns of diversification in animal brood parasitism
<p>Brood parasitism involves the exploitation of host parental care rather than the extraction of resources directly from hosts. Although often excluded, we show that brood parasitism fits within existing frameworks of parasitic strategies, and formulate defining criteria, including that the parasites be obligate and the hosts non-eusocial (thereby distinguishing them from social parasites). A systematic literature survey revealed 59 independently derived brood parasitic lineages with most origins (49) in insects, particularly among bees and wasps, and other origins in birds (7) and fish (3). Insects account for over 98% of brood parasitic species, with much of that diversity reflecting ancient (100+ million-year-old) brood parasitic lineages. Brood parasites usually, but not always, evolve from forms that show parental care. In insects, brood parasitism often first evolves through exploitation of a closely related species, following Emery's rule, but this is less typical in birds, which we discuss. We conducted lineage-level comparisons between brood parasitic clades and their sister groups, finding mixed results but an overall neutral to negative effect of brood parasitism on species richness and diversification. Our review of brood parasites reveals many unanswered questions requiring new research including further modelling of the co-evolutionary dynamics of brood parasites and their hosts.</p>
Asian koels recognize the host, but not their nests, for brood parasitism
<p>Avian brood parasites depend upon finding host nests to lay their eggs. However, how brood parasites find the nests of their hosts and select the nests for parasitism remains mostly unresolved. Here, we examined how a non-evicting brood parasite, the Asian koel (<em>Eudynamys</em> <em>scolopaceus</em>) selects the hosts' nests to lay their eggs. We provided a novel habitat (nest box, n=100) to the Asian koel and its host, the common myna (<em>Acridotheres</em> <em>tristis</em>), at a field site in central Bangladesh. A total of 99 nests across 59 boxes were used by common mynas, of which 21.2% of these nests were parasitized by the Asian koel. Moreover, non-host species, the Oriental magpie robin (<em>Copsychus</em> <em>saularis</em>) (n=8) and jungle myna (<em>Acridotheres</em> <em>fuscus</em>) (n=6) also built nests in the boxes but none of these nests were parasitized. We found that active boxes were significantly more parasitized than inactive nest boxes. Among the active nest boxes, only common myna nests were parasitized by the Asian koel. We found a strong tendency for Asian koel selecting common myna nests more than the non-host species, Oriental magpie robin and jungle myna. Our results provide robust experimental support for the importance of host activity suggesting that Asian koels actively select occupied boxes. Our study shows support for the host imprinting hypothesis, where the Asian koel uses the host activity as a cue to search for potential nests, and then decide whether to parasitize.</p>
Data for: Environmentally-driven escalation of host egg-rejection decimates success of an avian brood parasite
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Data and code for Caves, Dixit, Colebrook-Robjent, Hamusikili, Stevens, Thorogood, and Spottiswoode: Hosts elevate either within-clutch consistency or between-clutch distinctiveness of egg phenotypes in defence against brood parasites
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No evidence of adaptive tolerance of parasitism in a cavity-nesting brood parasite host
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Data from: A seasonal shift in offspring sex ratio of the brood parasitic Brown-headed Cowbird (Molothrus ater)
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Host nest defence does not act as selective agent against plumage polymorphism in brood parasites
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Data from: Parasites favor intermediate nestling masses and brood sizes in cliff swallows
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Data from: Molecular sibship reconstruction reveals a promiscuous mating system in brood parasitic little bronze-cuckoos (Chalcites minutillus)
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